The Information Age and Surveying

The world of information and the internet have provided us with the benefits of access to vast amounts of information available at the click of a button but we can also suffer from taking onboard information that is incorrect, unsubstantiated or misleading. Sourcing reliable information is critical in the surveying and land development industry. Some of this information comes at a price but with the freeing up of Government data sets, some costs are being eliminated.

In the surveying profession we collect new information from the land/site under development, gathering electronically measurements, recording notes and taking photos. We also search out supporting information such as previous surveys, land tenure information, council as constructed data and maps, aerial photography and other GIS data sets that assist us in preparing plans or in making assessments regarding the potential of the site for development. We do not and can not rely solely on our own information but depend on information held by government departments or Local Council offices. This data is correlated in quality assessment procedures and used to verify field measurements.

The ease of access to land information has improved over the years. Internet upload and download speeds have increased tremendously and we now also have information supply companies who specialise in providing online searching with smart tools and/or maps to facilitate searching. We also benefit from modern survey equipment with new inbuilt technologies, GPS and devices such as UAV’s which improve the ease in which we can gather information. The wealth of information provided by government departments, such as the Queensland Government’s Department of Natural Resources and Mines as part of the government’s Open Data Initiative has provided greater resources to many professions across the country.