The Survey and Mapping Office (SMO) is responsible for providing land survey services and mapping products to both the public and private sectors.

The office produces a large variety of map products which include 1:1,000 Basic Maps, Topographical Maps at various scales, Countryside Maps, Street/Place Guide Maps and a number of thematic maps. These maps, apart from serving different government departments, are available for sale to the public.

Apart from paper map products, the SMO also continuously updates a digital map database covering the whole region of Hong Kong. The database not only forms the basis for city planning, land management, engineering works, administration and security activities, it also provides potential for the SMO and users to develop more new products and applications. An example is the 'Community Map on Internet' project. In this project, two business partners make use of the digital maps developed by the office as the basis to show the locations of places of interest and community facilities, and this information can easily and freely be accessible via the Internet. Another example of a digital map product developed by one value-added-reseller is the 'ES Map' which makes use of the digital maps supplied by the office and applies the geographical information technology and Global Positioning System (GPS) technique for the development of an intelligent navigation system. Another commercially developed product is the 'SmartMap'. It is a fast and easy-to-use package on CD-ROM, which uses the digital maps as a base for showing the locations and details of various places of interest, such as restaurants, hotels, cinemas, shops, scenic spots, country parks, schools and hospitals.

The production of the digital maps offers opportunities for business development, and the SMO encourages the business sector to exploit these. It will continue to enhance the quality and content of the database.

The SMO is also responsible for the establishment and maintenance of the geodetic network in Hong Kong that provides the essential reference points for all types of land and engineering survey activities. With the proven applications of the GPS technology for various types of survey work, the office has taken the initiative to establish a Territorial Continuous Global Positioning System Array (TCGPSA) for Hong Kong. The system will provide data that would enable positioning measurements to achieve a high degree of accuracy. The contract for the first phase of the TCGPSA was awarded in early 2000 and includes setting up of six GPS permanent reference stations in the north-western New Territories. It is expected the system will become operational in the first quarter of 2001. The second phase of the project, which includes setting up another seven or eight GPS reference stations to cover the rest of the HKSAR, is expected to be implemented in 2001-02. When fully operational, the system will modernise many of the land and engineering survey operations thereby generating substantial savings in the costs of manpower resources and equipment as well as in operation time.

The 11 District Survey Offices of the SMO provide land survey services to facilitate various land administration activities, such as land sale, land grant, lease modification and land resumption. The Legislation Section of the office is responsible for the execution of those functions assumed by the Land Survey Authority (LSA) under the provisions of the Land Survey Ordinance. The ordinance provides for the registration and discipline of land surveyors engaged in land boundary surveys, for the control of the standards of land boundary surveys, for the establishment of land boundary records and for related matters.

The Photogrammetric and Air Survey Section of the SMO provides aerial survey services to clients in both the public and private sectors. Three Digital Photogrammetric Workstations were installed in 1999 to replace the outdated analogue stereo-plotters that had been used for more than 20 years. With the advanced digital photogrammetry technology, a range of new products and services, such as an orthophotomap (an aerial map which is rectified to remove geometric distortions), 3D modelling and image analysis, are being developed for various purposes.

Survey and mapping activities are technology dependent. In particular, the geographical information system technology is developing rapidly and the demand for digital map information has been increasing rapidly.