Issue link: https://resources.esri.ca/i/778176
and develop products and services that support a digital mapping infrastructure. Serving as the operating agent for SDW is AltaLIS—a joint venture comprised of three Alberta-based consulting companies— Martin Newby Consulting Ltd., North West Geomatics Ltd. and The Silvacom Group. Responsible for the day-to-day activities related to Alberta's base mapping infrastructure, the organization reengineers and updates provincial base, terrain and property data. It has also developed a number of customized, online surveying tools that help surveyors improve the quality of the plans of survey that are submitted to the Land Titles office. With an aim to make Alberta's base mapping infrastructure more available, accurate and affordable, AltaLIS has succeeded in transforming the province's mapping program into a low-cost, self- sustaining initiative, helping to save the province millions of dollars annually. Through their work, spatial information has become centrally stored, efficiently managed and readily available in both CAD and GIS formats, to better support users. Streamlining Plan Integration As a truly progressive province, the Land Titles system in Alberta has been automated since 1988 when the Alberta Land Titles Automation (ALTA) system was first implemented. In 1999, the Plan registration system was also converted to a totally electronic system, including electronic submission, examination, registration, storage and dissemination of over 250,000 survey plans in the province. To create an even more efficient process, in 2010, the Government of Alberta introduced a new requirement for the submission of digital CAD files to be geo- referenced to ensure positional accuracy. "Reduced resources at the Land Titles office coupled with this new requirement drove the development of a Web-based plan checking system that's the first of its kind in Canada," explains William Martin, ALS CLS President, Martin Newby Consulting Ltd. "The Survey Plan Online Checker reduces human intervention and provides an automated process for ensuring the quality and accuracy of survey plan CAD files." SPOC is a Web-based planning system designed to provide Alberta Land Surveyors with the ability to verify that a digital CAD file meets Alberta Land Titles specifications for plan registration. Using SPOC, surveyors can submit their CAD files through a Web-based interface. Displayed with permission • The American Surveyor • Vol. 9 No. 4 • Copyright 2012 Cheves Media • www.Amerisurv.com