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Locating and surveying

As-built capture and GIS cadastre in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg

In every grown network there is more in the ground than the plan knows: lines from decades past, laid by changing firms, documented on paper nobody can find. CFT brings this legacy network into your GIS after the fact – with the full toolbox of locating technology: cable location, ground-penetrating radar, sonde location and more. Located, surveyed, attributed, recorded. Reach us on +49 (0) 173 6842932 or at office@cft-de.de.

Call us +49 (0) 173 6842932 Enquire about this service

Aerial view of a village with houses and commercial halls, coloured lines in blue, violet and yellow laid over the streets
Locating and surveying

What we do on site

We capture the legacy network after the fact – with everything locating technology offers: traceable lines electromagnetically, plastic pipes with the sonde, everything without a signal with ground-penetrating radar. What is located or exposed is surveyed in, attributed and recorded in your GIS; every object carries a note of how it was captured. Built up section by section, updated with every construction job.

Describe this case

Key facts at a glance

MethodsElectromagnetic cable and pipe location, Ground-penetrating radar (GPR), Sonde location, GPS-based surveying, Optical surveying with total station, Attribution and data model, Data conversion for GIS interfaces
Application rangeMunicipal networks, public utilities, special-purpose associations, industrial premises, estates, development areas – wherever the network is older than its documentation
DurationOne day to several days, depending on the scope
Result format.shp, .gpkg, .dxf, .pdf, Documentation to your specification
Service areaBavaria and Baden-Württemberg from our Erding base – CFT Group Deutschland GmbH, Lange Zeile 27, D-85435 Erding

For you as a business

An as-built plan that is right saves the search on every job: no trial pits along the route, no surprises under the carriageway, no briefing of outside contractors from memory. For municipalities and utilities that means plannable civil works; for industrial networks a layout plan that says at once where opening is allowed when a fault strikes. And because every object carries its provenance note – surveyed, located or taken from an old plan – your GIS also knows how far to trust each line.

How the job runs

  1. You name section and goal – from a single street run to the whole industrial site; existing old plans help but are no precondition.
  2. The legacy network is located: traceable lines electromagnetically, plastic pipes with the inserted sonde, everything without a signal with ground-penetrating radar.
  3. Where construction runs in parallel, we survey exposed lines directly in the open trench – the most accurate capture there is.
  4. Everything captured is surveyed in with GPS or total station and attributed: medium, material, dimension, provenance.
  5. You receive the recorded network in your formats including documentation – and it is carried forward with the next job.

Equipment and methods

Capture after the fact lives from every tool covering its own case: electromagnetic location follows everything that carries a signal – cables, metallic pipes, lines with a tracer wire. Traceable sondes go into plastic pipes, and where nothing conducts, ground-penetrating radar reads the density contrasts out of the ground. Surveying is GPS-based or, where buildings block the sky, optical with the total station. Attribution follows your data model; conversion targets the common GIS interfaces – as .shp, .gpkg, .dxf and as .pdf for everyone who works without GIS.

Aerial view of fields, a river and villages, overlaid with pale arcs and glowing points as a network graphic

What you receive

The recorded legacy network as a GIS dataset in your target formats, each object with properties and provenance note, plus documentation of the capture and, on request, an overview plan as PDF. The data belongs to you – it does not live in someone else’s portal.

Costs and effort

We charge by effort; the daily output depends on route length, accessibility and the share of locating work – pure surveying is faster than the search for the lost. Name us section and goal, and you receive an offer with a clear daily output.

Frequently asked questions

There is neither plan nor memory of the legacy network – is that still enough?

Yes, that is exactly what capture after the fact is for: location works from the surface, with cable location, sonde and ground-penetrating radar. What is found enters the record with the note "located" – honestly distinguished from what was surveyed in the open trench.

We have no GIS at all – what do we do with the data?

You additionally receive a plan as PDF that works yard and planners can use at once. The GIS formats are included: if your municipality introduces a system later, the record can be taken over without re-capturing.

In which coordinate system do you deliver?

In the one of your records – in Germany usually ETRS89/UTM. If your GIS runs a different reference system, we convert to it.

Can the capture run section by section over years?

Yes, that is the normal case: the cadastre grows section by section – by urgency, by construction sites, by budget. Each section is complete in itself and is carried forward with the next.

Describe your case

Describe the findings.

The more precisely you describe the findings, the more directly we can go to work. Plans, readings and photos help us settle the method in advance.

What happens next

  1. We read your message and match the case to a method.
  2. We come back to you – usually with a question that shortens the appointment.
  3. We confirm the appointment and what it costs before anyone sets off.

Rather talk?
+49 (0) 173 6842932

Describe your case

Fields marked Required must be filled in.

For example: what caught your attention, where the section lies, what has already been measured or switched.

A few quick ticks – if you like

All optional. Tick whatever fits – several answers are fine. Whatever you don’t know, just leave blank.

What do you need?
How large is the area, roughly?
Are there as-built plans?
Section, street or manhole number – whatever is designated.
Up to eight files, each up to 12 MB, 40 MB in total. JPG, PNG, HEIC, WebP or PDF. Most helpful: the as-built plan of the section and the latest series of readings.

Telephone or email – we need one of the two to answer you.

How we handle your details is set out in the privacy notice (in German).

We will come back to you. Your details go exclusively to dienstleistung@cft.at and are not passed on.

Describe your case.

Fastest by telephone – then we settle straight away which method fits and what you should prepare.

Call us +49 (0) 173 6842932

Or write to office@cft-de.de.

We do not come to search. We are here to find.

The evolution of pipe and cable locating, from right to left: dowsing rod, probing rod, electromagnetic receiver, ground penetrating radar.