The Surveyors' Trust

What The Surveyors' Trust does

The Surveyors' Trust is an Australian non-profit trust entity, administered by ACT Administration Limited, that pools royalty income generated from surveyor-owned cadastral plan copyrights and reinvests it in industry projects. The Trust was formed following the 2008 High Court of Australia decision affirming surveyors' ownership of survey plan copyrights, and operates primarily in Queensland with reach across Australian jurisdictions. Its core constituents are licensed surveyors who assign their plan royalties to the Trust in exchange for access to PlanXchange, its digital distribution platform.

The Trust's product surface centers on PlanXchange, a cloud-based platform for cadastral plan upload, distribution, and royalty collection, supplemented by a Digital Rights Management Framework that protects downloaded plans in PDF and GIS formats with persistent protection strategies. In development is an AI-enabled web-based Quality Assurance Platform for cadastral survey plans, built in partnership with the University of Southern Queensland using advanced machine learning techniques for title registration workflows. Adjacent offerings include the IP Academy (intellectual property training for the spatial sector) and funded programs such as She Maps, CSN Surveyors Academy, and university endowment and travel grant support.

Revenue mechanics operate through two channels: royalties collected by Copyright Agency Limited from government copying of survey plans (passed through less administration costs), and transaction-based fees from plan purchases on PlanXchange. Contributorship is free for licensed surveyors who assign their royalties to the Trust; all pooled royalties are reinvested into state-of-region industry projects covering education, workforce development, IP protection, and policy advocacy. The Trust is governed by a board of seven directors plus a CEO and an admin assistant, with operations centered in Oxenford, Queensland.

Name

The Surveyors' Trust

Legal name

ACT Administration Limited trading as The Surveyors' Trust

Website

https://thesurveyorstrust.org.au

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Surveyors' Trust is an Australian non-profit trust that pools cadastral plan royalty income from licensed surveyors and reinvests it in surveying industry projects. It operates the PlanXchange distribution platform and is developing an AI-enabled quality assurance tool with the University of Southern Queensland.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Surveying Intellectual Property Management

NAICS

Surveying and Mapping (except Geophysical) Services (54137), Trusts, Estates, and Agency Accounts (52592)

akta.pro primary industry

Civil & Structural Engineering Consulting (BPAHAIAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Architecture, Planning & Surveying (AIA, Planning, Land Surveyor CE) (EDAAALAG)

Keywords

• Intellectual property management
• Cadastral plan distribution
• Royalty collection services
• Surveying industry funding
• Copyright licensing

Headquarters

HQ city

Oxenford

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Survey Plan Royalties: The Trust collects royalties from the sale of plans developed by contributing surveyors through PlanXchange platform. When stakeholders purchase plans from PlanXchange, royalties are paid to the Trust. Plans purchased direct from registering authorities incur royalty payments to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL), which (less administration costs) is passed to the Trust. The Trust pools these royalties and reinvests funds into industry projects.
2. PlanXchange Transaction Fees: Members participating in PlanXchange have access to plans at reduced costs and document management systems as value-adds of membership, contributing to platform sustainability.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Surveyors' Trust is a non-profit trust entity that collects and pools royalties earned from the copying and distribution of licensed surveyors' cadastral plans, then reinvests those pooled royalties into industry projects spanning workforce development, education, intellectual property protection, and surveying career pathway programs. It operates the PlanXchange digital platform where contributing surveyors upload plans and stakeholders purchase them, with royalties flowing back to the Trust, and is developing an AI-enabled Quality Assurance platform and a Digital Rights Management framework to safeguard cadastral plan IP in cloud environments.

Product overview

The Surveyors' Trust operates as a collective investment organization for surveying intellectual property. The organization pools royalties from survey plan copyrights and reinvests funds into industry projects. Its offerings include the IP Academy for intellectual property education, an AI-enabled Platform for Quality Assurance of Cadastral Survey Plans, a Digital Rights Management Framework for protecting digital plan rights, and the PlanXchange platform for plan distribution and royalty collection. The organization also funds workforce development programs, career pathway initiatives, and various industry research projects through its project funding framework.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• The Surveyors' Trust IP Academy: Intellectual property training program to increase awareness, opportunities, skills and drive a culture of IP commercialisation among the spatial sector.
• She Maps
• Surveyors Academy

Products and services

• PlanXchange

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Partnership for AI-enabled Quality Assurance Platform development for cadastral survey plans, Digital Rights Management Framework research, and USQ Endowment Fund for surveying student support. UniSQ conducts research on digital disruption and copyright protection for the surveying industry.
• She MapscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022She Maps project supporting school-to-surveying pathway, aiming to increase surveying and spatial industry awareness in schools across Queensland. Includes Map My School competition, Lighthouse Schools Program, and teacher professional development.
• CSN Surveyors AcademycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIndustry-based vocational education academy training next-generation technical surveyors. Delivers Certificate IV in Surveying and Spatial Information and Diploma of Surveying across Australia through qualified registered/licensed surveyors.
• Geospatial Council of AustraliacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for Industry Economic Impact Study to reassess the contribution and value of geospatial information to the Australian economy, supporting policy advocacy at national and state levels.
• Museum of Lands Mapping & SurveyingminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProud sponsor of the Museum presenting history of Queensland's original surveyors through video collections featuring Bill Kitson, covering topics like Archibald Macmillan, The First Border Surveyors, and World War 2 Survey Corps.
• Consulting Surveyors National (CSN)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSignificant sponsor of CSN study 'Determining the Future Demand Supply and Skills Gap for Surveying and Geospatial Professionals 2018-2028', addressing workforce shortage forecasting.
• University of NewcastleminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFunding support for University of Newcastle surveying courses SURV3930 Land Boundary Definition and SURV4720 Land Valuation, critical for students meeting professional registration requirements.
• Destination Spatial (Qld)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIndustry body with representatives from geospatial organizations aiming to increase surveying and geospatial professionals. Collaboration between government, industry, and education to support future professionals.
• International SkillscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorFree International Skills Platform where over 200 pre-qualified Surveyors and Spatial Industry professionals from overseas are profiled for Australian hiring market, addressing surveyor shortage.
• Copyright Agency Limited (CAL)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorDeclared collection society under the Copyright Act collecting royalties from government copying of survey plans and passing these (less administration costs) to the Trust. Agreements signed with Queensland Government and other jurisdictions.
• PlanXchangecoreTechnology or IntegrationDigital platform for cadastral plan distribution, royalty collection, and secure cloud-based plan storage. Trust receives funds from royalties and transaction fees through PlanXchange operations.
• Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute (SSSI)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSSSI Competency Assessment Project supporting formal request for SSSI appointment as alternate assessor for Surveyor Registration in Queensland.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Others

• Surveying & Spatial Sciences Institute (SSSI): Professional body for the surveying and spatial sciences in Australia. Serves a largely overlapping membership and is a Trust partner on competency assessment, making it an institutional peer.
• Consulting Surveyors National (CSN): Industry association representing consulting surveyors in Australia. Trust partner on workforce studies and the Surveyors Academy; closely aligned mission around industry sustainability and standards.
• Geospatial Council of Australia: Industry peak body for the geospatial sector and Trust partner. Adjacent institutional player with overlapping membership and policy advocacy mandate in the same surveying/spatial ecosystem.

Broad incumbents

• Screenrights: Australian collecting society for film, television and broadcast content. Comparable collective rights management model with government copying royalties, applied to screen rather than survey IP.
• Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA): Collecting society representing recorded music copyright holders. Similar pooled-royalty, member-governed collective model serving rights holders rather than acting as a creator.
• APRA AMCOS: Australia and New Zealand's music rights collecting society. Operates the same pooled-royalty, member-governed collective model as the Trust, but at much greater scale in the music industry.

Direct peers

• Copyright Agency Limited (CAL): Australian declared collecting society that collects royalties from government copying and passes them to the Trust. Closest functional peer as a copyright royalty collection body, though broader in scope across creative works.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-surveyors-trust

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Surveyors' Trust