Across Australia, councils are shifting how they manage public assets, moving away from static plans and toward GIS-based systems that track real-world data over time.

As this shift accelerates, A-Spec data standards are becoming a default requirement.

One company, Perth-based RM Surveys, is helping meet that demand by delivering GIS-ready datasets that make asset handover smoother, cleaner, and council-compliant.

“We’re seeing more and more councils require A-Spec data before they’ll accept an asset from the contractor,” said Matt Dowell, GIS Surveyor at RM Surveys.

“They want more than just an as-constructed drawing. They want to know exactly what assets they have, where they are, what they are made of, and when they were installed — and it all has to plug straight into their GIS.”

A-Spec is a nationally recognised specification framework for submitting asset data to local government. It includes standards such as R-Spec (roads), D-Spec (drainage), and O-Spec (open space).

“When a contractor finishes a park — turf, trees, play equipment, mulch — the council needs a full breakdown of what’s on-site, down to the volume of mulch or the type of bench installed,” said Dowell.

“We turn their survey into a GIS dataset with all the right attributes, so the council can upload it straight into their system.”

RM Surveys is one of only a few companies in Western Australia providing A-Spec data preparation as a standalone GIS service.

For RM Surveys, this is part of a broader industry trend: councils are becoming more sophisticated in how they manage spatial data and more selective about the quality they accept.

“GIS used to be a back-end tool, but now it’s front and centre,” said Dowell. “We’re just making sure the data going in is accurate and council-ready from day one.”