Queensland’s CADEx project has reached the completion stage.

The project was begun in 2025 by the state’s Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Manufacturing and Regional and Rural Development.

The aim was to assess the feasibility of using routinely produced CAD files to update the Department’s systems for all kinds of survey plans.

Specifically, the CAD files would be those produced in the normal course of preparing survey plans for lodgement in the land registry or submission to the Department.

With the project now completed, the Department says that “a foundational package has been developed, including a defined data schema and CAD file template, an internal work instruction, an external policy document, and an end-to-end workflow”.

Priority treatment

According to the Department, “Following the submission of survey plans to the department (.PDF or .TIFF) in compliance with section 16 of the Survey and Mapping Infrastructure Act 2003 or lodgement in the land registry (.TIFF), CAD files prepared using the CADEx template can be submitted to the department for priority entry into the spatial cadastre on registration”.

Although CADEx submissions are not mandatory, the Department has said that it will prioritise processing and data updates for CADEx plans.

It says, “This will support refinement of the end-to-end process and ongoing improvement of CADEx templates, policies, and guidance material”.

The CADEx template can be downloaded from the Surveying standards and forms page.

The ‘Survey plan attribute schema and computer aided drafting template’ work procedure (SIG/2026/7331), also is available online.

CADEx-compliant drafting files (.ZIP) can be submitted through the Surveying submissions and enquiries page.