GIS Based Utility Mapping with CAD Deliverables

Rates and page checked: 23 October 2026

What do GIS based utility mapping services hand over?

A radar and EM survey ends with marks on the ground and a signed report. GIS based utility mapping services take the next step: they convert those findings into digital files that a designer, an asset owner or a drilling contractor can open, query and build on.

The fieldwork itself is described on our underground utility mapping page. This page covers only what you receive afterwards – the files, how they are organised and what information sits inside them. A typical deliverable set has four parts:

• a CAD drawing for design and construction teams;
• a GIS dataset for asset records and spatial analysis;
• a KML file for quick review on a laptop or phone;
• PDF sheets for printing, circulation and submissions.

Clients can order all four or only the formats they actually use.

Which file formats are supplied, and who uses each one?

The CAD release version and any other format a client's software needs are agreed when the order is placed, so files open first time.

How are the layers in a utility drawing organised?

Separating information into layers lets each user see only what matters to them. Our default structure is below; it is changed to the client's own layer standard whenever one is supplied.

• Power – HT and Power – LT kept apart, with street-light cables on their own layer.
• Telecom – copper cables and OFC ducts.
• Water – mains and service connections.
• Sewer and drainage – sewers, storm drains, culverts.
• Gas and other pipelines.
• Unidentified – reflections that show a buried object whose service type could not be confirmed.
• Surface features – chambers, valve covers, poles, marker stones, kerbs.
• Survey extent – the boundary actually scanned.
• No-access areas – stretches that could not be covered, with the reason.
• Verification points – trial pits or boreholes, where ordered.
• Annotation – depth labels, notes and text, kept off the line layers so they can be hidden.

Keeping unidentified finds and no-access areas as layers of their own stops a blank space on the drawing from being read as empty ground.

What attribute fields does every mapped line carry?

In the GIS dataset, and as object data in the CAD file where the client wants it, each line or point holds a record. The core fields are:

Confidence and method can be mapped to a recognised grading scheme if your specification asks for it; see SUE quality levels explained.

How is an underground utility CAD drawing laid out?

An underground utility CAD drawing from us follows a predictable arrangement so a reader can find things quickly:

1. Key plan showing the whole route or site and how the sheets divide it.
2. Plan sheets with the detected services, surface features and depth labels.
3. Crossing call-outs at road, rail, canal and drain crossings where services bunch together.
4. Legend listing every layer colour and line style used.
5. Notes and limitations – ground conditions, depth reach and the areas not covered.
6. Title block with project name, survey date, revision number and the person responsible.

When an L-section survey has been ordered, the depth profile of detected services is supplied with the set; the L-section GPR survey page explains that service.

How are coordinates handled in the files?

A drawing is only reusable if its lines can be placed back on the ground later. The coordinate system – a project grid or a standard geographic system – is fixed with the client before drafting, and stated on every sheet and in the GIS metadata.

Surface features picked up during the survey, such as chambers and poles, are included so that a site crew can check the drawing against what they see. Positions of buried lines are survey estimates; the stated confidence on each line tells a designer how much clearance to allow.

How are CAD/GIS sets priced against the survey rate?

The survey and the drawing set are two separate items on our quotes. The survey follows the rate card: ₹24 a metre for a standard GPR survey and ₹32 a metre for an L-section survey, with a 4 km minimum order, a ₹1,00,000 project minimum outside Delhi NCR, whole-order discounts above 100, 500 and 1,000 km, and GST extra. Those per-metre rates do not cover drawings.

CAD/GIS work is then quoted on its own. The price depends on:

• route length or site area to be drawn;
• how many utility layers are present and how crowded the ground is;
• how many formats are wanted;
• whether the client's own template, layer names and attribute schema must be followed;
• the number of review rounds expected.

Mobilisation, night working and traffic permissions are separate lines too. Full survey rates are on the GPR survey price list.

What should you send when ordering a drawing set?

• Your CAD template or layer standard, if one exists.
• The GIS attribute schema your asset system expects.
• The coordinate system to be used.
• Any base drawing, topographic survey or proposed alignment to overlay.
• Software and version the end users will open the files in.
• Who will review the draft and how comments will reach us.

For context on what a full survey handover contains beyond these files, read our guide to GPR survey deliverables. Larger city-scale datasets are discussed on the smart city underground mapping page.

How is a file set checked before it is issued?

Before handover, each set goes through a short checklist under our ISO 9001:2015 quality system:

• every finding in the signed report appears on the drawing, and nothing appears that the report does not support;
• attribute fields are filled for every line, with blanks only where the information genuinely does not exist;
• files are opened in the target software to confirm layers, colours and coordinates load correctly;
• KML lines are checked against imagery for obvious misplacement;
• the revision number and date are updated on each sheet.

A draft goes to the client first. Comments are worked in and a final revision is issued.