Out west they use self-furring stucco mesh. Some brands have the punches painted with a dot of yellow or red paint, for easier alignment to the studs. In California they call the diamond mesh lath we use here, "K-lath". 

An old lath nail was made for "hanging" welded wire lath. The nails were never driven tight, allowing mortar to key behind the wire.

Doing restuccos, we find different techniques used by our forefathers for furring lath. 

One method was driving U shaped nails in the wall about 12" apart. When the lath was put on it was the nails were placed directly over  the first nails, allowing the first nails to hold the lath away from the wall.
Another method was nailing small wood blocks, such as wood lath strips cut into 2 inch pieces to the wall and nailing the lath to the blocks. 

Furring strips don't work
This wall was furred with furring strips,
 and failed over the years.

Mortar doesn't key behind the strips, forming a long weak area that is liable to crack. These strips here weren't strong enough to permanently support the stucco.This wall had failed and had  been patched several times over the years. 
Furring strips do work with self-furring lath.

           Tying "laps"
Where no sheathing is used, such as this interior plaster installation,  the "laps", or where the lath overlaps in between the studs, should  be tied with tie wire at least two ties  between the studs. Failure to do this will lead to nasty cracks. Mortar must key into both pieces of lath to prevent separation. 

      3 inch over laps.
The standard for the minimum overlap for metal lath is one inch, but I say, why be cheap? Go 3 inches. Note how the inside and outside corners are reinforced with strips. There is a pre-made material for this called cornerite, which is pre-bent strips of lath. 
Crack resistant work begins with good lathing.