The private surveyor as a spatial data custodian in the local community

Abstract

With approximately 2200 land surveying businesses in Australia, service differentiation is increasingly focused on the implementation and use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as a business enabler. However the surveying profession does not appear to be using the available tools to leverage their extensive spatial knowledge to the benefit of their clients and the local community. The surveying industry is an important source of up to date spatial data for both direct clients and the wider national spatial data infrastructures. Some surveying firms already use GIS as a tool for delivery of services and value adding to existing products. This paper investigates the feasibility of expanded use of GIS technologies by more surveying firms to meet emerging client and community expectations for spatial data. A questionnaire was distributed to a sample of surveying and spatial information businesses in order to assess their capacity and constraints in contributing to the wider spatial data infrastructure. The results demonstrated that it is feasible for surveyors to implement GIS using the project toolbox model in order to manage some of their data. However, it appears that diffusion of GIS technology is not yet pervasive across the industry, indicating that the wider goal of demonstrating custodianship capability for the local community is not yet achievable. While there appears to be a number of constraints to implementation, they are predominantly within the control of the surveyor.