Survey standards and requirements
The Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) is responsible for providing standards for surveying in Queensland.
Under the Survey and Mapping Infrastructure Act 2003, DERM can establish standards which registered surveyors must comply with. Surveyors are registered by the Surveyors Board of Queensland.
Current standards include:
Pre-lodgement advice
Pre-lodgement advice request form (PDF, 37K)* .
National standards
DERM works to ensure that published standards are consistent with national and international standards, and actively supports the Inter-Governmental Committee on Surveying and Mapping (ICSM) and Standards Australia.
Standards for control surveys
Control surveys are required to comply with the Standards and Recommended Practices for Control Surveys published by ICSM.
Details of new permanent marks must be provided to the department using the Permanent Mark Sketch Plan Form 6 v3 (PDF, 25K)* .
Standards for cadastral surveys
Standards and guidelines for cadastral surveys in Queensland cover aspects such as accuracy, survey monuments, integration of surveys, methods of lodging the survey records and access to that information.
These standards are available from:
- spatial industry portal that provides integrated access to legislation, standards and other relevant material
- Cadastral Survey Requirements (PDF, 3.7M)*, version 5.0 for a PDF file with higher resolution graphics.
The Registrar of Titles directions for the preparation of survey plans also contains requirements regarding cadastral survey plans.
The Land Act 1994 and Land Title Act 1994 contain special provisions for survey plans of tidal boundaries, which apply to tidal boundary plans lodged on or after 8 November 2005. Chapter 4 of the Cadastral Survey Requirements sets out the requirements for tidal boundary plans.
Find out more information regarding these amendments.
Guidelines for determining the location of the Queensland–New South Wales border are provided in Redefining the Queensland-New South Wales Border: Guidelines for Surveyors (PDF, 547K)* .
Forms approved for use with cadastral plans from 23 October 2008 are:
- Form 10 v2—Plan Registration Compliance Checklist (PDF, 161K)*
- Form 12 v3—Certificate for Survey Records (PDF, 16K)*
- Form 13 v3—Certificate for Cadastral Plans (PDF, 16K)*
- Form 18 v3—Certificate for Cadastral Plans–Compiled (PDF, 17K)*
Please note any survey plan signed after 31 January 2009 must bear the new certificate (Form 13 v3 (PDF, 16K)* or Form 18 v3 (PDF, 17K)*).
Historical standards
Since the first land was subdivided in Queensland, directions and guidance provided to surveyors have been amended over time.
Directions to Surveyors is a collection of the rules, directions, guidelines, memoranda and gazettes provided since 1847, which is held by the department. Though DERM also has references to other documents that have not been located, there may be other documents for which it has no records.
Standards for mining tenure surveys
Survey Requirements For Mining Tenures (PDF, 349K)* contains the requirements for the surveying of mining tenures.
Departmental surveying contacts
For all cadastral surveying enquiries see the surveying contacts.
* Requires Acrobat Reader
Last updated: 16 October 2009