Legal survey monuments (survey monuments) mark property boundaries and provide reference points for mapping and construction. The City has a significant network of legal survey monuments that make up the "survey infrastructure".
If you are planning construction or other work that could affect a survey monument, you must contact the City before work starts.
The Survey Infrastructure Protection Program (SIPP) helps identify and protect survey monuments during construction.
Before you start construction
Contact the City’s Geomatics Branch at least five to ten business days before construction starts.
You should contact us if your work is:
- within or next to a street right-of-way
- likely to disturb the ground
- likely to affect a survey monument
- part of a major construction project
You must contact the City even if your excavation is shallow.
What you need to provide
Email your construction drawings to:
SurveyInfrastructureProtectionProgram@winnipeg.ca
Include:
- Description of the work
- Expected start date
- Expected completion date
- Name & phone number
- Drawing version (e.g. AutoCAD or MicroSurvey)
- City Contract Administrator and Bid Opportunity number (if work is part of a City project)
- Drawings that show property limits
If the scope or type of work changes, you may need to provide updated drawings.
What happens after you contact us
The Geomatics Branch reviews your construction plans to determine whether the work could affect survey monuments.
If your work will not affect survey monuments
We will email you to confirm that the work does not affect survey monuments.
If your work could affect survey monuments
We will email you to confirm that the work does affect survey monuments.
You will need to contact us at least five to ten business days before construction starts to arrange an on-site survey monument locate.
We will provide information showing the general location of survey monuments that could be affected by your work.
Survey monuments found during the locate will be marked so they can be identified during construction.
Protect survey monuments
Survey monuments are important because they help establish property boundaries and support mapping, construction and other land-related work.
Do not remove, move, damage or cover a survey monument.
If survey monuments are damaged during construction, you may be responsible for the cost of restoring or replacing it.
The estimated cost to restore a survey monument is:
- Legal monument: $1,500
- Control monument: $3,000
If you contact the City before construction, we can identify existing damaged or missing monuments before work starts. This can help determine whether damage was caused by the construction project and help limit your liability.
About survey monuments
Winnipeg has two main types of survey monuments:
Legal survey network
Legal survey monuments help establish property boundaries. There are 70,000 outline survey monuments in Winnipeg.
These monuments connect legal property records with locations on the ground.
Geodetic control survey network
Control survey monuments provide reference points used for surveying, mapping, and other geographic information.
Laws & regulations
Survey monuments are protected under Manitoba and Canadian law. The Land Surveyors Act and Surveys Act set requirements for protecting survey monuments. The Criminal Code of Canada also includes offences related to damaging or removing boundary markers.
Contact us
Geomatics Branch
SurveyInfrastructureProtectionProgram@winnipeg.ca
204-918-1260
Contact us five to ten business days before construction starts.