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NSW Digital Plans (ePlan)

What is ePlan?

ePlan is the NSW Land Registry Services (LRS) system for electronic lodgement of survey plans. Instead of submitting a paper plan, surveyors submit a LandXML file containing the plan geometry, observations, parcel data, and metadata in a structured digital format.

R3Survey supports the NSW ePlan workflow end-to-end — from importing existing plans and control data, through setting up parcels and legal dimensions, to exporting a validated LandXML file ready for lodgement.

NSW LRS Digital Plan Mandate

NSW LRS is rolling out mandatory digital plan lodgement in stages:

Stage Scope Date
Stage 1 New lots, new roads, survey connections, control marks and connections, natural boundaries 1 July 2026
Stage 2 Reference marks, boundary marks (found and placed), marks gone/not found ~6 months after Stage 1

R3Survey's export covers both Stage 1 and Stage 2 requirements. Monument and reference mark data is included in the export when present.

Known limitations

R3Survey does not yet support all plan types and scenarios. Strata plans, irregular/natural boundaries, height difference schedules, and some advanced easement scenarios are not currently supported. See Known Limitations for the full list and workarounds.

End-to-end workflow

The typical workflow for producing an NSW digital plan in R3Survey:

1. Create the survey plan

Use R3PL to create a new plan and configure the NSW-specific metadata fields — datum, zone, LGA, parish, county, locality, purpose, surveyor, firm, and reference number. These fields populate the LandXML header at export.

See Survey plan metadata for NSW below.

2. Import control data

Use R3IMPORTSCIMS to import SCIMS control marks from the NSW Spatial Services portal. Marks are placed as DBPoints on the SCIMS-CTRL layer with full attribute data.

After import, open R3PROPERTIES and assign datum terminals (X and Y) to the two marks that define the survey datum.

3. Draw or import the survey

Either:

  • Draw boundaries, reference marks, connections, and control traverses on the plan's component layers using R3TRAV and standard AutoCAD drafting tools, or
  • Import an existing plan using R3IMPORTLANDXML

Ensure parcel polylines have the correct XData set via R3PROPERTIES — lot number, class, state, and any other parcel attributes.

Where the legal plan dimensions differ from the drawn geometry (due to rounding, adjustment, or adoption from another plan), use the Dimension Overrides expander in R3PROPERTIES to enter the legal bearing and distance. Use the Survey Method expander to set the observation derivation method (Adopted, Calculated, GNSS, etc.) for each segment.

Use R3SHOWOVERRIDES and R3CHECKOVERRIDES to review overrides before exporting.

See Observation overrides for details.

5. Export the LandXML file

Run R3EXPORTLANDXMLNSW to produce the LandXML file. The exporter writes all plan data and runs XSD schema validation automatically.

6. Validate and lodge

Review the validation results reported in the command line. Fix any schema errors and re-export. Submit the validated file to NSW LRS via the ePlan portal.

Survey plan metadata

The Add/Edit Survey Plan dialog (opened from R3PL or R3PLANLAYERSETTINGS) includes fields that map directly to the NSW LandXML header. Complete these before exporting.

Coordinate system fields

Field LandXML element Notes
Datum CoordinateSystem@datum MGA2020, MGA94, MM (Magnetic Meridian), or Local
Zone CgPoints@zoneNumber MGA zone number (54, 55, or 56)
Orientation Plan CoordinateSystem@desc Only required when Datum is MM — enter the plan number used for orientation
Vert. Datum CoordinateSystem@verticalDatum AHD, MSL, WGS84, or Local
Survey Type SurveyHeader@type surveyed or compiled — controls default observation types
Scale Factor — Combined scale factor (stored for reference, not exported directly)

Note

The horizontalDatum in the exported file is always "Local" per the NSW LRS recipe. Drawing coordinates are local (assumed); MGA coordinates for control marks are recorded separately in RedHorizontalPosition elements.

NSW LRS plan administration fields

Field LandXML element Notes
LGA AdministrativeArea "Local Government Area"
Parish AdministrativeArea "Parish"
County AdministrativeArea "County"
Locality AdministrativeArea "Locality"
Region AdministrativeArea "Survey Region" Urban or Rural (optional)
Purpose PurposeOfSurvey@name Full NSW purpose list — 43 options including Subdivision, Consolidation, Strata Plan, Easement, Redefinition, etc.
Plan Heading SurveyHeader@desc Multiline description of the plan (e.g. "Subdivision of Lot 1 DP 123456")

Surveyor and firm fields

Field LandXML element
Surveyor Personnel@name
Firm SurveyHeader@surveyorFirm
Reference SurveyHeader@surveyorReference
Date AdministrativeDate "Date Of Survey"

NSW LandXML files contain both coordinates and legal dimensions:

  • Coordinates are the spatial positions of points in the drawing (local assumed grid). These are exported as CgPoint elements.
  • Legal dimensions are the bearings and distances as recorded on the lodged plan. These are exported as ReducedObservation elements.

By default, R3Survey computes observations from the drawing geometry. Where the legal dimension differs from the computed value (e.g. due to adjustment, rounding, or adoption), you can enter the legal value as an observation override in R3PROPERTIES. The override takes priority in the exported file.

See Observation overrides for the full workflow.

Drawing layers for NSW LandXML export

The exporter reads entities from specific survey plan component layers. You must draw your survey data on the correct layers for it to be included in the export. Use R3TRAV or standard AutoCAD drafting tools to draw lines on these layers.

Which layer do I draw on?

What you're drawing Component layer Export result
Lot boundaries, road frontages Boundaries (e.g. DP123456_BOUNDARIES) ReducedObservation with desc="Boundary"
Easement boundaries Easements (e.g. DP123456_EASEMENTS) ReducedObservation with desc="Easement"
Lines from boundary corners to reference marks (pegs, DH&Ws) Reference Marks (e.g. DP123456_REFMARKS) ReducedObservation with desc="Reference"
Lines from SCIMS marks to survey corners (connections) Other (e.g. DP123456_CONNECTIONS) ReducedObservation with desc="Connection"
Lines between SCIMS marks (control traverse) Control (e.g. DP123456_CONTROL) ReducedObservation with desc="Connection"

Switching layers during R3TRAV

While in R3TRAV, you can switch component layers with a single-letter prefix at the bearing prompt: b (Boundaries), r (Reference Marks), c (Control), o (Other/Connections). See R3TRAV — Layer change options.

What about the SCIMS marks themselves?

SCIMS control marks are not on a plan layer. They sit on the standalone SCIMS-CTRL layer (imported with R3IMPORTSCIMS or entered manually — see below). The exporter links them to plan points by coordinate coincidence: when a survey plan vertex is at the same position as a SCIMS DBPoint, the mark's MGA coordinates, accuracy class, and uncertainty are included as RedHorizontalPosition elements.

Layers that are NOT exported

The following plan components exist for drawing organisation but are not included in the LandXML export:

  • Traverse — internal survey traverses (used for computation, not lodgement)
  • Adjoining Boundaries — existing boundaries from neighbouring plans
  • Roads — road alignments (road frontages are exported as part of parcel boundaries)
  • Administrative Areas — LGA boundaries and similar

SCIMS control marks and datum terminals

SCIMS marks imported with R3IMPORTSCIMS are linked to the export by coordinate coincidence — when a survey plan point coincides with a SCIMS DBPoint on the SCIMS-CTRL layer, the mark's MGA coordinates, accuracy class, and positional uncertainty are included in the exported file as RedHorizontalPosition elements.

Two marks must be designated as datum terminals (the endpoints of the survey datum line):

  1. Select a SCIMS mark in the drawing
  2. In the Control Point expander in R3PROPERTIES, set the Datum field to X (Terminal A) or Y (Terminal B)

The X/Y labels are used in the UI to avoid confusion with coordinate axes. They are stored internally as A/B and exported as the desc attribute on the corresponding CgPoint.

See also