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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. Strata plans are not supported. Natural/irregular boundaries (creeks, rivers) have partial support — simple scenarios work but complex cases like shorelines may require manual XML editing. 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. You can also create a plan via R3PLANLAYERSETTINGS.

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 R3_PM_A block references on the plan's Control Marks layer with full attribute data (MGA coordinates, GDA class, positional uncertainty, CSF, AHD height).

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

3. Draw the survey

Draw your survey on the plan's component layers. What you need to draw depends on which stage of the NSW LRS Digital Plan Mandate applies:

Stage 1 — lot boundaries, new roads, control traverse, connections, natural boundaries, SCIMS marks, tables, dimensions, and north point.

Stage 2 — adds reference marks, boundary marks (found and placed), existing road frontages, and corner/mark symbols.

The drawing workflow involves specific steps in a logical order — drawing parcels, setting the scale, importing SCIMS, freezing control lines, inserting tables, dimensioning, and more. See the Drawing Workflow for NSW Digital Plans for the full step-by-step guide.

Use R3TRAV for bearing/distance entry, or standard AutoCAD drafting tools (LINE, PLINE, etc.). You can also import survey data from other software packages into the drawing and assign it to the correct plan layers.

Where the legal plan dimensions differ from the drawn geometry (due to closing leg of polyline or you wish to show a different value), use the Dimension Overrides expander in R3PROPERTIES to enter the legal bearing and distance.

Use the Survey Leg Properties expander to set the observation method (default value Measured). This can be used for lines that are compiled for example, or measured by GPS that you wish to show on the plan.

Use R3SHOWOVERRIDES and R3CHECKOVERRIDES to review overrides before exporting.

See Observation overrides for details.

5. Review lot dimensions and validate

Before exporting, check your plan data:

  • R3LOTEDIT — select each parcel polyline to review its leg dimensions, legal area, misclose, and s26(2) compliance. Click OK to save the calculated legal area as an area override. Fix any warnings (self-intersections, duplicate vertices, misclose failures).
  • R3XMLVALIDATE — runs pre-export validation against NSW LRS rules. Select any entity on the plan to check for missing lot numbers, unclosed parcels, missing datum terminals, SCIMS mark issues, and other common problems. Fix any FAIL items before proceeding to export.

6. Export the LandXML file

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

7. Review the exported file

After exporting, run R3XMLREPORT to generate a human-readable summary of the LandXML file. The report includes plan metadata, SCIMS control marks, control traverse, lot dimensions (bearings, distances, and areas), reference marks, and parcel details. Use this to verify that the exported data matches your plan — check bearings, distances, and areas carefully against the drawn plan before lodging.

You can also run R3IMPORTLANDXML to import the exported XML back into a new drawing. This is a useful cross-check — if the imported plan matches the original, you can be confident the export is correct.

8. Lodge with NSW LRS

Submit the validated LandXML file to NSW LRS via the LRS Connect ePlan portal. Review the LRS validation report, fix any issues and re-export if needed, then upload the PDF plan and complete the Digital Forms to lodge the plan.

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.

Component types vs layer names

Each survey plan has a set of component types (Boundaries, Control, Connections, etc.). When you create a plan with R3PL, R3Survey creates a layer for each component using the pattern {planName}_{componentName}. The component name is configurable in R3PLANLAYERSETTINGS, but the defaults are:

Component type Default name Example layer
Boundaries BDYS DP123456_BDYS
Adjoining Boundaries BDYA DP123456_BDYA
Reference Marks RMS DP123456_RMS
Easements EASE DP123456_EASE
Roads ROADS DP123456_ROADS
Hydrography HYDRO DP123456_HYDRO
Administrative Areas ADMIN DP123456_ADMIN
Control CTRL DP123456_CTRL
Connections CONNS DP123456_CONNS
Miscellaneous MISC DP123456_MISC
Symbols SYMBOLS DP123456_SYMBOLS
T0–T4 T0–T4 DP123456_T1 (text tiers)

Which layer do I draw on?

What you're drawing Component type Export result
Lot boundaries, road frontages Boundaries Parcel with class="Lot" + ReducedObservation with desc="Boundary"
New road, reserved road, railway parcels Roads Parcel with class="Road" / "Reserved Road" / "Railway"
Existing road frontages you want dimensioned Roads Set state="adjoining" in R3PROPERTIES
Easement and secondary interest parcels Easements Parcel with class="Easement" / "Covenant" / etc.
Water body parcels (rivers, creeks) Hydrography Parcel with class="Hydrography"
LGA, parish, county boundaries Administrative Areas Parcel with class="Administrative Area"
Existing adjoining lot boundaries (solid lines, dimensioned) Adjoining Boundaries ReducedObservation with desc="Connection" (exported as dimensioned connection observations)
Adjoining boundaries you do NOT want dimensioned Miscellaneous Not exported — use for context lines shown on the plan but not part of the survey definition
Lines from boundary corners to reference marks Reference Marks ReducedObservation with desc="Reference"
Connection lines (dashed) — SCIMS to corners, corner to corner, across roads Connections ReducedObservation with desc="Connection"
Lines between SCIMS marks (control traverse) Control ReducedObservation with desc="Connection" + combined scale factor
Drafting-only linework (not exported) Miscellaneous Not exported

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 placed as R3_PM_A block references on the plan's Control Marks layer (imported with R3IMPORTSCIMS or inserted manually with R3PM). The exporter links them to plan points by coordinate coincidence: when a survey plan vertex is at the same position as an R3_PM_A block, the mark's MGA coordinates, accuracy class, and uncertainty are included as RedHorizontalPosition elements.

Layers that are NOT exported

The following component types are not included in the LandXML export:

  • Miscellaneous — drafting-only linework such as building outlines, context annotations, or adjoining boundary lines that don't need dimensions. Use this layer for anything you want on the plan but not in the XML.
  • Symbols — boundary corner and reference mark symbol blocks (R3_BC_A, R3_RM_A). The blocks are not exported as geometry, but the monument data stored on them (Type, State, Origin) is exported for the point they sit on. See Monuments.
  • Control Marks — R3_PM_A blocks. As with Symbols, the blocks aren't exported as geometry; their SCIMS data is attached to the coinciding control point.
  • T0–T4 — text tier layers for dimensions, labels, lot numbers, and headings. These are annotation layers — the text content is generated by R3DIMS, R3ADDPMLABELS, etc. and is not part of the LandXML export.

All other component types (Boundaries, Roads, Easements, Hydrography, Administrative Areas, Adjoining Boundaries, Reference Marks, Connections, Control) are exported.

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 an R3_PM_A block on the plan's Control Marks 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