RURAL CADASTRAL SURVEYS

BEST PRACTICES

CHALLENGESNeville L Brayley

28th March 2008

A Definition of Re-establishment

• A cadastral re-establishment is the process of deduction from a field survey whereby part or all

of an original survey is, as nearly as possible, within practical limits, re-established in relation to artificial features, such as survey pegs and other survey marks, fences, building corners

which may be extant or may be traced through a chain of recent surveys.

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• …reliable re-establishment may be effected beyond the bounds of

conjecture…

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• When re-establishing these titles, the Surveyor is obliged for his own protection to make an extensive survey of perhaps a

whole section picking up all existing occupation in order that a comprehensive

picture may be obtained…

Rural Survey Issues• The scale or size of the survey. • The frequency of having to consider Crown Boundaries. • The topography of the land. • The original vegetation status of the land. • Date of alienation. • Age of the old survey. • Longevity of monuments. • Irregular boundaries. • Railway boundaries. • Durability of fencing material.

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Rural Survey Issues

• The old Field Notes. • Crown Surveys. • The long Govt. Road alignment. • Un-surveyed boundaries. • Current Record Plan. • Soldier Settlement Surveys. • Large excesses. • Many sided and irregular allotments. • Time between surveys. • Rugged terrain and heavy bush • Road alignment fences.

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Rural Survey Issues

• Wildlife and farm stock. • Vehicle access. • Communication. • OH & S.

Old Equipment & Methods

• Gunter’s Chain. • Steel band.• Circumferenter. • Theodolites. • Log tables. • Ranging.• Chainages and offsets. • Offsets only. • Classification of surveys as E5.

Survey Search

• It is vital that ALL survey information

be obtained.

•This includes a recent title search

Arriving at the Job

•You will start to build up a picture

of how the fieldwork will progress.

Morning Tea

•Take the time.

•Let stuff sink in.

•A plan will evolve.

Fieldwork

• At the end of the day, it is the assistant’s job to make sure that all the equipment is

in the vehicle.

• It is your job to make sure that all the required information is in the field book

and data recorder.

Occupation

• Draw the occupation in the field

correctly, carefully and thoroughly.

• Describe the occupation in the field correctly, carefully and thoroughly.

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Occupation

• Estimate both the fence AND corner post ages.

• A digital camera can provide useful memory joggers.

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Occupation

• The old surveyor showed road widths of 100 links. What he means is 1 chain (ish).

Reference Marks

•The priority for the location of these should be their

longevity, NOT whether they are in good spots for

use as instrument points.

Equipment• Always: read multiple faces of angles, obtain several distances (from either end of the traverse line), take offsets, check

chain between things, use two base stations if using GNSS equipment. A

single face, one distance radiation needs to be checked.

• Check everything. Leave nothing to chance.

Instincts

• Trust your instincts – if you “feel” something is not quite right it probably

isn’t.

Office Stuff

•Often, twisted, distorted, obscure, time consuming, horrible, hard to read and tricky mathematical gymnastics are required on old field notes to work things out.

•You have NO choice, you must do them.

Datums

• Be exhaustive, not just thorough, in re-establishing your datums.

• There is no such thing as a survey that went too far, or picked up too much data.

Surveyor’s Report

•This is the most important document you produce for the next surveyor.

Abstract of Field Records

• Present all information clearly, unambiguously and correctly.

Responsibility

• You should be able to look back and see that you are a better surveyor than you

were a year ago.

• This process never stops.

Auditing of Surveys

• The latest statistics in “Traverse” suggest that over the last 6 years, the average number of satisfactory audits is about

77%.

• Practically 1/4 of audited surveys do not achieve compliance.

Finding Mistakes in Your Work

• You develop a horrible sinking feeling.

• A feeling of impending doom descends on you.

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Finding Mistakes in Your Work

• To rectify the problem, re-draw plans and Field Records, ring the client etc,

may take you a day or two, but you will have success.

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Finding Mistakes in Your Work

• To get rid of the stigma of being a poor, lazy, inept surveyor may take your whole career, and you might fail.

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Finding Mistakes in Your Work

• You are not a fool if you make a mistake.

• But you are a fool if you don’t find and fix it.

Getting Rattled

• Don’t compromise your professionalism.

A Cadastral Surveyors Creed

Do every survey to the absolute best of your ability.

Be diligent, thorough and proud of the result.

No-one can then challenge your decisions!

Any subsequent defense of your survey in a Court of

Law will then look after itself.

Quality Control

• Don’t compromise your professionalism

Challenges

• Openly discuss:TechniquesAccuraciesPhilosophiesEfficienciesetc..

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Challenges

•Be accountable.

•But remember to find the balance.Profession.Client.Workplace/employer.Family.Community.

Related Challenges• Grid to ground comps and scale factor. • MGA94 co-ords • Crown Boundaries • RE Plans. • Guidelines for Surveys needs to be updated to reflect

modern equipment and techniques.• Practice Directives. • Surveyors (Cadastral Surveys) Regulations. • The audit process. • The Registration process. • Be proud to be an expert in a specialized field. • R & D.

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Related Challenges

• Who is going to drive these challenges and changes?

• Not anyone over 50, maybe not even 40. • Prove to the community that we have the

professionalism to regulate ourselves. • You will not only enjoy the ride, but you will

command enormous respect. • I envy what you can bring to the profession, and

where you could take it. Exciting times.