New Utility Location Standard released

The Surveyor-General has released a new national standard for recording the position of utility assets, which is now available from the LINZ website. The Utility Location Standard is an important step change for recording the location of utility assets, regardless of whether they are subsurface or above ground. The Standard is intended to provide consistency and confidence in the positional information of a diverse range of utility assets – including electricity, gas, fuel, water infrastructure, and telecommunications.

Modernising the management of utility assets

The Utility Location Standard provides a new framework that defines the position of utility assets in terms of the geodetic control network in the same way as almost all other spatial data.

The Standard requires all positions to be defined in three dimensions, recognising the demand for 3D data – for Smart Cities, Digital Twins, Building Information Modelling, City Modelling, or the 3D Cadastre.

It requires positions to be defined in terms of the NZ Transverse Mercator 2000 (NZTM2000) projection and NZ Vertical Datum 2016 (NZVD2016). The Standard also specifies accuracy classes.

Benefits

This is a national standard that can be applied locally and will enable assets to be managed on a national basis in a consistent way. It is intended to provide positions that are sufficiently accurate for future needs.

The Standard will enable data on asset locations to be accurately recorded and consistently managed. It also has the potential to prevent significant harm and save millions of dollars by helping to: Ÿ avoid collisions or damage from civil works that disrupt services or endanger consumers Ÿ reduce the frequency and expense of utility damage Ÿ support maintenance or repairs of assets

Ÿ facilitate comprehensive spatial planning for land use, infrastructure and environmental protection.

Defining the position of utility assets in terms of the Standard will make it possible to integrate and overlay the information with a wide range of spatial datasets to determine their positions in relation to one another. This includes not only other utility information but property boundaries and aerial imagery.

Consistency and confidence in the positional information is of significant benefit when planning and designing the location of assets; and for relocating and maintaining them.

Use of the Standard

Surveyors should use the Standard when collecting information about the location of utility assets, such as when preparing an ‘as-built’ record.

It is not mandatory to use this standard. Utility organisations and asset managers are being encouraged to require the Standard to be used to record the location of new utility assets; and existing assets as they are serviced.

The Standard does not require existing records of utility assets to be re-surveyed, as this would come at significant expense.

Availability of the Standard

The Standard is available free from the LINZ website. •