LINZ News

In brief

• A total of 324 law firms lodged an e-dealing in September – an increase of 29 on the previous month. Thirty-three of those completed an e-dealing for the first time.
• The e-dealing share of the total e-dealing capable lodgements now sits at 15.5 percent – up 1.6 percentage points from the previous month.
• A total of 113 survey firms lodged an e-survey in September – 13 more than the previous month. Thirteen of the 113 were first time lodgers.
• The e-survey share of the total survey lodgements now sits at 33.6 percent – up 1.9 percentage points form the previous month.

CEO's keynote speech highlights partnership between LINZ and surveyors

Delegates listened intently as LINZ CEO Brendan Boyle paid tribute to the survey profession in his NZIS Conference keynote speech in Dunedin this month.

Titled "From a Prescriptive to a Partnership Approach" the speech focused strongly on the collaborative and maturing relationship between LINZ and surveyors.

Brendan said that together, LINZ and the NZIS have established a world-class survey system that has underpinned New Zealand's development.

"We have mapped the mountains, and laid out the farms and cities. More recently we have charted the deep-sea trenches and surveyed the continental shelf," Brendan said.

"We now have a new challenge. By working together, using best practise models we have the opportunity to consider and deliver the benefits that self-regulation and electronic transactions can bring in terms of innovation and also, over time, reducing compliance costs."

"In the past, changes to standards tended to just happen with some consultation but also ad hoc changes. For the future, I have outlined how the new process will involve you directly in writing standards such as the Surveyor General Rules."

Brendan said LINZ was actively seeking feedback on development, service and support for Landonline, but it could not always deliver as soon as its customers would like.

"For example we have an upgrade due to roll out next month with features requested (by surveyors) over a year ago. Good things take time."

Brendan also raised the need for LINZ to develop and refine feedback mechanisms to monitor customer perceptions and incorporate customer needs and requests into LINZ planning and delivery.

"Landonline developments need to include electronic process and improvements to work practises in both LINZ and surveyor offices."

For background information on customer priorities built into Landonline upgrades please go to these web links:

• July 2004 Landwrap Newsletter - Customer Priorities Built into Landonline Upgrades
• April 2005 Landwrap Newsletter - Prioritisation Framework on the Web

Landonline

LINZ launches new Landonline logon screen

This is what the proposed Landonline Logon screen will look like when you log on in December:

The Landonline Logon page has been changed to make it easier to access important information about Landonline.

The shortcuts on the left of the Logon page include System Updates detailing Upgrade News and Known Issues (providing temporary solutions) regarding those upgrades. Quick Links to regularly used tools will also be there along with useful Registered User information such as Online Support and Training Materials.

For your convenience, Landonline availability messages will be displayed directly on this page.

Many customers have told us they log on directly via the Logon page avoiding the Registered Users page from which this information was linked.

If you have accessed the Logon page by creating a shortcut directly to it, or by selecting favourites on your web browser, you will need to update these to account for the new URL address. Further details will be in next month's Landwrap.

This is the first change to the Logon screen since Landonline was launched to customers in 2000. Landonline currently operates in a Microsoft Windows 2000 environment. The new look is part of an overall move for Landonline to the Microsoft Windows 2003 environment.

LINZ thanks all those firms that volunteered to participate in the pilot group to test and provide feedback on Landonline's performance in the upgraded environment.

Below are the results of the question emailed to 500 Landwrap customers on October 17. A different question will be sent out each month to a sample group of customers, with the results published in the following Landwrap.

Question 1. How do you get to the Landonline Logon page? Please tick the appropriate box or boxes (142)

e-dealing case study

Wellington law firm Foot Law received e-dealing training in January this year. Ten months on, Landwrap spoke to Solicitor Rosemary Tomlinson and Legal Executive Jan Prankerd to hear their views of Landonline.

Rosemary is impressed at the ability that Landonline gives her to prepare documents and complete a transfer and registration for a single-party transaction in under 10 minutes.

"In the paper environment I relied on our secretary to type up and prepare the documents but there's no need for me to wait around now," she says. "With e-dealing I have the flexibility to get on with the job and achieve instant registration. I can push my work through more quickly too. Internal transactions such as refinancing or trust set-ups are a good example.

"Landonline also benefits the client because we pass the reduced registration fees onto them, however I'm very disappointed that so few Wellington law firms e-deal," says Rosemary. "I can't understand the firms I know have done their training yet choose not to use e-dealing."

"Some of our older clients express surprise that there's no paper but as soon as we explain how it's done, they're comfortable."

Jan shares her sentiment saying: "It would be so much better if all law firms would get cracking and get on with it."

"I'd like to be able to use it more," says Jan. "I had a couple of months where we only had paper transactions and when I finally did receive an e-dealing, I felt rusty. It would be so much better if all law firms were e-dealing."

"It's great to be doing a transaction with another e-dealing party. In a multi-party transaction I prepare my documents in advance so they are ready for the other side to complete their documents. It's a lot faster and the registration fee is a lot cheaper for the client."

Jan says eventually, e-dealing will give her a bigger role in the conveyancing process thus helping to take some of the pressure off the firm's solicitors.

"It's enabled me to up-skill and deepen my understanding of the processes behind the transactions."

Jan says she likes the fact that most fields force accuracy through the pre-validation process, "that is the system won't allow you to proceed unless the data is accurate".

Rosemary admits to a few reservations concerning the following:

• an ongoing frustration that some firms are still not e-dealing.
• having to remember "yet another" password
• a fleeting concern that people might become blasé about ticking "the box' rather than having to write in detail
• her ongoing need for reassurance about security

"However, my reservations are not so much about Landonline itself," Rosemary says. "They are more about my thoughts on how I and others use Landonline and I'm sure time will take care of them."

e-survey case study

Wellington surveyor Richard Graham used to make frequent trips from Johnsonville firm Truebridge Callender Beach Ltd to the LINZ office to search title and survey information and lodge surveys.

Thanks to e-survey, those drives are no longer necessary. Richard now does it all online.

"When calculating survey plans we can download a good part of the underlying survey information in LandXML," says Richard.

"Half the information I require for calculations is available on my computer and when drafting plans, most of the work is done for me. It's really just a case of moving the numbers around and making them presentable. "

Richard says the advancements created by Landonline have been hugely beneficial but in his view, there are a couple of weaknesses.

"Landonline is a great office tool but unless you have a laptop out in the field that can be connected to the Internet, you don't have the same level of information with you."

"When I'm in the field I carry the reference survey plans, pre-calculations done in the office and a copy of the travers sheet and peg ties."

"If the system goes down, surveyors can't access any data. Everything stops but as far as I'm concerned the pluses far outweigh any minuses.

"And there certainly are many pluses. When we worked manually we had a draughting team to draw the survey plans. Now we can do the calculations one day, go to the field the next and have the plans drawn within two days."

"It also means our e-surveys are approved by LINZ much faster – anything from two hours to 10 days versus up to three or four weeks for proper plans."

Richard says while Truebridge Callender Beach Ltd will occasionally do large rural projects by hand, most surveyors lodging plans in the firm are all in favour of e-survey.

Processing

Requisition process changes reap rewards

In January 2004 the percentage of paper plans being requisitioned was sitting at around 39 percent. Twelve months after LINZ implemented two key initiatives that percentage has dropped to 23 percent.

National Processing Manager Lindsay Meehan agrees that the overall drop was due in large part to the key projects undertaken in 2004/2005 to help surveyors better understand compliance requirements and reduce requisitions.

The first was a move for LINZ to accept surveys wherever possible, rather than focus on requisitions.

This was achieved by considering the whole data set, with requisitions issued for high-risk errors or omissions only. The change of focus saw LINZ develop new acceptance processes and guidelines for lodgement, validation and approval.

The second key project was to develop a Survey Report Template (SRT) which LINZ did in consultation with professional surveying bodies.

The Survey Report Template has helped create clear, consistent reporting on Cadastral Survey Dataset (CSD) information and the rationale used by the surveyor completing the survey. In addition to assisting the LINZ processes, the SRT helps surveyors clarify the CSD components that need to be the focus of surveyors' quality control and assurance processes.

A later review confirmed that the tools and procedures put in place were successful in reducing the number of survey requisitions.

"LINZ has done a lot of work with the surveying community to reduce requisitions and our organisation will continue to refine those processes," Lindsay says. "For its part, the survey community needs to continually review its quality assurance processes to better manage the errors and omissions still appearing on survey plans."

New Zealand Institute of Surveyors Manager Barry Davidson says the institute fully supports the work LINZ has done to date and is pleased to have been involved in both projects.

"I agree with Lindsay's view that surveyors need to ensure their quality assurance processes are up to standard," says Barry.

To encourage use of the SRT, LINZ temporarily waived the resubmission fee for manual survey requisitions where the SRT had been used.

Lindsay says while evidence suggests that the fee encourages a higher standard of lodgement, and therefore fewer requisitions, LINZ has extended the resubmission fee waiver to December 31. This is to give surveyors time to update their Quality Assurance Processes.

Otago-based Paterson Pitts Partners Ltd Partner Kurt Bowen also agrees with Barry's view that surveyors need to ensure their quality assurance processes are up to standard.

"With the implementation of e-survey and reduced numbers of requisitionable items that LINZ would traditionally check, the onus is clearly on the surveyor to step up and ensure things are correct before lodging a survey," says Kurt.

"Our firm has embraced the Survey Report Template and by using the template we're achieving a greater consistency with our reporting. This has helped us in two ways."

"Firstly LINZ is provided with a clear description of matters relevant to the survey. Secondly, surveyors using this information at a later time will find the survey template layout easier to understand and more consistent with their own reporting practices (assuming they also make use of the SRT)."

NZGD49 Trig Stations Upgraded

Since the roll-out of NZGD2000, LINZ has progressively re-coordinated NZGD49 trig stations in terms of the new datum. This involves the capture and adjustment of geodetic data collected by the Department of Lands and Survey and DOSLI for the establishment and maintenance of NZGD49.

During September and October, 1045 5th Order coordinates for marks distributed throughout the North Island were loaded into Landonline. A further 690 6th Order coordinates were generated where the data did not meet 5th Order standards.

These re-coordinated trig stations are particularly valuable, as they will help provide bearing and coordinate origins in rural areas where there is a lower density of NZGD2000 control. Many of these marks are beaconed and are visible over a wide area.

This completes the initial upgrade of NZGD49 trig stations throughout the country (the South Island was upgraded in 2004). A number of stations failed to achieve 5th or 6th Order and future work will focus on upgrading these stations through a combination of new GPS observations and additional data capture.

Regulatory

LINZ defines the WHAT. The Survey Profession the HOW.

"As little as possible – as much as necessary" encapsulates what LINZ means by optimal regulation LINZ CEO Brendan Boyle told delegates at this month's NZIS Conference.

After posing the question "Why change from a prescriptive approach?" Brendan said the move was deliberate and designed to enable people transacting with LINZ to obtain maximum benefit from new technology, new initiatives and innovation, in an environment demanding reducing compliance costs.

"We need to clarify our respective roles for the future," said Brendan. "LINZ will define what is needed. Surveyors define how to achieve it."

However, he said to achieve the desired benefits, optimal regulation needed to be partnered with a high level of first time compliance. To ensure this synergy, LINZ was engaging more with the survey profession to ensure a better understanding of each others' obligations.

"The challenge to you, the survey profession, is to determine what sort of survey practices and quality assurance you can put in place to promote self-regulation," said Brendan. "That is where your innovation and investment in technology will pay significant benefits, both for you and your clients."

He emphasised how important it is for the profession to take a leading role in survey practices such as how to conduct a survey. Two initiatives he supported were the reviews of two Institute documents – Land Title Surveys, and Surveyor and the Law.

"The Surveyor-General is supporting these developments and much of the content of the Cadastral Survey Guidelines may end up in these publications," Brendan said.

Hot Topics

Step 6 – Certify and Sign

• Remember your password, and the difference between the Landonline password and a Passphrase. If you enter the Passphrase incorrectly three times, the system locks your digital certificate.
• Scroll to the end of the instrument details before moving on.
• Ensure you read all certifications.
• You can go directly to the instrument screen from Workspace. You don't have to open the Create Dealing screen.
• If you expand the tree in Workspace, you can see the status changes to each dealing and instrument by the change to the icon next to the instrument or dealing.
• If you make a mistake, click the Refresh button to clear any prevalidation and signing then start again.
• The Transfer instrument only changes to a status of Signed when both parties have signed.
• Saved work only displays in the My Work folder in Workspace for the Primary Contact who created the dealing. If you are certifying and signing, you need to look in the Supervised Work or All Work folders.
• Landonline will not allow you to certify and sign if you don't have the correct priviledge.
• The black box next to the 'Sign' button on each of the Prepare screens displays the date that the instrument was signed once signing has been completed.
• You can pre-validate both dealings and instruments.
• Certifications in the manual environment are the same as digital certifications in Landonline.
• A message is sent to the other party in the dealing once certification is completed for each multi-party instrument. For single-party instruments, no messages are sent to confirm certification.
• You should print at the certify stage for your records.

Hiding/Unhiding labels in e-survey

Some surveyors are finding that objects they have 'Hidden' on Plan Layout sheets continue to display as greyed-out objects.

Senior Business Analyst Jo Head says once diagrams have been created, labels can be turned on and off for each individual diagram.

"This is useful if you want to show mark names etc on a particular diagram but not have them display on other diagrams," says Jo.

To do this, Select: Menu | View on the tool bar at the top left of the Plan Layout sheet and untick 'Hidden Objects' by clicking on the words. Note that the greyed-out objects do not display on the completed plan image.

To display the objects in grey again, reverse the process and verify that the 'Hidden Objects' are ticked.

Show the 'Hidden' object(s) again by selecting the greyed out ones, multi-select by holding down the Shift key, then right mouse click and select 'Show' from the drop down menu.

The 'Hidden Object' defaults to being ticked. If you save and close the Plan Layout sheets and open them up again later, all the 'hidden' objects will display as greyed-out. Unticking 'Hidden Objects' again will eliminate clutter.

If the greyed-out objects are annoying, click and drag them to the corner of the sheet. If you decide you want to display some of them again, click on them and a dotted line will indicate where their original position was. Drag them back into the location and 'unhide' them.

Guidelines for maintaining Diagram Layers in e-survey

In mid-2005, LINZ provided the New Zealand Institute of Surveyors with guidance for maintaining diagram layers. These guidelines were published in the July Newslink. To assist those surveyors who didn't see the article, we are repeating it below.

The sequence for preparing the plan diagrams for layout is to define the diagrams, then Maintain Diagram Layers BEFORE opening the Plan Layout screens.

Ensure you select the required layers for each diagram or set of diagrams, before going into the Layout Plan sheets. This screen can be opened from within Layout Plan Sheets screen but any edits made here do not take effect until the Layout Plan Sheets is closed and reopened.

• Select Generate Plan I Maintain Diagram Layers
• Click the maintain Individual User Defined Diagrams
• Click in the Name field and select the Diagram type. Highlight the layer type then untick "labels will be displayed"
• Select the layer Type and untick the Labels box to the right
• Click OK

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