Land surveys tell us where our land ends and where our neighbour’s begins. However, that is only one of the tasks of a qualified surveyor. You might not know that modern surveyors use computer imaging technologies and satellite links to monitor environmental hazards and changes; they forewarn us by predicting earthquakes, they map deep ocean floors, and they even help police track criminals by providing support at crime scenes. Many of them earn big money and wander to interesting parts of the world.- When a property is bought, sold, invested in or developed.
- If a boundary location is not clear or not known.
- Before undertaking building improvements, like constructing extra buildings, putting up fencing, doing excavation, etc.
- For stopping encroachments by neighbours.
- For establishing rights of way and easements.
- When a survey is recommended by a lending institution for loan/mortgage purposes.
- When trees are felled or cut near the boundary line of the property.
Land surveys tell us where our land ends and where our neighbour’s begins. However, that is only one of the tasks of a qualified surveyor. You might not know that modern surveyors use computer imaging technologies and satellite links to monitor environmental hazards and changes; they forewarn us by predicting earthquakes, they map deep ocean floors, and they even help police track criminals by providing support at crime scenes. Many of them earn big money and wander to interesting parts of the world.
Surveying is no longer a plain, simple technology that it once was, when we saw a person using ordinary-looking instruments to measure a land area. The branches of modern survey science would definitely make us heady just with their names, like Cadastral Surveying, Engineering Surveying, Hydrographic Surveying, Mining Surveying, Geographical Information Systems, Photogrammetrists, Remote Sensing, Forensics, Archaeological, and Geodesy. However, the most fundamental of them, Land Information, still forms the mainstay of the survey industry.
In Australia, all the branches of surveying are not directly covered by legislation, even though many of them are subject to very stringent technical standards and practical guidelines that have been issued by organisations like the Intergovernmental Committee on Surveying and Mapping (ICSM). However, cadastral surveying, which defines the boundaries of all land parcels in Australia, is a state responsibility. Currently, in each state, cadastral surveyors are governed and regulated by statutory boards called Surveyors Boards. Examples are the Land Surveyors Licensing Board of Western Australia, The Surveyors Board of the Australian Capital Territory, The Board of Surveyors of New South Wales, The Surveyors Board of South Australia, etc.
In Australia, land survey can be undertaken only by those surveyors who are licensed by or registered with the Surveyors Boards in their respective jurisdictions. They can legally perform land surveys or cadastral surveys for marking the boundaries of various properties. It will be interesting to note that there are very few boundary litigations occurring in Australia, because of the professional approach and effective techniques of the Australian Surveyors.
Whenever land is subdivided, a property boundary survey becomes essential and unavoidable. A property survey is also taken up under the following circumstances:
When a property is bought, sold, invested in or developed.If a boundary location is not clear or not known.Before undertaking building improvements, like constructing extra buildings, putting up fencing, doing excavation, etc.For stopping encroachments by neighbours.For establishing rights of way and easements.When a survey is recommended by a lending institution for loan/mortgage purposes.When trees are felled or cut near the boundary line of the property.Nearly all the surveyors in Australia are registered with The Institute of Surveyors Australia. Moreover, the Australian Collaborative Land Evaluation Program, which is funded jointly by CSIRO Land & Water and the Natural Heritage Trust, has been working for effective natural resource management in Australia, and has brought out several publications in this regard.
All the required details regarding land survey in Australia can be obtained from these sites. The most interesting point to note is that surveyors are in short supply in Australia.