The network of Permanent Survey Marks and their spatial positions make up the State Control Survey, which is considered to be a key element in the State's infrastructure. The importance of these marks to the surveying, engineering and related industries has been well documented and identified, and subsequently clauses aimed at protecting survey marks have been added to the Surveying and Spatial Information Act 2002 (Part 5 Clause 24) and Surveying and Spatial Information Regulation 2017 (Part 4 Clause 90).
Detailed information regarding the reporting of status, future destruction and replacement of destroyed survey marks is available from Surveyor-General's Direction No. 11 – Preservation of Survey Infrastructure (PDF 4.0 MB).
SCIMS status report form
The Survey Mark Status Report form is an online form available on our Customer Hub used to report the status of marks.
Survey mark status
It is inevitable that survey marks are destroyed, damaged or difficult to find. It is important that the status of survey marks is reported immediately to enable Spatial Services to supply the industry with current information on marks and ensure that time is not wasted searching for non-existent or damaged marks.
For more information on preserving survey marks, please download the Protecting Survey Marks information sheet (PDF 364.8 KB).
Survey mark status descriptions:
| Destroyed | Physical evidence of the removal of a survey mark, or after examination of all information it is evident that a mark has been moved from its original position (this new position constitutes a new mark requiring re-numbering of the mark). |
| Not Found | Survey mark not found after an extensive search, using all information available but no physical evidence of the removal of the survey mark. |
| Disturbed | Physical evidence of damage to the survey mark that will affect its spatial position (horizontal or vertical). |
| Found | Survey mark found undamaged and in its original position. |
| Spatial Position | The approximate spatial position of some survey marks recorded in SCIMS may be incorrect. Spatial Services would like to be informed of the correct position in the horizontal or vertical planes. This will enable Spatial Services to update SCIMS to ensure the currency and correctness of the data. |
Survey marks to be destroyed
Do not use the SCIMS Status Report form to notify Spatial Services of marks intended to be destroyed. All applications to remove Permanent Survey Marks must be made through the Application for Surveyor-General Approval - Survey Mark(s) Removal form. For full details on this process, please refer to Surveyor-General's Surveyor-General's Direction No. 11 – Preservation of Survey Infrastructure (PDF 4.0 MB).
Contact us
If you require further information or assistance, please contact us at:
SCIMS Customer Support
T: 1300 211 253 (8.30am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday)