SIX Maps Export to DXF: The Honest Answer, and the Fastest Way to NSW Cadastre and Contours for Civil 3D

Search “six maps export” and the top result is an ArcGIS REST endpoint that returns a map image. That is the whole story of SIX Maps export in one line. This guide covers what NSW actually provides, how far to trust it, and the fast way to get one lot into CAD.

What SIX Maps can export

SIX Maps is a viewer. You can search a lot or address, turn on cadastre, imagery and a handful of other layers, measure, and print. The print and export functions produce an image or a PDF. There is no vector export of any kind, and no DXF.

Vector data comes from elsewhere:

• Spatial Collaboration Portal, Clip & Ship. Draw a rectangle and receive cadastre, and in some areas contours, as SHP or TAB. Rectangles can be large, and the output is a bulk extract you then filter.
• ELVIS. The national elevation portal. Order LiDAR-derived DEMs or point clouds by area, receive an email with a download link. Then you build contours yourself in Civil 3D, QGIS or 12d.
• Spatial Services web services. WMS and WFS for GIS users.

All of it is free. None of it is one lot, in metres, on named layers.

How accurate is the NSW cadastre?

This comes up in forums constantly, usually as “SIX Maps shows my fence 10 m inside my boundary”. NSW Spatial Services is direct about it: the DCDB is not the point of truth for the legal boundary. The plan of survey is.

In urban areas the DCDB is typically within a metre or so of the surveyed boundary. In rural NSW the cadastre was compiled from old plans and positional errors of several metres are normal, and worse is possible. Surveyors on Whirlpool have quoted plus or minus 10 m as a rural rule of thumb.

For design this means:

• Urban lot, concept and DA drawings: the DCDB boundary is usually fine, subject to confirmation.
• Anything with a setback measured in centimetres, or any rural site: get the boundary surveyed before you rely on it.

Contours in NSW

NSW has broad LiDAR coverage through ELVIS, and 1 m contours exist across most of the coast and inland cities. The catch is the workflow. Import the GeoTIFF into Civil 3D, create a surface, generate contours, then deal with the datum. As one draftsperson’s blog puts it, if your surface lands in the ocean or a kilometre from the boundary you imported five minutes ago, the DEM and the cadastre were on different datums.

The GDA94 to GDA2020 shift is around 1.8 m in NSW, which is exactly the size of error that goes unnoticed until a boundary and a kerb do not line up.

The direct route for one lot

PlanInsight resolves an NSW address to its lot and DP through the state cadastre, then writes a DXF with:

• BOUNDARY and PARCEL_LABEL
• BUILDING and BUILDING_FILL
• CONTOUR_INDEX, CONTOUR_MAJOR, CONTOUR_MINOR with elevation labels
• WATERCOURSE, WATER_BORE, and WATER_BODY which is NSW-specific

Everything is clipped to the lot plus a margin and converted to local metres about the lot centroid, so the layers already line up with each other. No datum reconciliation, no surface build. The file is DXF R12 and opens in Civil 3D, AutoCAD, BricsCAD and QGIS.

The free boundary tool returns the boundary layer with no account. The layered file comes with any plan.

The NSW Planning Portal Property Report

For NSW work you almost always need the planning controls alongside the boundary. The NSW Planning Portal publishes a free Property Report for any lot with zoning, height, FSR, minimum lot size, heritage and hazard layers.

PlanInsight generates the link from the lot and DP on the property page, so the report is one click from the same screen as the DXF. It is not a section 10.7 planning certificate and does not replace one for a DA lodgement, but for scoping and fee proposals it is what you want. See the government reports feature.

DAs on and around the site

Where the council is supported, PlanInsight also lists live and historical development applications for the lot, sourced from the council’s own system. For a civil engineer this is the fastest way to learn whether the site has an existing approval with drainage or access conditions, or whether the neighbour is about to build something that affects your discharge point.

A one-screen NSW site scope

1. Search the address. Confirm lot and DP, area and tenure.
2. Download the DXF with the layers you need.
3. Open the Property Report for zoning and hazards.
4. Check DAs on the lot and adjoining lots.
5. Lodge a BYDA enquiry from the same page if services matter to the design. The BYDA guide covers timing and validity.

The consulting engineers page shows the full workflow.