News

LINZ farewells Sharon Cottrell

Customer Services' General Manager, Sharon Cottrell, is heading off to pastures new at the end of July 2009.

Sharon is retiring from the public service after 13 years at LINZ. Initially appointed General Manager Policy, Sharon moved into the role of General Manager Operations in 2002, which later became Customer Services.

"My career at LINZ has been extremely satisfying," says Sharon. "I have enjoyed many achievements, and reaching the final milestone of 100% e-lodgement was undoubtedly a major achievement not only for LINZ but for me personally.

"I have appreciated meeting many of our customers along the way, especially during the earlier roadshows when e-dealing, e-survey, and the 100% e-lodgement programme were first launched. It has been immensely satisfying to help you all come to grips with Landonline, and see you gain business efficiencies as a result."

Photo: Sharon Cottrell, outgoing General Manager Customer Services

Chief Executive, Colin MacDonald, says Sharon has made a tremendous contribution to LINZ. "Landonline would not be where it is today without Sharon's dedication and the huge amount of work she has put in. Many other areas in LINZ have also benefited from Sharon's expertise. She will be sadly missed, and we wish her all the best for her future endeavours."

Sharon's successor has been appointed and will be introduced in next month's Landwrap.

Impact of Fiordland earthquake on NZGD2000

On Wednesday 15 July 2009, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck south-west Fiordland. Although the epicentre was in a very isolated area, the impact of the earthquake spread over much of the southern South Island.

It is the most significant earthquake since the introduction of New Zealand Geodetic Datum 2000 (NZGD2000), and its effects have been detected at a number of the PositioNZ permanent Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) stations in the region. Significant shifts have been detected at Puysegur (30cm), Mavora Lakes (5cm), Bluff (3cm), and Alexandra (2cm).

Figure: Time series for Puysegur PositioNZ station (PYGR), with the 30cm movement shown inside the blue circle. Plot provided by GNS Science.

These shifts indicate that the earthquake had an impact on areas where significant numbers of surveys are occurring. For example, preliminary modelling carried out by GNS Science indicates approximately 10cm of movement at Te Anau.

Next steps

LINZ and GNS Science are currently carrying out a GPS survey, re-occupying a number of deformation monitoring marks in Fiordland and Western Southland. This data will be used to provide a more accurate model of mark movements in the area. This information will eventually be incorporated into the National Deformation Model (NDM) associated with NZGD2000.

This will be the first time the NDM has been updated to account for an earthquake. Since post-seismic displacement can occur for a considerable period after an earthquake, an updated model is unlikely to be published until at least early 2010.

Impact on surveyors

For the vast majority of surveys in the affected area, the earthquake will have no noticeable impact. Over the relatively small areas covered by most individual surveys, mark movements will all have the same magnitude and direction.

For example, a cadastral survey carried out in Te Anau using standard cadastral surveying techniques (conventional traversing or short baseline Real-time Kinematic GPS) is unlikely to be affected by the earthquake, as the existing marks used in the survey will all have moved by nearly identical amounts.

However, if a survey incorporates long baseline GNSS observations (such as ties back to a PositioNZ site), there are likely to be inconsistencies between coordinates generated in the survey, and existing NZGD2000 coordinates contained within Landonline and the Geodetic Database. In such cases, it is particularly critical to tie into some local geodetic control so that the extent of the discrepancies can be reliably determined, and appropriate action taken.

Landonline News

Update on Landonline's infrastructure upgrade

As advised in June, we have been working with the small number of firms that were unable to access Landonline following the infrastructure upgrade in early June. Nearly all of these firms can now access Landonline via the new logon page.

To ensure the issues are resolved, and all firms can log on, we are running a controlled test for two half-days during Landonline operating hours in the week beginning 3 August.

We do need to implement this upgrade, and encourage you to log on during the test times to be sure your firm has access to the new environment.

What you need to do

On Monday 3 August and Thursday 6 August, please follow these instructions:

1. 7am until 12.20pm – Log on as usual to logon.landonline.govt.nz
2. 12.20pm – Log off from Landonline. This will allow us to make any required component changes.
3. 1.00pm – Log back on to logon.landonline.govt.nz

Every effort will go into ensuring that the disruption to Landonline is minimised.

From Monday 10 August

If the controlled test goes well, we will begin to migrate customers to the new environment from 10 August. From that date, customers will no longer be required to complete the username field, which will be removed.

Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 update

In June, we advised that we were about to formally evaluate the operability of Microsoft's latest web browser, Internet Explorer 8 (IE8), with Landonline.

Testing has been successfully completed, and support for IE8 running with Windows XP Professional (with Service Pack 2 installed), and Windows VISTA Business and Ultimate only (with Service Pack 1 installed) is now available. Please note that IE8 does not run with Windows 2000.

Although LINZ currently supports web browser IE6, this support will end within the next few months as IE6 will no longer be supported by Microsoft.

For a list of current operating systems that operate successfully with Landonline, please refer to the System support policies: what LINZ supports section on this website.

Landonline customer feedback received

Survey and title customers have had their say about Landonline and the benefits of electronic lodgement in an online questionnaire sent out early July.

The questionnaire has now closed, and the results are being collated.

Kerri Osborne, Manager Customers, is pleased with the response. "More than 28% of customers filled in the questionnaire, which is a really good outcome for an online survey. The results are now being collated, and we will share these with you at a later date.

"I would like to thank all those who took part. Your input will help us improve our service delivery to you going forward."

Regulatory News

Seminars to introduce the new Rules for Cadastral Survey 2010

LINZ will be running a series of seminars during September and October 2009 to inform surveyors and their staff of the changes to the Rules, and the implications for cadastral surveys.

The Rules were finalised in June following public consultation, and are planned to come into force in May 2010.

The seminar programme is as follows:

For more information about the seminar venues, and to register, see New Rules for Cadastral Survey 2010 on the LINZ website.

The new Rules, and a document explaining the significant changes, 'Introducing the new Rules for Cadastral Survey 2010', will be published on the LINZ website prior to the seminars.

Survey firms consider audit process "essential" to profession

The Cadastral Survey Act 2002 requires the Surveyor-General to audit compliance by licensed cadastral surveyors with the Rules for Cadastral Survey. LINZ's audit process involves a combination of field audits, and an assessment of a survey firm's quality assurance (QA) processes and controls.

The objective is to help firms improve their QA practices, and to provide the Surveyor-General with better assurance of compliance with the Act and Rules.

Landwrap talks to two survey firms that have recently been through LINZ's audit process to find out if it has impacted on their business, and what changes, if any, they have made as a result.

Cuttriss Consultants in Lower Hutt was audited at the end of 2008. Director Colin McElwain says although he was a bit nervous initially, the audit went well for his firm.

"Findings of the audit were quite positive for us, and we were happy with the way the whole thing went," says Colin. "We have good processes in place anyway, but it made us focus on having good documentation, and to clarify how we go about things. We're implementing a more formal QA system across the company, which will be helpful for the sake of continuity and consistency."

Senior surveyor at Cuttriss, Karl Wilton says, "The audit confirmed we were doing the right things, that our checking processes are what's required, and are achieving what they're supposed to."

Colin says having a good QA system is especially important for younger staff training to become licensed cadastral surveyors. "There's a lot of responsibility that comes with signing datasets, and the audit has reinforced the regulatory requirements."

A point that Bob Lendrum, principal of Lendrum & Associates in Upper Hutt, audited a year ago, agrees with. "We thought we had a good QA system, but the audit showed that some of our business practices weren't quite up to scratch. I now keep a closer eye on my graduates' work. Because I'm familiar with most of the areas we're working in, I know straight away if their bearing control isn't quite right, so I send them back out. It comes down to experience more than anything else."

LINZ's audit process consists of an initial questionnaire followed by scrutiny of four surveys, two of which LINZ selects and the other two the firm put forward. Two of these surveys involve field audits. Results are then discussed at a meeting with the firm, and included in the final report.

Kris Gough, senior surveyor with Cuttriss, says the audit highlighted the need for good processes. "Particularly with field audits," says Kris. "They are very thorough. LINZ will dig up marks to make sure they're the right length. There's no hiding, so it's advisable to front up if something isn't quite right."

Asked what other advice would be useful for survey firms yet to be audited, Bob says, "Make sure you have all your checks in place, and don't take short cuts. Be careful about putting too much pressure on non-licensed cadastral surveyors as this can cause mistakes.

"Auditing is an essential part of surveying. I didn't think much of the process when I was younger, but I now understand it's necessary. It's got to be rigid, and it's got to be more often."

"We're pleased that the audits are being carried out," says Colin. "It's important to ensure standards are being maintained. It's important that the audit process continues, as it keeps us on our toes. Not getting it right costs time and money."

Kris says the audit process helps maintain the profession as a whole. "It identifies those who are taking short cuts and not doing the job properly. Ninety-nine percent of surveyors take pride in what they do. We like to see good results for both clients and the profession."

Next month, Landwrap will look at the audit process from an e-dealing perspective.