A Review of a cadastral boundary adjustment software program

Abstract

[Abstract]: The surveying profession continues to suffer from a shortage of personnel in a time when demand for surveyors is increasing. Concurrently, the ongoing improvements in surveying technology have been proven in making surveys more efficient, thereby passing time savings on to clients and the general public who rely on an accurate system of land ownership. The current system of re-establishing boundaries in Australia is based on survey monument evidence, and relies on the education and experience of a Registered Cadastral Surveyor to make sense of this evidence. Given the shortage of surveyors, there is concern that surveying services may not be provided in a timely manner, or worse, that extra pressure on surveyors may lead to cases of incorrect boundary reestablishment. This project aims to investigate the potential for recent software technology to perform the boundary re-establishment process, with a view to alleviating the Registered Surveyors workload. To achieve this aim, a capable software program will be used to re-establish several general boundary problems, and these answers will be compared to that of a Registered Cadastral Surveyor and long established reinstatement doctrine. Results will show that in some of the tested scenarios the software solutions are the same as the human results, but many were found to be in disagreement. It will be observed that the methods used by the software in solving such problems are, although mathematically sound, not capable of the analysis and reasoning of a Registered Surveyor. This project will provide a foundation for future research into the programming of boundary reinstatement software, and will enable informed decision making in surveying practices as to the potential for this software to alleviate staff workloads.