How to Download Contours as a DXF for a Single Queensland Lot

If you search for “download contours dxf qld” you get three kinds of results: the 1 m contour dataset on data.qld.gov.au, the QLD Globe help pages, and a PDF from Resources Queensland. None of them produce a contour DXF for a single lot. Here is why, and what to do instead.

What Queensland actually publishes

Queensland’s contour data is excellent where it exists. The state holds LiDAR-derived contours at 1 m intervals over most populated areas, 5 m contours over a wider footprint, and 10 m contours derived from SRTM covering everything else.

The problem is packaging. QSpatial lets you clip by local government area or suburb, and exports SHP, TAB, FGDB, KMZ or GPKG. A suburb clip of 1 m contours is often tens of thousands of line features. Getting from that to a labelled contour layer for one lot means:

1. Download and unzip the clip.
2. Load into QGIS or ArcGIS.
3. Clip to the lot boundary plus a margin.
4. Reproject from GDA2020 geographic to a projected metre CRS.
5. Export to DXF, then check whether the elevation attribute survived the export as a label or just as a Z value.

That is the afternoon-eating job LayeredGeo and others have written about. It is not hard, it is just a poor use of an engineer’s time.

QLD Globe cannot export DXF

QLD Globe’s own export help page is clear. You can export places you have drawn as SHP, KML, JSON or CSV, subject to a 1000-feature and 10 MB limit. You cannot export the contour layer you are looking at, and there is no DXF option at all. The “Export map” function gives you an image.

So if you have been trying to get a .dxf out of QLD Globe, stop. It is not there.

The fast path: address in, DXF out

PlanInsight queries the QLD Globe contour services for the property boundary polygon, clips the result to the lot plus a 30 m margin, converts to metres and writes three layers:

• CONTOUR_INDEX with elevation text labels
• CONTOUR_MAJOR
• CONTOUR_MINOR

The generator uses the best interval available at that location. It tries 1 m LiDAR first, falls back to 5 m LiDAR, and uses 10 m SRTM only where nothing finer exists. The DXF opens in Civil 3D, AutoCAD, BricsCAD or QGIS with no plugin.

The same file carries the BOUNDARY, BUILDING, WATERCOURSE and WATER_BORE layers, so for most concept and feasibility work it is the only site file you need. See the full layer list.

What interval will you get?

Coverage is patchy in the way LiDAR coverage always is. As a rule of thumb for Queensland:

The index labels tell you what you got. If the labels step in ones, you have LiDAR. If they step in tens, you are looking at SRTM and should treat the surface as indicative only.

Using contours for stormwater and earthworks

A few practical notes for hydraulic and civil work:

Catchments. Council stormwater design guides typically allow GIS contours to define catchments where no detailed survey exists. A 1 m contour DXF is enough to delineate an upstream catchment and measure its area for a preliminary rational method calculation.

Fall across the site. The index labels give you the high and low corner immediately. Combined with the WATERCOURSE layer, you can see where overland flow wants to go before you look at a flood overlay.

Cut and fill. Contours are not a surface. For a volume estimate, build a TIN from the contour lines in Civil 3D or 12d. For anything contractual, get a feature survey.

Datum. Elevations are AHD as published by the state. Coordinates are local metres centred on the lot, not MGA grid. If you need grid, translate to your control.

Try it on a site you know

Search an address, open the DXF dialog and tick the contour layers. Compare the result to a survey you already have. Most engineers find that is the fastest way to decide whether GIS contours are good enough for the job in front of them, or whether the surveyor needs to go out first.

The free boundary tool returns the boundary layer without an account. Contours come with the Starter plan, with unlimited lookups.