30 June 2025
In 2023, Victoria completed the Digital Cadastre Modernisation (DCM) project to digitise and adjust plan and survey information for Victoria’s 4.1 million property parcels. This work to modernise Victoria’s digital cadastre has now helped to uncover more than six thousand previously unregistered permanent survey marks.
Over the last year, Land Use Victoria worked with project partner Jacobs Digital Solutions to run a comprehensive state-wide analysis of back-captured LandXML plans from the DCM project to identify and update unregistered permanent survey marks across the state.
Survey marks are stable reference points in the ground with accurately measured coordinates and heights. They are used by surveyors to define property boundaries, set out development and construction, create maps, and monitor infrastructure and the environment.
This update will benefit surveyors who rely on permanent mark information, and will support improved project planning and survey efficiency, as well as the alignment of surveys and spatial information across Victoria.
Of the 6,227 permanent marks found and registered in this project, 5,516 were located in metropolitan areas and 711 in rural areas. Each survey mark identified through the data was verified using street-level imagery before preparing permanent mark sketches and registering.
This project captured information about permanent marks that surveyors have physically installed and connected to in cadastral surveys but not registered in the Survey Marks Enquiry Service (SMES) online mapping service.
Surveyors from industry and government all have an important role in the ongoing maintenance and improvement of the permanent survey mark network, for the benefit of the surveying industry in Victoria. Surveyors are required to register all permanent marks they install or find in SMES, following the Survey Co-ordination Regulations 2024.
The 6,227 additional permanent survey marks identified and registered through the project are now available for all surveyors in SMES. This brings the total to more than 160 thousand survey marks registered in SMES.
This legacy of the DCM project will continue to improve the accuracy of Victoria’s property data. The project is an example of innovative analysis of this valuable data to deliver additional benefits to the surveying industry.
Page last updated: 30/06/25