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Queensland’s spatial cadastre (land boundary) and location (street) address datasets are changing for the better!
From a planned date of 1 July 2025, the current Digital Cadastral Database (DCDB) and Queensland Address Management Framework (QAMF) systems and datasets will be migrating to entirely new systems and datasets.
The DCDB, where spatial cadastral data is presently managed and maintained, will be replaced by the Queensland Spatial Cadastral Fabric (QSCF) environment.
QAMF, where location addressing data is presently managed and maintained, will be replaced by the Queensland Address & Location Information (QALI) environment.
When is it happening?
QSCF and QALI are scheduled to go live by 1 July 2025.
Once migration of data from DCDB to QSCF is complete, which is currently estimated to take approximately two (2) weeks, updates for these cadastral datasets will resume. Target for DCDB update resumption is 6 June 2025.
Delays to the provision of data and data services are unfortunately unavoidable during transition to new systems. Our teams will be working hard to minimise disruption.
Transition from QAMF on 1 July 2025 is anticipated to be seamless. However, the following location addressing datasets provided via QSpatial, Open Data Portal, Queensland Globe, Queensland foundation data web service, and other platforms and services may be temporarily impacted:
Delays to the provision of data and data services are unfortunately unavoidable during transition to new systems. Our teams will be working hard to minimise disruption.
What’s the plan?
Migration of spatial cadastral data from the DCDB to QSCF is anticipated to take approximately two (2) weeks, commencing 20 May and concluding by 6 June.
During migration
Ceasing update activity in the DCDB will allow the most up-to-date data, representing approximately 3 million land parcels across Queensland, to be migrated to QSCF, while reducing the risk of disparity between the old and new systems.
During this time, our cadastral teams will continue to update spatial cadastre data in an “offline” version of QSCF. One migration from DCDB to QSCF is complete, this offline data will be uploaded into the online QSCF, swiftly bringing Queensland’s spatial cadastral data up to date.
After migration
By 1 July 2025, it is expected that QSCF will be fully operational and functioning as the replacement for DCDB.
However, for an estimated 6 months from early-June, DCDB data will be synchronised from QSCF, ensuring business continuity and giving other information systems ample opportunity to connect directly to QSCF.
Future state
New QSCF datasets, with enhanced features and functionality, will be available by end-2025. Sample datasets will be provided in advance for testing and assessment. More information will be made available soon.
Legacy DCDB synchronisation will continue to be provisioned for at least 6 months, giving users time to take advantage of QSCF enhancements in their own systems.
Migration of location addressing data from QAMF to QALI is anticipated to be far less disruptive, and is planned to take only 24 hours at most.
The nature of location addressing data means that the new QALI datasets will be functionally identical to existing QAMF datasets, with enhanced features (detailed below) available immediately.
What do I need to do?
Interruption to DCDB, anticipated to last approximately two weeks from 20 May to 6 June, will not impact downloads or functionality from current platforms and services (noted above). Spatial cadastral data will remain available but will temporarily not receive updates.
After data migration is complete, DCDB data will be synchronised from QSCF, ensuring business continuity and giving other business systems ample opportunity to connect directly to QSCF. This synchronisation will cause some delays to updates in DCDB, while updates in QSCF will be far more timely.
What does this actually mean for me?
No new lot/plan (parcel) data will appear in the DCDB between 20 May and 5 June. All existing pre-20 May data will remain available and searchable.
(Note: The 13-day “no update” window is within the usual timeframe for new lot/plan and parcel data to appear in the DCDB, so actual disturbance to business processes should be minimal.)
During the DCDB “no update” period, lot/plan and parcel updates for new parcels and adjusted parcels will continue to be performed in an offline version of QSCF.
Commencing 6 June, this offline version of QSCF will be imported into the online version, allowing QSCF to be brought rapidly up to date with new parcel data.
Commencing 6 June, work will be undertaken to synchronise QSCF with the DCDB.
You will be able to search and access new DCDB data ASAP (e.g., within a week) of 6 June.
Why is this being done?
The existing DCDB is a custom-built (“bespoke”) technical environment that is over 30 years old, using systems and architectures that are outdated, not fit-for-purpose, and extremely expensive and difficult to support and maintain. Information technology systems fitting these criteria are referred to as “deprecated”.
The DCDB is incapable of handling three-dimensional (3D) data, and is extremely limited in its ability to ingest, maintain, and represent the precise, timely and comprehensive spatial cadastral data that our users require.
Data generated and provided by Queensland’s surveyors, such as distance and bearing information, which is required by the Survey and Mapping Infrastructure Act 2003 (PDF link), is effectively “lost” in the DCDB, which has no capability to store it.
DCDB workflows are entirely manual, with no capacity for automation, and no ability for operators to customise their operating environments.
The technology “stack” underpinning the DCDB is no longer supported by vendors, will be completely phased out by Queensland Government by mid-2026.
Cumbersome, time-consuming data transfer processes, which shuttle DCDB data to other systems for a variety of purposes, are increasingly prone to failure due to the size and complexity of the dataset.
Personnel with the highly specialised skills and experience necessary to operate and maintain the 30-year-old DCDB environment are becoming increasingly rare.
The new QSCF environment is built on a contemporary technical foundation that is widely recognised as the international standard. Queensland Government already makes extensive use of Esri Enterprise systems, and Parcel Fabric is available as part of these system at no additional cost to government. It is fully supported by Esri Inc. and Esri Australia as part of our ongoing Enterprise Agreement (EA).
QSCF unlocks full 3D capability, allowing Queensland’s spatial cadastral data to better reflect and represent the real-world.
Data generated and provided by surveyors, such as distance and bearing information, will not only be correctly stored by QSCF, but can be used to rapidly improve spatial cadastre accuracy over broad areas using a “least squares adjustment” process.
QSCF allows for extensive automation of processes, and individual operators will be able to customise their own workflows and environments to better accommodate their preferred ways of working.
QSCF is underpinned by a modern, widely used information architecture and technology stack, fully supported by the vendor.
Allows for real-time transfer of data between systems via data streaming - no more overnight transfer of the entire database from one place to another. Instead, only the “deltas” - changes - are shared, saving time and bandwidth, and significantly decreasing risk.
Nationally aligned with other jurisdictions and with ICSM’s Cadastre 2034 strategy and 3DCSDM.
Standardised technologies that are widely understood, used, and taught.
Like the DCDB, the QAMF location address management and maintenance environment is built on deprecated legacy systems and architectures.
The primary challenge with QAMF is that it is unable to maintain “complex” addressing, in both senses of the word: addresses that are not straightforward (such as a separate address for a granny flat at the rear of a property, where the main house is for the primary occupants and the granny flat is leased to tenants), and addresses for complexes such as gated estates and townhouse complexes, retirement villages, universities, apartment buildings, shopping centres, and so forth.
In essence, the current QAMF environment treats each of these “complexes” as a single address. For example, a residential building of 30 separate apartments will be stored as a single address - 1 Smith Street - as only the parcel of land on which the building sits can be assigned an address.
QALI, again like QSCF, is built on standards-based and, in this case, fully open-source technologies. Open-source minimises the cost and support challenges faced by our other deprecated systems, while standards-based means that data can be rapidly enhanced, updated, and transferred, depending on the needs of our users.
QALI uses contemporary technologies such as semantic data and data streaming to not only ensure its readability and applicability to different use cases, but to make data updates near-instantaneous. Timely and accurate address data is absolutely vital, ensuring the delivery of goods, utilities, and services - most importantly emergency services - to locations.
The new semantic model underpinning QALI also unlocks the ability to easily manage and maintain complex addressing across all dimensions.
More information
This page will continue to develop in the coming weeks and months, so check back regularly!