Digital Lodgement of Cadastral Survey Data in Australia - Centre for ...

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owner, rather than being part of a wider land administration system. They were also designed using the best available technology at the time, resulting in a paper-based process consisting of maps, plans and indexes. However, the need for complete and accurate spatial information has meant that plan lodgement now facilitates not only title creation, but also further subdivisional activity, updating of record systems and updating of state Digital Cadastral Data Bases (DCDB). Despite the advances being made in digital technology, lodgement processes in most Australian states have failed to take advantage of this technology, and are still essentially the same as those used 130 years ago. This paper explores the concept of the digital lodgement of cadastral data, which is a method of submission for registration and management of cadastral survey information in an electronic environment (Pearce et al., 1997) and the long term benefits it will provide to the surveying, mapping and land development industries. Pearce et al. (1997) has listed several benefits that are expected to arise out of digital lodgement: • reduce the overall cost of the system to all participants; • extend the applications and marketable uses of registered cadastral survey information; • improve overall efficiencies of lodgement, registration, examination and use of cadastral survey information; • provide ‘absolute’, authoritative and accurate spatial definition of cadastral data to support links to other systems; and • ensure that the system can take full advantage of developing technology. Digital lodgement should not be dealt with in isolation, but rather should form an integral component of a digital survey environment. The main objective of introducing digital lodgement is to contribute to a complete digital environment to efficiently manage and utilise land-related data. This paper will concentrate on the initiatives being made in the area of digital lodgement, particularly within Victoria but also the other states of Australia. It will discuss the results of three questionnaires sent to private surveyors in the states of Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia on their attitudes towards the matter. Lastly it will outline the main issues to be considered in introducing digital lodgement. This paper is the first of two papers concentrating on digital lodgement. The second will discuss the issues that have arisen out of this paper and will include recommended solutions for introducing digital lodgement, with a focus on Victoria. PROBLEMS WITH THE CURRENT SYSTEM IN VICTORIA In Victoria the processes used to lodge data are based on techniques introduced in the 1850s. Thus it is a highly paper-based process, relying on plans and indexes. Essentially it is a linear system whereby the proposed plan must pass through several organisations before it can be registered at a jurisdictions’ Land Titles Office (LTO) and entered into the associated DCDB. This is one of the major setbacks with the current Victorian system, as with most of the Australian cadastral systems, all of which have similar characteristics. The dependent nature of the lodgement process (where it is necessary for the plan to gain approval at one stage before it can proceed to the next) has resulted in a relatively slow and inefficient system, with the possibility of a plan taking up to six months to register, from the original time that the surveyor proposed the development. The lodgement system also relies heavily on many manual processes using large amounts of paper. An example is the ‘bundles’ of information that must be included when lodging the plan at the LTO. Such documentation includes the plan, the certificate of title, a cheque, and an application. Large amounts of paper are also produced in the original survey information search. In reality, all of these items can easily be produced in a digital format with little effort. It would seem that while some areas of the industry are making significant advances in using digital data, there are others which are negating any effects that are being created by these advances. One such example is the collection of data. Many surveyors now collect data in a digital format using data recorders and total stations, and as a result can use this information to produce a digital plan quickly and easily. The benefits to be gained from this are soon counteracted as the surveyor must produce paper copies of the plan, of which the information is then re-entered into both the LTO and the state’s DCDB as digital information. Similarly, the information is also re-entered in several different databases maintained by the referral authorities and councils, leading to a significant amount of duplication. The number of different computer systems used throughout the whole lodgement and registration process is also an issue. The Victorian LTO itself has three different systems, all of which are incompatible with each other although this problem is being partly addressed with two of the computer systems being replaced by a new platform. In this case, care must be taken to ensure
the compatibility of these internal systems with those from interacting agencies, to provide a quick and easy flow of data between organisations, as there are several other digital systems used by surveyors, the referral authorities and the DCDB custodian. Although this shows an effort to shift to a digital environment, the systems are not integrated, thus limiting the efficient flow of data. It is important that any attempts to convert manual processes to digital are done with care and consultation with stakeholders. This can be demonstrated through one approach several years ago. The leading water authority in Victoria requested that surveyors had to submit all of their plans with more than ten lots in a digital format. Although this appeared reasonable, it was argued that the scheme was not implemented very successfully, as it was designed purely to fit in with the water authority’s requirements, rather than the surveyors’. The surveyors were asked to prepare their plans using specified software, resulting in some having to acquire new software. This was deemed to be quite unreasonable, and has made many surveyors skeptical of the need for digital lodgement. The Survey Mark Enquiry Service (SMES) provided by Land Victoria (the primary government organisation dealing with land administration in Victoria) is another example of how a digital environment does not necessarily provide the best solution. Although there are obvious problems such as a lack of control marks, many surveyors have reported the program to be cumbersome to use, with many preferring to use manual methods. This highlights the fact that any digital system being introduced must be user-friendly in order to gain the most out of a digital environment. A significant anomaly with the land registration system in Victoria is the fact that each plan has two identifiers, being the volume and folio, and the plan and lot number. This stems from the introduction of the Torrens system of title registration, when paper plans were numbered with special folio numbers permitting an indexing system to be used to store and access the data. Theoretically, the volume and folio number is only used for storage purposes, and is not a unique identifier for a parcel. It would therefore seem logical to eliminate the volume and folio number in a digital environment, and rely on one unique identifier. This needs to be done carefully recognising that such a change is complicated for historical reasons. Land Victoria is implementing the Spatial Parcel Identifier (SPI) project to rectify this issue. Although this summary focusses on Victoria, many of the other Australian jurisdictions are similar, and thus experience similar problems. It has been shown that current plan lodgement and registration systems are inadequate for the demands being placed on spatial information today. Although there have been attempts to convert to a digital format, many systems are still essentially paper based, and will benefit in many ways by the inevitable conversion to a full digital environment. DIGITAL LODGEMENT INITIATIVES IN OTHER JURISDICTIONS Several jurisdictions are recognising the benefits of shifting into a digital land registration environment. The evaluation of these systems provides a valuable understanding of the direction in which digital lodgement should head. The jurisdictions that have been reviewed in this paper are the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and New Zealand. Australian Capital Territory In the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), surveyors are required to lodge their plans in a digital format to two agencies – the ACT Land Information Centre (ACTLIC), and the Office of the Chief Surveyor. This has resulted in 99% of all cadastral information initially lodged in a digital form to the ACT Land Information Centre. Surveyors are required to lodge plans in digital format to ACTLIC, for submission to ACTMAP, which is the ACT’s digital cadastral land information system. The surveyor carries out the calculation of the data, and then forwards the plan to ACTLIC in digital format, usually in a digital exchange format (DXF) file, or a Microstation drawing file (DWG) format in ACT Grid coordinates. ACTLIC then validates and approves the data before inserting it into ACTMAP. The steps taken to update ACTMAP include three stages – massaging which names polygons, adds attributes and ensures that all styles in the plan are correct; checking which carries out 18 data integrity checks; and data transfer, which adds time/date stamping to each block allowing for incremental updating (Weaver, 1998). Surveyors are also required to lodge all plans, both in digital and hard copy format, to the Office of the Chief Surveyor for examination. The examination process is carried out electronically using ACTMAP's cadastral base and data sets of Survey Control, Road Base, Utilities and Building Footprints. After examination, plans are registered at the Registrar General’s Office as a Deposited Plan (DP). The DP is scanned, and the compilation of all DPs forms the DP database held in the Registrar General’s Office (ACTLIC, 1998).
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