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Survey Infrastructure Protection Program

CITY OF WINNIPEG Geodetic Benchmark Booklet (Redbook) When using the City of Winnipeg's bench marks it is essential that proper surveying procedures are adhered to. The use of multiple bench marks in your survey combined with mathematical checks is strongly recommended. Notice, Disclaimer & Agreement The material contained in this document is for informational purposes only. The City does not warrant or make any representations as to the accuracy of the descriptions, measurements, elevations or other information contained in this document.    By clicking this button to download the Geodetic Benchmark booklet, you acknowledge that you have read and understand the notice, disclaimer and agreement, and you agree to be bound by those terms. Any subsequent access to this web site by means that bypasses this page shall also constitute a reaffirmation and agreement to the following terms and to any modifications or amendments thereto which City of Winnipeg may establish from time to time. Note you may search using Adobe Acrobat to find Streets, Sections, Parks, etc.

The survey infrastructure serves as the foundation for all land development and property ownership in the City of Winnipeg. Used for determining legal property boundaries, elevations and mapping coordinates, the infrastructure is defined by thousands of individual survey monuments placed in the ground and in building foundations.

Survey Infrastructure Protection Program (SIPP) Overview

• The survey infrastructure is made up of two distinct components:
• Legal survey network
• Geodetic control survey network
• Users of the infrastructure include engineers, land surveyors, planners, homeowners, and utilities.
• Construction activity must not damage the survey infrastructure.
• Direct and indirect use of the system affects mapping activity, real estate transactions, zoning enforcement, flood proofing, geographic information systems, and construction in the City.
• It was designed to assist the construction industry in understanding and fulfilling its legal obligations.
• Upon receiving notice of construction, an office evaluation of the project is performed to determine the potential impact of the work on the survey infrastructure.
• As necessary, under the direction of a Manitoba land surveyor, survey monuments are located and marked (and referenced where necessary) prior to construction. The physical condition of those monuments is confirmed upon completion of construction.
• Worth noting, when this program is not used and monuments are found damaged during a construction project:
• The parties responsible for construction activities must prove the damage was not a result of their actions.
• Parties found negligent may be held accountable for restoring all disturbed monuments within the project site.
• A rough estimate of the cost involved to restore a legal monument is $1,000 per monument and $3,000 per control monument.
• In instances where the work is deemed to be of a major nature or where the work forms part of a major project, the responsible parties may be accountable for the protection services.

Contact Information

The Geomatics Branch of the Planning, Property and Development department maintains and restores the survey infrastructure. They provide service to those parties undertaking construction within or adjacent to the street rights-of-way.

• Call the SIPP telephone line at 918-1360 (8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday) to request an evaluation of your construction project
• Notify the Geomatics Branch at least three working days prior to the construction start date

Geomatics Branch Review and Processing

To assist with the evaluation of your construction project, submit construction drawings (preferably in electronic form via email) to the Geomatics Branch.

E-Drawing Submission Requirements

• drawings may be e-mailed to SurveyInfrastructureProtectionProgram@winnipeg.ca
• information to accompany drawing submission:
  • description of drawing version, i.e. AutoCad v14, AutoCad 2000, etc.
  • description of work
  • estimated start date
  • estimated completion date
  • contact person name and phone number
• preferred coordinate system is City of Winnipeg, June 1990, NAD 83, UTM,
• drawings must be referenced to property limits to be processed,
• if drawings form part of a major project, the project must be identified at time of submission of drawings,
• if scope or type of work changes, additional information or drawings must be provided

E-drawing Processing

• applicant will receive information from the Geomatics Branch via return e-mail,
• in situations where the work is deemed to have no impact on the Survey Infrastructure, a statement confirming this will accompany the e-mail,
• in situations where the work is deemed to have an impact on the Survey Infrastructure, returns will consist of:
  • an adobe pdf identifying the specific survey monuments which may be impacted by the work,
  • a statement identifying whether the Geomatics Branch or the applicant will be responsible/accountable for Survey Infrastructure protection services on the project,
  • a statement indicating that the Geomatics Branch shall be notified (918-1360) at least three working days (72 hours) in advance of the start of the work.  In instances where the Geomatics Branch will be responsible for the Survey Infrastructure protection services, an on-site locate appointment will be scheduled at the time of the phone call.

Overview of the Geodetic Control Survey Network

• Approximately 1,700 survey monuments (bench marks) have been placed and coordinated throughout the City of Winnipeg to provide a common vertical reference framework.
• All development (for example, sewer installation, road grades, or residential lot levels) must be undertaken relative to this network.
• The ability to quickly plan and construct dykes to flood forecast elevations during the Flood of the Century in 1997 was possible because this network was in place.
• An additional 1,100 horizontal control monuments have been placed in a rectangular pattern throughout the City.
• Horizontal coordinate values have been determined for these monuments, providing the foundation for the City’s Land Based Information System (LBIS).
• Engineering works, land related information and statistical and demographic data are spatially connected via the network to aid in the planning and development of land and the management of people.

Overview of the Legal Survey Network

• The legal survey network includes approximately 70,000 outline survey monuments.
• Monuments are established by the activities of Manitoba land surveyors and recorded on an estimated 15,000 plans of survey registered in the Winnipeg Land Titles Office.
• Differing from the monuments of the control survey network, which are based on mathematical criteria, these monuments are established using principles of English common law.
• A basic principle of this system of law is the concept of the original position of the monument. It is these original positions that govern the position of every property boundary and determine the legal location of all land parcels within the City.
• The original position differs from the theoretical position (plan position) of the survey monument and may differ from its current position. It is for this reason that the protection of survey monuments, and/or evidence of the original position when the monument is missing, is so important.
• The survey monuments, in their original positions, relate the paper record, such as Certificate of Title to land, to its physical location on the ground and ensure quiet possession to title for residents of Winnipeg.
• A well-maintained network of survey monuments ensures that any activity using the system occurs, or is contained, within its proper location.

Maintenance of the Survey Infrastructure

• The survey infrastructure requires continual maintenance to ensure that it is capable of meeting the demands of its users.
• Horizontal and vertical movements that may affect the accuracy of the survey infrastructure system.
• The greatest threat to the survey infrastructure is construction within or adjacent to the street rights-of-way.
• It is estimated that 30% of the infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, costing potentially millions of dollars in restoration work.
• To manage the infrastructure effectively, the Geomatics Branch developed a Geographic Information System (GIS).
• The GIS links the survey monument database with a graphic mapping software.
• The GIS will ultimately contain both a graphic representation as well as attribute data on all survey monuments within the City.
• The mapping software allows the extents of construction projects to be defined and stored.
• From queries against the database, a report can be generated listing all monument information specific to a construction project. Using this information, field inspections may be undertaken to locate and mark the survey monuments for the construction personnel prior to the start of their work.
• The Survey Infrastructure Protection program was established to ensure that all construction activity is reviewed by the Geomatics Branch using the GIS.

The Criminal Code of Canada 442. Everyone who willfully pulls down, defaces, alters or removes anything planted or set up as the boundary line or part of the boundary line of land is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.  443(1) Everyone who willfully pulls down, defaces, alters or removes a boundary mark lawfully placed to mark any international, provincial, county or municipal boundary, or a boundary mark lawfully placed by a land surveyor to mark any limit, boundary or angle or a concession, range, lot or parcel of land, is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years. The Land Surveyors Act (Manitoba) 58(1) Every person who knowingly or willingly defaces, alters or removes, any mound or landmark, post or monument, placed by, or under the supervision and on the instructions of, a Manitoba land surveyor or a Dominion land surveyor under the Canada Lands Surveys Act (Canada), to any limit, boundary, or angle, of any township or section, or any legal subdivision, lot, parcel of land, on summary conviction, to a fine or imprisonment. The Surveys Act (Manitoba) “outline monument” includes all survey monuments planted to define any special survey made under The Special Surveys Act on the principal of a block-outline survey; all monuments of a permanent character planted in accordance with subsection 112(4) of the Real Property Act, all monuments placed on offset lines to evidence block corners in subdivision surveys, and all monuments defining any road or main highway. All outline monuments, whether defining directly any line or limit or indirectly defining a line or limit as a reference point, are equally public property, and as such shall be kept available to surveyors at any time, and shall not be interfered with by any person or municipality. All persons and municipalities when making improvements, public or otherwise, shall protect all outline monuments from being disturbed in the course of the improvements, and shall provide traps in pavements or sidewalks covering the monuments when necessary to make them easily accessible. Where any improvement is to be made of such a character as to alter permanently the surface grade or to otherwise disturb or render practically inaccessible any outline monuments, the municipality or other person responsible for the improvement shall have a survey made under the direction of the registrar-general referencing the monuments; and during the course of completion of the improvements the monuments shall be restored to their original location or suitable monuments substituted therefore, to the satisfaction of the registrar-general. The registrar-general, upon receiving a report from any surveyor indicating the disturbance in any way of any outline monument, may require the municipality in which the monument is situated to remedy any such disturbance of monuments or surveys to his satisfaction; and if, upon being required to do so, the municipality refuses or neglects to comply with the requirement, the registrar-general shall remedy the disturbance to his satisfaction and the cost thereof shall be paid in the first place out of the Consolidated Fund, and subsequently collected from the municipality through the Minister of Rural Development; but if the cost will exceed the sum of $1000., the registrar-general shall not take the proceedings without the approval of the Lieutenant Governor in Council.

Last update: February 9, 2011

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