How Land Surveys saved over $150,000 a year by improving remote survey data management

The Challenge

When Rio Tinto engaged Land Surveys on a $30 million rail camp upgrade project in the remote Pilbara region of Western Australia, the team was spread across a head office in Perth, another office in Karratha, a home office in Adelaide and on-site locations in the Pilbara, creating significant risk around access, coordination and communication. Mark Harris, Senior Surveyor, described the reality simply: with thousands of kilometres between team members, there was a lot of room for things to go wrong.

Before 12d Synergy, project files were managed through a network drive and shared using portable hard drives, OneDrive, Dropbox and Microsoft SharePoint. In remote conditions and with poor internet connectivity, this led to slow transfers, data corruption risks, weak collaboration and little visibility into who had changed files and when. Mark Harris described poor data management as “one of the greatest risks any surveyor faces on a project.”

The Solutions

After evaluating options for more than a year, Land Surveys selected 12d Synergy because of its customizable platform, flexibility for a diverse survey business, 12d Model integration and the team’s prior familiarity with the system. The rollout began gradually on a state-by-state basis using on-premises servers, before the business later migrated to a cloud-hosted model.

12d Synergy gave Land Surveys a centralized environment for managing survey data, project files, correspondence and publishing workflows. Intelligent Data Transfers improved access speeds by transferring only changed files rather than the full project. Managed Folders, full audit history and check-in/check-out gave the team stronger traceability, rollback capability and a clearer single source of truth. The business also used personalized job templates, automated tasks and controlled issuing workflows to standardize processes and reduce system administration.

The Result

• Saved around $50,000 per year by reducing double entry of data
• Saved a further $100,000 per year by limiting system downtime.
• Maintained approximately 99% uptime on project data.
• Expanded enterprise deployment to around 400 users across the business.
• Improved field and office collaboration even with internet speeds of around 2–5 Mbps in remote areas.
• Reduced the risk of rework and redesign caused by outdated or superseded project data.

A remote survey business needed stronger project data control

For Land Surveys, the challenge was not just sharing files. It was maintaining confidence that remote staff, on-site teams and office teams were all working from current and controlled information. When that confidence breaks down, field errors, rework and redesign quickly become real commercial risks.

That made this case study about more than replacing a file-sharing tool. It reflects a broader shift toward better information management, stronger traceability and a more resilient operating environment for remote project delivery.

Spotlight Project: Rio Tinto Rail Camp Upgrade, Pilbara

The Rio Tinto rail camp upgrade in the remote Pilbara was a clear example of why Land Surveys needed a more robust data management strategy. With team members spread across Perth, Karratha, Adelaide and remote site locations, the project exposed the limitations of generic file-sharing tools in a live survey environment.  

12d Synergy gave the team a more dependable way to share current data between the field and office, helping reduce corruption risks, improve continuity and support coordination across long distances and limited internet connectivity.

Improving field and office access in real time

One of the clearest benefits for Land Surveys was real-time accessibility. Mark Harris noted there was no longer any need to wait for USBs or external hard drives, and if a design or calculation file needed review, colleagues in a central office could access it immediately rather than hoping a large email attachment would get through.

He also described the experience as seamless, noting that he could work from home in Adelaide while collaborating with teams on site in Pilbara, as well as with offices in Perth and Karratha and external engineers, even when site internet speeds were only around 2–5 Mbps.

Strengthening version control, QA and publishing workflows

Before 12d Synergy, Land Surveys had limited visibility into who had accessed or updated data and when. That was one of the business’s biggest risks, because staff could unknowingly work from superseded revisions and introduce errors into the field.

With Managed Folders, check-in/check-out and full audit history, the business gained much stronger control over versioning and QA. Mark Harris also highlighted the value of controlled issuing and transmittals, which replaced emailed zip folders with a more professional, time-stamped and branded process that clients appreciated.