Improving survey infrastructure in NSW: Construction of the Eglinton EDM baseline

The Surveyor General is a Verifying Authority under the National Measurement Act 1960 and responsible for ensuring that surveyors use verified measuring equipment. This is achieved, for example, through the provision and maintenance of Electronic Distance Measurement (EDM) baselines. Consequently, the Surveying and Spatial Information Regulation 2012 requires surveyors to verify their measuring equipment in relation to an Australian standard of measurement of length at least once a year. Land and Property Information (LPI) is the sole organisation responsible for constructing, maintaining, monitoring and verifying all these baselines within New South Wales. LPI is currently in the process of improving its survey infrastructure by upgrading existing baselines if possible (to include a larger number of pillars) and building new baselines for the calibration of EDM instruments. This paper outlines the issues that need to be considered in the construction of a state-of-the-art EDM baseline, using the newly constructed 7-pillar Eglinton EDM baseline (located in Bathurst) as an example. Topics covered include site selection, planning, logistics, Work Health and Safety considerations, pillar construction and baseline verification.