To me, using my painter's drop cloth footprint in this fashion (checking the "lay" before pitching my tent) is probably the most important feature of my footprint. My shelters are not freestanding. By using the footprint in this way, I can lay on it and check the slope and, because it's clear plastic, see roots, rocks, acorns, etc. It looks pretty strange when I'm going through this process of moving my footprint around the site and laying on it, moving it, laying on it, etc. Like a dog making his bed! But it makes for choosing a great shelter site.