Protecting Our Survey Marks

LINZ is trialling the beforeUdig service, which enables utilities and similar organisations wishing to protect their underground assets to offer a free advisory service to contractors, works agencies and anyone else contemplating any form of excavation if and where underground assets may be located.

One of the greatest risks to the survey control system in New Zealand is damage to or destruction of its physical marks and beacons, for example the loss of historical connections to the cadastre meaning issues for determining property boundaries and added costs to carry out surveys.

In many cases, the damage or destruction of survey marks is unavoidable but more often it is through unintentional ignorance of what sits below the surface of construction zones.

The number of notifications of work that LINZ is receiving has dramatically increased since LINZ became involved with the beforeUdig service (previously 2,500 a year to 2,500 a month).

For LINZ, this means we will have less damage to survey marks because people are aware of their locations and can take measures to ensure that the survey marks are protected during the course of their work.