Try the steps outlined in this FAQ item:

https://inkscape.org/en/learn/faq/#inkscape-092-my-drawings-are-just-quarter...

(you'll need to take care of the mm/m correspondency yourself)

Maren

Am 05.12.2017 um 17:56 schrieb Philip Rhoades:

People,

If I produce a new drawing on an A4 page with Display and User units in mm with a scaling factor of 1.0, I can draw a rectangle of XxY and when I use the Visualise->Measure Path Extension with a Scale Factor of 100 and Length Unit in m - I get exactly the right dimensions for the rectangle for its perimeter length and area - all good!

However, I have imported a surveyor's map from a PDF file into SVG and I need to be able to draw rectangles on it as above in mm (like my test) that will correspond to m in the real world but the drawing is on an A1 page and the Display and User Units are in px and I have tried everything I can think of and Googled a lot but I can't do what I was able to do with my little test case.

So:

How can I convert the drawing to be on an A4 page with mm units so the mm correspond to m and the Measure Path Extension will give me the correct result in m and sqm?

The original PDF says the scale was 1:300.

Thanks,

Phil.