General Q&As on the Rules for Cadastral Survey 2010

These questions and answers relate broadly to the new Rules for Cadastral Survey 2010. They were formed during a series of education seminars on the new Rules held around the country in September 2009.

Other questions and answers on the new Rules are also available.

If you have a question, please email newcadastralrules@linz.govt.nz.

Will it be possible to define an area affected by a land covenant by text (ie "no building within 100 metres of the boundary of Lot 1 and 2 DP X") or will it need to be defined on a survey plan? * NEW

Unless a dispensation has been provided pursuant to s167(1) Land Transfer Act 1952, the RGL requires that for any instrument affecting part only of the land comprised in any certificate or other instrument of title, there must be a survey plan.

The implementation of the new Cadastral Survey Rules 2010 does not impact on this RGL requirement.

Will LINZ issue any QA checklist templates for the new Rules, or will survey firms be required to produce their own checklists? * NEW

LINZ will not be issuing quality assurance checklists for enabling surveyors to manage the quality of a survey and CSD prior to lodgement with LINZ – these will need to be surveyor-driven.

What process takes place to make the new Rules operative? Are they ratified by other bodies?

The process will initially require the Surveyor-General to sign off the Rules and notify them in the Gazette at least 28 days before they come into force. At the same time, they are sent to the Regulations Review Committee of Parliament who can comment or intervene before the date of commencement of the Rules.

Will there be a general dispensation issued to permit favourable items from the 2010 Rules to be implemented prior to their implementation?

No. The new Rules are a package and ‘pepper-potting’ requirements from each set of Rules may not cover a risk or may confuse future users of the data as to the requirements the data was certified under.

Will there still be provisions for dispensations from the new Rules?

Yes. Dispensations are not specifically provided for in the 2010 Rules but can be considered in exceptional cases under s47(5) Cadastral Survey Act 2002.

Will the Surveyor-General provide guidance as to what constitutes a measured line and a calculated line?

No. The surveyor will have to use their judgement in choosing the most appropriate symbology, taking into consideration how they would like to present the information for interpretation by a future surveyor.

How will LINZ processing staff assess plans as they come in?

LINZ staff will be trained on the new Rules requirements and will be provided with appropriate guidelines.

Will LINZ be updating the plan examples on their website?

The plan examples on the Landonline website are actual surveys. We will add new plans as appropriate examples become available after the Rules are implemented.

Does LINZ have plans to address publicity of the new Rules to a wider range of people (eg legal profession, real estate industry) for strategic planning purposes?

Yes. We have a full communications plan. We have already commenced discussions with key customers such as software developers.

When doing RTK GPS surveys it makes sense to use the PositionNZ service. We have to send the data to LINZ for processing – has any thought been given to providing an online processing facility?

LINZ is currently developing an online GPS post-processing service. This service, expected to be available in 2010, will process static GPS data only, and will return NZGD2000 coordinates to users. At this stage, if users wish to generate better control from their own GPS observations, these will need to be submitted to LINZ for processing, and comply with relevant LINZ specifications.

A lot of non-surveyor users of cadastral data, such as territorial authorities, assume a higher level of accuracy than what actually exists on a plan. How is it being made clear to people using information from Landonline that the data is not necessarily survey accurate?

We will be talking to other audiences as well as surveyors as part of the Rules transition.