Landwrap November/December 2009

News

Change to monthly invoicing

From 1 January 2010, Landonline customers will receive a single monthly invoice for LINZ charges instead of two invoices received currently.

One monthly invoice, sent out at the end of the month, will outline all transactions for the month - simplifying the process for both customers and LINZ. Some customers have been confused by receiving two invoices as well as a monthly statement. The new system will allow customers to reconcile their transactions more easily.

Please note that invoices for December 2009 will not be sent out until early January 2010 due to the Christmas break.

Landwrap publication dates for 2010

Following are Landwrap's proposed publication dates for next year.

You may wish to put these dates in your diary to ensure you receive up-to-date operational, product and service information about Landonline.

Please note that these dates are indicative only and may change depending on events.

Keep your details up to date

To ensure Landwrap reaches you each month, it's important to keep your contact details current. See the instructions on how to change your contact details in Landonline on this website.

Landonline

Landonline and Customer Support Christmas and New Year hours

Season's greetings to all Landonline customers from the team at LINZ.

Landonline and Customer Support will operate normal business hours leading up to the Christmas holidays.

On Thursday, 24 December 2009, both Landonline and Customer Support are scheduled to close at 5pm, and will be available again in the New Year from 7am on Tuesday, 5 January 2010.

LINZ's processing centres will close for business on 24 December at 4pm and reopen at 9am on 5 January.

Release 3.3 rollout successful

Landonline Release 3.3, the second maintenance release for this year, was successfully implemented on Monday, 2 November 2009.

"Release 3.3 rolled out very smoothly thanks to the planning and effort of LINZ and our suppliers, as well as the assistance of Landonline customers during the testing phase," says Ron Munro, Manager Customer Systems.

Detailed information on changes to Landonline for Release 3.3, including known issues, is available in the Landonline System Updates section on this website.

Spatial functionality issues in Landonline

Spatial blade

Landonline was unavailable to customers for most of the day on Friday, 2 October 2009, and all day Saturday 3 October, due to problems with the spatial 'blade' function in the Landonline database engine. The spatial function performed by this blade is used by all customers in both the survey and titles area (not to be confused with the spatial window).

A new software patch for the spatial blade was fully tested then implemented on the evening of Wednesday 30 September to resolve a problem encountered earlier in the year. No problems occurred during Thursday, but on Friday, a problem did occur when the new blade loaded into a different memory location.

The faulty blade was removed Friday night and the previous blade reinstalled. Our technicians spent Saturday testing the reinstalled blade. A new blade will now be delivered in the form of a general release (rather than a patch) in 2010.

Spatial window

Landonline customers may recall problems experienced with the spatial window function of Landonline in early October 2008.

We advised in the October 2008 edition of Landwrap that an upgrade was made to the supporting GIS software used by Landonline and that while testing went smoothly, some customers (mainly survey) had problems. A subsequent security-related time clock setting configuration was implemented within the GIS software that fixed the spatial window.

An independent review of the incident was undertaken, the recommendations of which have been actioned to ensure this does not happen again.

Reminder to log off before Landonline closes

Landonline customers are reminded to log off Landonline prior to closing at the end of the day to avoid being disconnected.

Following are the hours Landonline is normally available:

Prompts to log off

Prior to Landonline closing at the above times, customers will receive two prompts to log off – one at ten minutes, and then again at five minutes. If you do not log off prior to closure, you will be disconnected.

You can find more information about Landonline's availablility on this website.

Regulatory

New Rules for Cadastral Survey 2010 – some impacts for land professionals

The new Rules for Cadastral Survey 2010 are due to come into effect in May 2010.

The Rules are directed primarily at licensed cadastral surveyors, therefore many of the changes from the current Rules will only directly impact on surveyors.

However, there are a few changes such as the following that could also have an impact on land owners, their agents, and users of cadastral surveys.

Rights of way

It will still be a requirement to peg new lots and sections in most cases. However, it will no longer be a Rules requirement to peg Rights of Way (ROW). This is consistent with the current requirement for other types of easements. Pegging ROW boundaries will be optional depending on owner, user, and possibly territorial authority requirements.

New titles for 'balance' parcels after public works acquisitions

The current exemption from depicting the balance parcel on some legalisation surveys for public works acquisitions will no longer apply under the new Rules. When part of an existing parcel is being taken (e.g. under the Public Works Act), the remaining part of that parcel will have to be dealt with as a new section and will require a new appellation. This will allow LINZ to cancel the existing title and issue a new title to the registered proprietor of the remaining land when the acquisition is registered, as envisaged by section 57(4)(c) of the Public Works Act 1981.

New appellation formats

Some parcel appellation formats will change (Rule 5.5), for example easement parcels, and some other similar parcels such as covenants and flats will be labelled 'Area (followed by a letter or letters)'. Legal documents will need to reflect these and the other new appellation formats as shown on survey plans.

Movable marginal strips and esplanade strips will be depicted as parcels in a similar manner to easements. The appellation will indicate the type of strip followed by one or two letters.

For more information, including a comprehensive list of changes, see the New Rules for Cadastral Survey 2010 section on the LINZ website.

Ensuring a survey under the current Rules also complies with the new Rules

During the seminars introducing the new Rules for Cadastral Survey 2010, a list of steps was presented to help surveyors ensure that a survey being undertaken in terms of the current Rules might also comply with the new Rules.

This list has been reviewed and expanded and is now available on the LINZ website (pdf 63KB).

The Interpretation Guide to the Rules for Cadastral Survey 2010 is expected to be completed before Christmas. An email will be sent to all Landonline e-survey users when the Guide is available.