Landwrap June 2014 - Issue 109

Landwrap June 2014 - Issue 109

Changes to software support policy

LINZ is in the process of making changes to its Landonline software support policy.

Currently a range of operating systems, browsers, and 3rd party software components are quoted as ‘supported’ when in reality LINZ have limited ability to provide technical support. This software is installed on users local hardware and LINZ has no control over the system, the software version, routine updates, or any other conflicting software that may exist in the user environment.

The approach going forward will be to test the range of software that is most commonly used to access Landonline and to provide any issues revealed by that testing so that users can make informed decisions when considering a software installation or upgrade.

Examples of Operating Systems as at June 2014 are:

• Windows 7 (77% and climbing fast)
• Windows XP (16% but dropping fast)***
• Windows Vista (next biggest user group, being 3% of users)
• Windows 8 and 8.1 ? (currently very low usage)

Examples of Browsers as at June 2014 are:

• Internet Explorer 89%
• IE 8 (28% but dropping fast)
• IE 11 (27% and climbing rapidly)
• IE 9 (24% and stable)
• IE 10 (13% and climbing slowly)
• IE 7 (8% but dropping slowly)
• Chrome 9%

***The number of users still on XP is a concern, however current rate of decline suggests that most firms are taking security warnings from the IT sector seriously and that numbers will be insignificant by year end. Security risks apply more to the users system than to Landonline.

Testing will include Uniprint and the Citrix Receiver, both of which fall under the category of software that LINZ has no direct control over. Testing will be done by the Landonline IT services provider as a high priority task after Release 3.10, and we are hoping to publish the results on our Web site in July.

LINZ will continue to provide technical support for the actual Landonline software that is delivered via Citrix, and some specific components that we have commissioned and provide for download from our web site. We will soon be updating various support statements on the Landonline website to reflect this change of approach.

Please remember – if you need to use your IT technician to assist you with downloading your digital certificate it is very important that you do not give them your password and passphrase to enter on your behalf. That is in serious breach of the Entrust/LINZ terms and conditions and your digital certificate will be revoked. You must always enter your password and passphrase yourself.

LINZ website refresh

Thanks to those of you who have contributed feedback about the refresh of the LINZ and Landonline websites. We’re now less than three months from the go-live date in mid-September.

The refresh is all about making it easier for you – our customers - to find the information you need from LINZ.

Key changes:

• audience landing pages (eg, for surveyors, and lawyers and conveyancers) have been created so all the information you need is in one place.
• the site will have a more contemporary look and feel
• the site search will return more accurate results thanks to an improved search engine and better metadata
• we’ve included a Knowledge Base, which will hold technical information around the property surveying and transaction processes.

Another key change is that the Landonline and LINZ sites will be merged, which will reduce the need to go back and forth between the two sites for information. However the Landonline log in page and the way Landonline works will not change.

You can find more information at /website-refresh (//www.linz.govt.nz/website-refresh) . This video (//www.linz.govt.nz/node/12500) gives an overview of what we’re doing and why we’re doing it.

If you have a question, please feel free to contact the Digital Services team (mailto:DigitalServices@linz.govt.nz?subject=Website%20refresh) at LINZ.

Seeking your feedback

Customer focus is vital to our business and we appreciate you providing your review of our services.

Some callers to LINZ customer support will have noticed a request to complete a survey at the end of each call. This is an opportunity to give your feedback on what works well and what doesn’t about our service. Your feedback is important to us as we look to continuously improve on meeting customer needs.

Please take the time to participate. The survey only takes a few minutes and your feedback is valued. You can also provide feedback by emailing Customer Support (mailto:customersupport@linz.govt.nz? subject=LINZ%20customer%20support%20survey) .

Advanced Survey and Title Services update

Up-to-date information on the Advanced Survey and Title Services (ASaTS) Programme is now available on the Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) website (//www.linz.govt.nz/about-linz/news- publications-and-consultations/consultation-projects-and-reviews/better-property-services/future- proofing-linzs-survey-and-title-system) .

On the website, you can now get directly to the ASaTS page by clicking the “Find out more” slider on the homepage.

Entering ‘ASaTS’ into the search box will also take you to a shortlist, whereby you can access the programme page.

We will be keeping Landwrap readers informed of programme milestones and important information. To stay abreast of latest developments, bookmark the ASaTS programme page (//www.linz.govt.nz/about-linz/news-publications-and-consultations/consultation-projects-and- reviews/better-property-services/future-proofing-linzs-survey-and-title-system) .

Updates to Canterbury geodetic coordinates

Several hundred geodetic marks in Canterbury will have their coordinates updated at the end of June.

These Order 4, 5 and 6 marks had their coordinates updated using the deformation model as part of the bulk update of Landonline geodetic and cadastral data (the South Island Coordinate Update (//www.linz.govt.nz/landonline-system-updates/south-island-coordinate-update) ), which took place in December 2013. Subsequent analysis has revealed small inconsistencies between coordinates for these marks updated using the model only, and the several thousand marks updated using observations made after the earthquakes. Typically these inconsistencies are less than 0.05m, but this is large enough to cause problems for cadastral and other high-precision surveys.

To resolve this issue, pre and post-earthquake observations have been combined in a single adjustment, using the deformation model. This ensures that coordinates calculated using pre- earthquake observations and the deformation model are consistent with those calculated using post- earthquake observations. The updated coordinates will be added to Landonline and the geodetic database.

In some cases, the combined adjustment indicates that coordinates do not have sufficient accuracy or reliability for the marks to remain as Cadastral Survey Network marks. Such marks will have their coordinate order changed to Order 8 or worse.

For further information, please contact the National Geodetic Office (mailto:CRM_Geodetic@linz.govt.nz?subject=Canterbury%20geodetic%20marks%20update)