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DYNAMICALLY JUMPSTART YOUR GIS

Building Permits

Urban Planning

Natural Resource Management

Cadastral Mapping

Geospatial World II June 2012

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07 Editorial 08 News 54 Picture this

POINT OF VIEW

‘Collaborative approach key to tacklingglobal challenges’Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam, 11th President of India

ARTICLE

The 'cadastral divide': A view from the bridgeDr. Rohan Bennett

INTERVIEWS

CASE STUDIES

46 Lesotho: Towards Effective Land Management

48 Rwanda: Road to economic reforms

50 Philippines: Land reforms unlock the potential of agriculture

51 Australia: GeoPDF maps support statutory land-based applications

52 Ethiopia: GNSS for sustainable development

‘Cadastre marks beginning of healthy economy’

Drs Th A J Burman (Dorine)Chair Executive Board, Cadastre, Land Registry and Mapping Agency(Kadaster), The Netherlands

‘Modern technology vital for effective land management’

Prabhu Dayal MeenaAdditional Secretary, Department of Land ResourcesMinistry of Rural Development, Government of India

31

20

42

24

38

5

Abbas Rajabifard President,GSDI Association

Jack DangermondPresident, Esri

Shailesh Nayak SecretaryMinistry of Earth SciencesGovernment of India

Mark ReichardtPresident and CEOOpen Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

Aida Opoku Mensah Director - ICT DivisionUN Economic Commission for Africa

Josef Strobl Director, Centre for Geoinformatics,University of Salzburg, Austria

Vanessa Lawrence CBDirector General and CEO,Ordnance Survey, UK

Matthew M O'ConnellPresident and CEO GeoEye

Bryn FosburghVice PresidentTrimble

Juergen DoldPresident, Hexagon Geosystems

Preetha PulusaniChief Strategy Officer,Rolta Group

Derek Clarke Chief Director-Survey and Mapping & National Geospatial InformationDepartment of Rural Development & Land Reform, South Africa

Kamal K SinghChairman and CEORolta Group

Greg BentleyCEO, Benltey Systems

Cadastre & land

administration

Living in a

two-speed worldBBhhaannuu RReekkhhaa

CCOOVVEERR IIMMAAGGEE CCOOUURRTTEESSYY (digital cadastre): Geodis

CHAIRMAN M P Narayanan

PUBLISHER Sanjay Kumar

PUBLICATIONS TEAMManaging Editor Prof. Arup DasguptaEditor - Europe Prof. Ian DowmanEditor - Latin America (Honorary) Tania Maria SausenSr. Associate Editor (Honorary) Dr. Hrishikesh SamantExecutive Editor Bhanu RekhaProduct Manager Shivani LalAssistant Editors Deepali Roy, Aditi Bhan, Vaibhav Arora, Anand Kashyap

DESIGN TEAMSr. Creative Designer Deepak Kumar Graphic Designer Manoj Kumar Singh

CIRCULATION TEAMCirculation Manager Vijay Kumar Singh

Advisory Board

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dd 1dd 1

he measurement and record of land ownership is as ancient as civilisation itself. The actof staking out a parcel of land to grow crops or to build a dwelling marked the transition ofhumans from hunter-gatherers to farmers and tradesmen. It led to the creation of societyand rule of law. It also led to usurpation, conflict and crime. Out of this chaos grew the

need for precise demarcation and the concept of the cadastre.

Today the need for cadastral maps is a given. What has changed is the use of the cadastral information. Originally designed to establish ownership, and aid valuation and therefore taxation,cadastral information has now become base information for many planning, implementation andmonitoring activities. In conjunction with satellite imagery, it provides better information aboutthe quality of land and therefore its best use. It enables theowner to manage his land sustainably.

The integration of cadastral information with naturalresources and economic information enables better planningand better utilisation of scarce resources. The lack of suchinformation gives rise to malpractices. For example, one opinion is that the collapse of the US property market and itsdisastrous effect on the international stock market was due tothe fact that land information was not available to the mort-gage market. In developing countries, land records and thetechnology of managing them have remained unchanged for acentury or more and is the root cause for crimes like landgrabbing and encroachment. The importance of the cadastrefor planning was realised but the old maps were found to betoo full of errors to be useful. The task of correcting thesemaps was seen to be so humongous as to be impossible.

Modern technology has changed this no-win situation to a win-win situation. Many countries are remapping their cadastresusing the latest electronic tools which can directly transfer thedata to computers to be used with GIS and other software.Going beyond this, technology now enables 3D cadastre, real time cadastre and even crowdsourced cadastral data to enable fast acquisition of accurate, assured and authoritative data.Integrating cadastre into SDI seems to be the mantra for success of both cadastre and SDI. How-ever, it is worthwhile to note that technology can provide data but its use for the improvement ofthe quality of life and the reduction in illegal activities requires social and political commitment.

While we discuss such issues, we also need to look at communities like nomadic and tribalgroups which do not have the concept of land ownership. It is a challenge to be able to guard and assure their rights as much as it is necessary to respect and truly record the rights of landowners.

EditorSpeak

7Geospatial World I June 2012

Prof. Arup Dasgupta

Managing [email protected]

TFrom no-win to win-win

Geospatial World I June 2012

NIGERIA

Sat services to becommercialisedThe newly-launched earth observa-tion satellite, NigeriaSat-2, is now setfor commercial activities, accordingto Director-General of the NationalSpace Research and DevelopmentAgency (NASRDA) Mohammed Seidu.He also revealed that Nigeria's firstsatellite in orbit, NigeriaSat-1, will bedecommissioned soon. Seidu, whowas giving a rundown of the activitiesof NASRDA to media, said that Nige-ria would save over USD 2 billionannually on high resolution imageryby NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X.

RWANDA

Govt to reassess GIS-based wetland reportThe Rwandan government orderedreassessment of a GIS-based wet-

lands report of the country. Thereport was prepared by the RwandaEnvironment Management Authority(REMA) in 2007. It had drawn mixedreactions, especially in the EasternProvince, where mayors noted thatsome of the areas highlighted in thereport were actually not swamps. "Acommittee bringing together min-istries of local government, agricul-ture, natural resources, REMA andRwanda Natural Resources Authority,was constituted to assess the report,"Rose Mukankomeje, Director Generalof REMA, informed.

CHAD

Satellites help estimatepopulationChris Grundy of the London School ofHygiene and Tropical Medicine led aproject to estimate the population ofAm Timan city, using satelliteimages. It is for the first time that thepopulation of an entire city has beenestimated from the space, to speedup medical and disaster relief efforts.So far, groups like Medecins SansFrontieres (MSF) relied on the'quadrat' method to estimate popula-

tion size. Using 'Quadrat', in AmTiman, surveyors visited 1160dwellings and gave a population of49,722.

On the other hand, the satellitetechnique required sampling visits toonly 348 dwellings and gave esti-mates of 46,625 for manual and45,400 for the automated method.

SOUTH AFRICA

Africa gets first opengeospatial labOpen Source Geospatial Foundation(OSGeo) and the International Carto-graphic Association (ICA) set up theOpen Source Geospatial Lab at theCentre for Geoinformation Science(CGIS) at the University of Pretoria. In2011, the two had signed a memo-randum of understanding (MoU) todevelop global collaboration opportu-nities for academia, industry and gov-ernment organisations in the field ofopen-source GIS software and data.The goal is to establish five laborato-ries in Asia, Europe, Africa, theAmericas and Australasia during thefirst phase. These will act as nodesfor future expansion.

NEWS

GHANA

Space centre inaugurated

Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology set up Space Scienceand Technology Centre at Kuntunse. Through the Centre, the ministryaims to focus on various projects and programmes in areas such asremote sensing and GIS, meteorology, astronomy, astrophysics andhuman capacity development. Prof. Kofi Awoonor, Chairman of the Coun-cil of State, explained that the Centre has been established by the Ministryunder the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission. It will undertake all spacescience programmes and research activities in the country.

8

INDIA

Precision agriculturegets boostKarnataka state government providedUSD 220,000 fund for a precisionagriculture project at the state'sthree agricultural universities. Theproject's lead institution is the Uni-versity of Agriculture Sciences (UAS),Raichur. In conversation with Ameri-can Society of Agronomy, M.B. Patilfrom the UAS said that India is 20 to30 years behind the West in precisionagriculture. While the rapid progressin Karnataka is encouraging, Patilcautioned that the project would notexpand too quickly as the technologyis relatively expensive.

GIS aiding silkproduction

The Central Silk Board (CSB), inassociation with Meghalaya StateSpace Application Centre, rolled outthe project, 'Applications of RemoteSensing and GIS in Sericulture Devel-opment', under the 11th Five YearPlan of the Government of India. Theproject aims to identify potentialareas for development of silkwormfood plants in 24 states across thecountry covering 106 districts anddevelop silk varieties such as ‘mul-berry, eri, muga and tasar’ through anetwork called Sericulture Informa-tion Linkages and Knowledge System(SILKS). The SILKS is a single windowinformation and advisory service sys-tem for farmers. It spreads aware-

ness about sericulture in local languages.

Southern Command tosurvey defence land

In the wake of several alleged landscams, Southern Command of IndianArmy decided to carry out GIS-basedsurvey of the defence land fallingunder its jurisdiction and to digitiseland records. Southern Command isspread over 19 cantonments and 31military stations with land holding ofover 7.5 lakh acres. In 2011, the mul-ti-crore Adarsh Society scam inMumbai had rocked the country. Cas-es of alleged scams involving defenceland in Pune were also reported.

Gujarat verifies titleclaims in g-way

Approximately 90 percent claims forland, made by Gujarat state's tribals,under the Forest Rights Act 2006, arenot genuine, claimed a document,released by the state government.The document explained that thetribals' land title claims were verifiedwith the "use of four-layered super-imposed digitised maps and satelliteimagery along with GPS-based per-sonal digital assistant maps". Thedocument, titled "Tribal Sub-Plan:Annual Development Programme2012-13", was brought out by thetribal development department.

Scanpoint Geomaticsbags award

Scanpoint Geomatics Ltd. baggedNational Awards on Technology forthe indigenous development andcommercialisation of GIS and imageprocessing software, IGiS. As part of

the award, former President of India,Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam gave awayINR 10 lakh to the company. The soft-ware is jointly developed by Scan-Point and Space Applications Centre(SAC) Ahmedabad. The award is insti-tuted by the Department of Science &Technology and Department of Bio-Technology. It recognises successfulcommercialisation of indigenoustechnology by an industrial/individualconcern.


MapmyIndia eyesINR 100 cr revenue

Digital navigation device makerMapmyIndia will cross INR 100-crore revenue mark in the fiscalyear (FY) 2013. It will also expand

business in South Asian andAfrican countries, which will beannounced next year, accordingto MapmyIndia Managing Direc-tor Rakesh Verma, EconomicTimes reported. The companyexpects significant boost in rev-enue from sale of its Android-based navigation devices, loca-tion based services and sale ofmap navigation applications. "Wehave partnered with almost allcar makers for selling Car Padsin most of the vehicles pricedabove INR 5 lakh," Verma said.

9

Pitney Bowes opensR&D centre

Pitney Bowes Inc. opened its secondR&D centre in Pune. The company'sfirst R&D centre is located in Noida.The new centre will focus onresearch and development for itsglobal portfolio, including Volly - adigital mailbox solution. PitneyBowes considers India to be strategi-cally important from both a marketand an operational perspective."Innovations form the foundation ofour growth strategy and with the cur-rent expansion, we hope to furtherleverage India's talent pool for thesame." said Sue McKinney, VicePresident, Global Product Develop-ment, Pitney Bowes Inc.

JAPAN

Private firm to monitorArctic Ocean Weathernews Inc., a weather fore-casting company, unveiled a microsatellite that it developed to monitorvessels in the Arctic Ocean. The com-pany claimed that it will be the firstattempt by a private company to use

a satellite to monitor the Arctic. The10-kg cube-shaped satellite, worthJNY 200 million, jointly developed byTokyo-based AXELSPACE Corp., isscheduled to be launched from theYasny Cosmodrome in Russia onSeptember 28, 2012. Weathernewsplans to use the data to provide navi-gational information to commercialvessels plying the Arctic Ocean dur-ing the summer. The service will beavailable starting in Summer 2013.

CHINA

Campaign againstincorrect maps soonThe National Administration of Sur-veying, Mapping and Geoinformation(NASMG) announced a campaignagainst maps with incorrect nationalboundaries and missing territory in

teaching materials, travel guides andimported publications. The campaignwill also target publication of mapswhich may compromise with sover-eignty and state’s security. The cam-paign, co-launched by 13 depart-ments, including the PublicityDepartment of the Communist Partyof China, Central Committee and theForeign Ministry, will be formallylaunched in June and will last untilOctober 2012.

KUWAIT

Civil info authority gets GIS The General Director of the PublicAuthority for Civil Information (PACI)Musaed Al-Asousi launched theagency's GIS system. He informedthat the system would allow PACI toperform its role in the best possiblemanner. The GIS will provide easyaccess to all kinds of buildings' dataand information about agriculture,industrial, sports areas and chalets.Moreover, other public institutionswill also benefit from this systemowing to the wide range of maps thatare included in this system.


SINGAPORE

OneMap gets crowdsourcing tools

Singapore Land Authority (SLA) launched 'OneMap Crowd Sourcing Tools'to enable government departments and non-governmental organisationscollect data. Users can use the set of map-based tools to tag locationalong with crowd-sourced information on OneMap. Soon after the launch,Cat Welfare Society started the use of crowdsourcing tools on OneMap,which will allow citizens to report sightings of stray cats and their loca-tions. The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory (ACRA) also launched its"BizQuery" service on OneMap.

10

UK

Olympics pollution tobe mapped in 3DResearchers at the University ofLeicester developed 'CityScan tech-nology' to monitor the impact ofincreased traffic on pollution levels inLondon during the Olympics. Leadresearcher Dr Roland Leigh claimedthat using the new technology, histeam will be able to map pollution in3D to show emissions of nitrogendioxide and how far they spread.

The new technology gathers scat-tered sunlight to scan whole citiesand takes readings of air quality, toinvestigate the impact of the extratraffic on pollution. It can show theair quality over every point of the city.It can also reveal the days and timeswhen pollution levels are at theirhighest.

Software to trackdisasters

Using home broadband routers, anew software developed at the Uni-versity of Abertay, Dundee, can 'ping'thousands of addresses to checkwhether buildings are still standingafter being hit by a disaster. The sys-tem shows live data on 'safe' areasusing Google Maps. A press state-ment by the University claimed thatwithin seconds, any disaster can bedetected, mapped and its progresstracked - and support efforts target-ed to the areas in greatest need atany moment. The basic principle ofthe software prototype could also be

applied to mobile phone networks, ifan app was developed to support this.And as geolocation runs on satellites,the disaster tracking could remainaccurate even as phone networks godown.

Alternative locationmarket set to grow

GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and cellularlocation technologies will each beinstalled in over one billion devices in2017, with direct revenues forecast tobreak the USD 8 billion mark,according to a market report by ABIResearch. These are the findings of arecently released report by ABIResearch, Alternative PositioningTechnologies. It considers the pene-tration of over seven alternative loca-tion technologies and how they canbe combined to meet the needs ofeach market. It also looks at how thelines between wide-area and preci-sion indoor location will blur into aubiquitous location in all environ-ments.

SWEDEN

'Real-time LBA marketto grow at 91pc'The total value of the global real-timemobile location-based advertisingand marketing (LBA) market willgrow at a compound annual growthrate (CAGR) of 91 percent. In 2011, itwas EUR 192 million, which willreach to EUR 4.9 billion in 2016,according to a market report by BergInsight. This will then correspond to28.3 percent of all mobile advertisingand marketing. This means that LBAwill represent more than 4 percent of

digital advertising, or 1 percent of thetotal global ad spend for all media.

ITALY

Emergency mappinggroup formedApproximately 20 representativesfrom different space agencies con-gregated in Ispra city and formed


Spread ofinfectious diseasesmapped

Musarte Continuendo Foundation (The Netherlands),Infectious Disease Research

Foundation (The Netherlands)and the Wellcome Trust jointlyproduced and released the Atlas of Human Infectious Diseases. It is a collection of up-to-date maps presentingthe status of major humaninfections around the world.The map-making for the Atlasbegan in 2007 and shows thestatus of infectious diseasesthrough to 2011. It also helpsexplain where and why dis-eases occur, by showing thedriving forces behind them.

11

International Working Group onSatellite-based Emergency Mapping(IWG-SEM). Member agenciesinclude European Commission - JointResearch Centre (EU-JRC), US Geo-logical Survey, Group on EarthObservations, United Nations Officefor Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA),SERVIR, German Space Agency(DLR), CSA/Athena Global, SERTIT,ITHACA and Sentinel Asia. The visionof IWG-SEM was defined as "Sup-porting disaster response by improv-ing international cooperation insatellite-based emergency mapping".

FINLAND

NLS opens access tospatial data The National Land Survey (NLS)opened all its topographic data to beused free of charge. At the outset,the freely available data will particu-larly benefit application developers,map enthusiasts and organisationsusing geographic information.According to Kari-Pekka Karlsson,Product Group Manager at the NLS,freely available data includes datafrom the topographic database, laser

scanning data and the topographicmap at scale of 1:50,000. Antti Koso-nen, Director at the NLS, observed,"By making map data freely available,NLS paves the way for other govern-ment agencies in granting access todata. We hope that the datasets willgive rise to new innovations."

FRANCE

Competition open forsatnav business ideasNow in its eighth year, EuropeanSatellite Navigation Competition(ESNC) opened with the prize poolworth about EUR 1 million in cashawards. The Competition is acceptingideas till 30 June 2012. Winners willbe announced at the award ceremonyin Munich, Germany, on 25 October.More information on the competition

is available on the ESNC website atwww.galileo-masters.eu. ESA's Tech-nology Transfer Programme (TTP)has been a partner in the competitionsince 2005. After the business incu-bation period, typically of 1-2 years,ESA could further help the compa-nies to get access to funding throughthe TTP-organised ESA InvestmentForum and the Open Sky Technolo-gies Fund.

UKRAINE

Governors to take careof environment Ukrainian governors' performancewill be judged not only by economicperformance, but also by the environ-mental condition. Recently, the Min-istry of Environment announceddeployment of remote sensing tech-nologies and advanced geospatialdata processing tools. The dataanalysis report will be forwarded toUkrainian Prime Minister, MykolaAzarov. By supporting this initiative,Azarov stated that the ecologicalstate of the region is an importantcomponent of assessing the quality of life.

GERMANY

Renewable energy potential mapped

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), in association withGerman Aerospace Center, (DLR) launched the first global atlas for solarand wind energy. The atlas provides open access to information aboutwhere solar and wind energy can best be exploited. The atlas is a data-base that combines all existing information into one easy-to-use portal(www.irena.org/atlas/). The initiative is being coordinated by the IRENA.DLR provided the satellite data.


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Tasmania rolls outspatial info project

Tasmanian government rolled outSpatial Information Foundations proj-ect. The two-year project is part ofthe Tasmanian Government ICTStrategy and it supports the Econom-ic Development Plan, strategies forplanning reform and the SenseT(Sensing Tasmania) programme.Some of the objectives of the projectinclude development of a new webinterface for the Land InformationSystem Tasmania (LIST), a new Tas-manian land parcel and propertyboundary database (numeric cadas-tre), a web-based spatial data andservices directory and high speedimage servers.

Question mark overPSMA's data

30 percent of data provided by PSMAfor multi-dwelling units such asapartment blocks was inconsistent,complained Mike Quigley, Chief Exec-utive of NBN Co. to a Senate, iTnews

reported. PSMA is a governmentauthorised spatial data provider. ThePSMA database, dubbed G-NAF, pro-vides addresses for 13.14 millionAustralians premises. NBN Co. hadstruck its geospatial data deal withPSMA in March, but now the compa-ny is forced to invest in new systemsto manually double-check inaccuratedata.

FIJ I

SOPAC uses LiDAR forfloodplain mapping The Secretariat of the Pacific Com-munity's Applied Geoscience andTechnology Division (SPC SOPAC)conducted a LiDAR-based airbornesurvey of the Nadi and Ba basins.

The survey was funded by theWorld Bank. Litea Biukoto from SPCSOPAC's Disaster Reduction Pro-gram said the data will be used toproduce detailed floodplain mapsthat could assist the National Disas-ter Management Office and otheragencies.

"With LiDAR we can detect subtlefeatures in the landscape like riverterraces and channel banks, the

amount and types of vegetation onslopes, building locations andheights, to name just a few things. Itcan also penetrate tree canopies,"said Eric Sage from Network Map-ping, the company contracted to car-ry out the survey.

NEW ZEALAND

Christchurch CityCouncil wins ALGIMGIS award

Christchurch City Council (CCC)received the Association of LocalGovernment Information Manage-ment (ALGIM) GIS Project of the YearAward. CCC received the award forimplementing an innovative GIS solu-tion in response to the devastatingearthquake that took place on Febru-ary 22, 2011. The Council is NewZealand's second-largest local gov-ernment authority responsible fornearly 370,000 residents. It imple-mented a suite of Intergraph solu-tions for managing and sharing up-to-date infrastructure services datawith key stakeholders after the earth-quake.

Australia responds to Lawrence report In October 2011, Vanessa Lawrence, Director General of Ordnance Survey,had submitted a report to the Australian government. The report analysedthe government's spatial capability and explained how spatial data can bebenefit public and private sector. It contained 22 recommendations. Nowthe government responded to the report. The government said that Aus-tralia New Zealand Land Information Council is currently considering arevised Strategic Objective Statement and Terms of Reference. Revisingthe strategic objectives will include consideration of the appropriate formsof interaction with PSMA Australia Ltd. Moreover, the Government hasestablished Office of Spatial Policy.

14 Geospatial World I June 2012

BUSINESS

Global sat industrygrows by 5 pc Global satellite industry recorded arevenue growth of 5 percent in 2011,according to 2012 State of the Satel-lite Industry report by the SatelliteIndustry Association (SIA). Globally,2011 revenues for the satellite indus-try totalled USD 177.3 billion. PatriciaCooper, President of SIA noted,"Worldwide satellite industry rev-enues have shown an average annualgrowth rate of 9 percent over the pastfive years, demonstrating the ongoingresilience of the industry." However,the report also observed that the USSatellite Industry Employmentdecreased by 1 percent in the firstthree quarters of 2011, a net loss of2,169 jobs.

DARPA calls bids forSeeMe programme

The Defense Advanced ResearchProjects Agency (DARPA) released itslatest Broad Agency Announcement(DARPA-BAA-12-35) for the pro-gramme, Space Enabled Effects forMilitary Engagements (SeeMe). Bid-ders will be competing for approxi-mately USD 45 million to be distrib-uted via multiple awards. The goal ofthis programme is to provide neededon-demand imagery directly to thewarfighters in the field from very-low-cost satellite constellations in atimely manner. Such a programmewill fill current gaps in critical infor-mation prior to, during and after mili-

tary engagements. The challengehere is to provide full constellationcoverage over a selected latitudeband at a cost that is only a fractionof current airborne costs. This rough-ly translates into a satellite unit costof no more than USD 500,000, exclu-sive of launch and ground operations.

POLICY

Congress yet to resolvedata sharing issueA new Congressional Research Ser-vice (CRS) report observed that theUS Congress recognised challengesof coordinating and sharing geospa-tial data at different levels but couldnot overcome. The report, Issues andChallenges for Federal GeospatialInformation, written by Peter Folger,stated, "While Congress exploredissues of cost, duplication of effortand coordination of geospatial infor-mation in hearings during the 108thCongress, lawmakers still face con-siderable challenges with regard tocoordinating how geospatial data isacquired and used by local, state andfederal entities in collaboration withthe private sector." It added, "Asmuch as 80 percent of governmentinformation has a geospatial compo-nent and the federal government'srole has changed from being a pri-mary provider of authoritativegeospatial information to coordinat-ing and managing geospatial dataand facilitating partnerships."

Call for presidentialdebate on EO sats

The newspaper, The WashingtonPost, wants NASA's earth sciencesatellites and NOAA's weather satel-

lites to be on the list of issues debat-ed in this presidential election year,according to its recently publishededitorial. The editorial came in thewake of the National Research Coun-cil's (NRC) mid-term review of howNASA and NOAA are implementingthe recommendations of the NRC's2007 Earth Science and Applicationsfrom Space (ESAS) Decadal Survey.The NRC report concluded that theUS earth observation satellite sys-

Trimble acquiresSpime

Trimble acquired Spime, a loca-tion-based service (LBS) plat-form developer, VentureBeat

reported. Shankar Narayanan,Chief Executive of Spime, con-firmed on his LinkedIn page thatSpime is now a Trimble company.Spime's MapMan LBS Platformintegrates social and locationservices into GPS-enabled apps.Spime also offers a navigationservice and map service underthe names Northstar Nav andNorthstar Map. Spime's cus-tomers include mobile operators,manufacturers, developers andplatform and semiconductorproviders. Nokia's Navteq hasalso partnered with Spime for itsLBS technology.

Geospatial World I June 2012 15

tems are in a precarious situationbecause of budget shortfalls, lack ofaffordable launch vehicles andchanges directed by the White HouseOffice of Management and Budgetand by Congress.

APPLICATIONS

Sparse data challengesNOAAAs sea ice continues to diminish dur-ing summer and the Arctic sea routeopens to more vessels, the NationalOceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-tration (NOAA) faces a huge chal-lenge in upgrading navigational data."Much of the coastline and offshorewaters here are comparatively poorlymapped, mapped in a sort of once-upon-a-time time frame," observedKathryn Sullivan, Deputy Administra-tor and acting chief scientist for theNOAA.

According to NOAA, about one-third of the country's Arctic watersare important to navigation, based onwater depth and the draft of shipsexpected to transit the region. TheAgency's Office of Coast Survey iden-tifies 38,000 squares miles as a pri-

ority for new surveys, a task that willtake 25 years.

25,000 species onearth mapped

A research team from Yale Universityand the University of Colorado (UC)Boulder developed beta version of'Map of Life'. It is a web-based tool toshow the distribution of all livingplants and animals on the earth.

The beta version of map providesinformation about almost 25,000species. "We are taking 200 years ofdifferent types of knowledge comingfrom different sources, all document-ing the locations of species aroundthe world and compiling them in away that will greatly enhance ourknowledge of biodiversity," said UC-Boulder Associate Professor RobertGuralnick.

Google to providewarships' location info

Google will soon make public infor-mation about virtually every ship atsea, giving the current location andidentity even of American warships,AOL Defense reported.

According to the report, Michael

Jones, Chief Technology Advocate atGoogle Ventures said, "This technolo-gy cost three million dollars for thewhole programme." While none ofthis makes Google an intelligenceagency, it certainly highlights a trendof great interest to the intelligencecommunity and the military. "I thinkthe macro level issue here is: Wel-come to the new age of transparen-cy," said Keith Masback, president ofthe US Geospatial Intelligence Foundation.

ORBIS calculates traveltimes in ancient Rome

Researchers at Stanford Universitydeveloped a Web-based tool, ORBIS.It shows how long and costly it was tomove people and wheat betweencities in the Roman Empire. "Thistool is an exemplar of a shift in digitalhumanities projects," Scott Weingart,a doctoral student in library sciencesat the University of Indiana. Weingartwas asked by the researchers to pre-view and comment on it.

The interface of the tool is a littlelike adjusting travel in the old chil-dren's computer game Oregon Trail.The ORBIS team used ancient mapsand records, modern-day weather

Sensor network to monitor water resources

Engineers at the University of California developed a GPS-powered Float-ing Sensor Network. Through the smartphone-equipped floating robotsequipped with sensors, engineers aim to develop next generation of watermonitoring technology which promises to transform the way governmentagencies monitor one of the state's most precious resources. The FloatingSensor Network project is led by Alexandre Bayen, a researcher at theCenter for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society(CITRIS). According to the university's press statement, such a flexiblesystem could be critical in the event of an emergency, including a leveebreach or oil spill.


measurements and modern-day his-torians' experiments with trying tosail in Roman-style ships to informtheir calculations.

Birds' navigationmechanism simplified

The question of how birds navigateusing magnetic fields has alwaysremained a big puzzle. Now,researchers at Baylor College ofMedicine, USA, identified a group of53 cells in a pigeon's brain thatrespond to the direction and strengthof the earth's magnetic field. Whilethe researchers adjusted the eleva-tion angles and magnitude of theirartificial magnetic field, they simulta-neously recorded the activity of the 53 neurons in the pigeons' brain.They found that every neuron had its own characteristic response to the magnetic field, each giving a sortof 3D compass reading along thefamiliar north-south directions aswell as pointing directly upward ordownward.

A navigation systemfor the blind

A computer science engineeringteam of Kostas Bekris and EelkeFolmer at the University of Nevada,Reno, developed 'Navatar' - an indoornavigation system for people withvisual impairment. They used a com-bination of human-computer interac-tion and motion-planning research tobuild a low-cost accessible navigationsystem, which can run on a standardsmartphone.

Navatar uses digital 2D architec-tural maps and low-cost sensors,such as accelerometers and com-passes that are available in most

smartphones. For this work, Bekrisand Folmer won a PETA ProggyAward for Leadership in Ethical Science.

MISCELLANEOUS

AGC provides freeterrain databasesThe US Army Geospatial Center(AGC) announced to provide openaccess of modelling and simulationterrain databases along with opera-tional geospatial products on itsCommon Map Background (CMB)website.

There are 161 free synthetic terraindatabases that support live, virtualand constructive (L/V/C) simulationsused in training, testing and experi-mentation hosted on the CMB. Theseterrain databases are available inmultiple formats suitable for use inJoint Semi-Automated Forces (JSAF),One Semi-Automated Forces (One-SAF), Virtual Battle Space 2 (VBS2)and other Department of Defensesimulations.

OGC adopts newstandard

The Open Geospatial Consortium(OGC) members adopted the OGCSensor Observation Service (SOS)Interface Standard Version 2.0. It isavailable at: http://www.opengeospa-tial.org/standards/sos. According tothe OGC's press statement, whetherfrom in-situ sensors (e.g., watermonitoring) or remote sensors (e.g.,satellite imaging), observations madefrom sensor systems contribute mostof the geospatial data by volume usedin geospatial systems today. The SOS

2.0 includes a modular restructuringof the document, a new and easy touse key-value-pair binding, a newSOAP binding, a redesign of theobservation offering concept andrelies on the common OGC SensorWeb Enablement Service Model.

Esri GPS base stationjoins CORS network

Esri set up a GPS base station to

Army releases'HyDRA' app

The US Army Geospatial Center(AGC) and Engineer Research andDevelopment Center released

Hydrologic Data Resources Appli-cation (HyDRA) - a Web-baseddata survey and analysis tool. Itaims to provide the Departmentof Defense (DoD) logistics andgeospatial intelligence-relatedwater communities with informa-tion on water resources data col-lection, visualisation and dissemi-nation in a mobile, enterprise-enabled environment. It allowsusers to view, collect and editunclassified water resources fea-tures via Android 2.2+ OS smartdevices using Google MapsTMand Google EarthTM applications.


Esri to lead GeoFoundation Exchange project

Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) selected Esri Canada to lead theGeoFoundation Exchange project. The project is funded under NRCan'sGeoConnections programme. It focuses on developing a prototype for anopen, Web-based system that will enable cost-effective and efficient shar-ing of geographic basemap data across the country. Joe Oliver, Minister ofNatural Resources, said, “Open and accessible data is our key strategy toincrease the availability of information to Canadians, create socio-eco-nomic opportunities and enable citizens to participate more fully in theprocess of government.”

assist its GIS developers and to sup-port surveyors, engineers, scientistsand those in public works and public safety in the community surrounding the Esri campus in Redlands, California.

Moreover, the base station, namedGISA, has been accepted by theNational Geodetic Survey (NGS) andincorporated into the national Contin-uously Operating Reference Station(CORS) network. The GISA operatesTrimble NetR9 - a dual-frequencyGPS/GNSS receiver, with ZephyrGeodetic Model 2 antenna. It broad-casts real-time GPS/GNSS data onthe Internet in industry standardRadio Technical Commission forMaritime Services (RTCM) formats,which allows GPS users to obtainreal-time centimetre positions.

Facebook faces USD15 bn lawsuit

A lawsuit, filed in Federal Court inSan Jose, demands USD 15 billionfrom Facebook for violating federalwiretap laws. The lawsuit combines21 separate cases across the US in2011 and early 2012. It is an amendedconsolidated class-action complaintthat claims the company is invading

the privacy of its users by trackingthem across the Internet. Like theprevious lawsuits, Facebook is onceagain being accused of violating theFederal Wiretap Act, which providesstatutory damages per user of USD100 per day per violation, up to amaximum per user of USD 10,000.The complaint also asserts claimsunder the Computer Fraud andAbuse Act, the Stored Communica-tions Act, various California Statutes,and California common law.

CANADA

CSA under budgetcloudMissed deadlines and an underfund-ed Canada Space Agency (CSA) mayscuttle plans to build the next gener-ation of earth observing satellites,according to MacDonald, Detwillierand Associates Ltd. (MDA).

However, Industry Minister Christian Paradis said the Canadiangovernment is committed to thesatellite project. Original estimatesput the cost of the project at CAD 600million, but revised calculationsalmost doubled the amount to CAD 1

billion, according to the Ottawa Citizen. It is pertinent to mentionhere that Canada's 2012 federalbudget reduced CSA funding fromUSD 443 million in 2011 to USD 363.2million this year, with furtherdeclines projected in subsequentyears.

GSDI Associationelects new President

Members of the Global Spatial DataInfrastructure (GSDI) Associationchose EuroGeographics' SecretaryGeneral and Executive Director, DaveLovell as its President-elect. Theelection took place during a meetingof the Association's Council heldbefore the GSDI World Conference inQuebec City. Lovell has representedEurope on the Board of GSDI since2007 and will continue in his role atEuroGeographics.


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The world today is integrallyconnected through four rapidconnectivities of environment,

people, economy and ideas. We allknow that global warming and cli-mate change are no longer problemsof individual countries. Nations today

are concerned about the growinginflationary pressures, recessionsand potential fall in growth rates. Atthe same time, advances in trans-portation have progressively mademovement of people across nationsand regions more feasible. This has

led to the globalisation of expertiseand talents which can flow seam-lessly from one nation to another.Similarly, ideas and innovations areno longer geographically or political-ly confined. An invention made todayin one corner of the world takes no

POINT OF VIEW

approach key to tackling

global challenges

Collaborative

approach key to tackling

global challenges

Collaborative

time to find its market thousands ofmiles away. The expansion of infor-mation and communication technol-ogy and the convergence of techno-logical tools are structuring newworld knowledge, where problems ofone part of the world can be solved

by multiple experts based at differentpoints of the globe.

To develop a world that is pros-perous, healthy, secure, devoid ofterrorism and on a sustainablegrowth path, we need to evolve plat-forms for the seamless flow andexchange of knowledge and technol-ogy across the world. Geospatialtechnology is a vital tool that canhelp us in realising this vision.

Target 3 billion

With the rapid development in spacetechnology during the last 55 years,geospatial technology is really goingto be a game changer, particularly inthe development of remote and ruralareas of the world covering 3 billionpeople. About 38 out of every 100workers in the world are into agri-culture. In the least developednations, this ratio goes up to 68 per-cent. Our urgent challenge is toexplore how geospatial knowledgecan enhance the potential of thisworkforce. Some of the challenges inthis area are:

• Delivering better crop productivity byenhancing the spatial utilisation of thefarmland, characterising the soil con-tent, agro climatic variations andchanging weatherconditions of thefarmland. Cangeospatial technolo-gy be used to man-age the informationfrom end-to-end forthe crop cycle?

• Mapping the watercontent of all waterbodies, their siltingstatus and theirpotential to bringwelfare to the farm-lands.

• Better pest man-agement and weed management byusing GIS to detect and map thespread of pests in the region and high-lighting the vulnerable areas for urgentaction.

As geospatial community, weneed to focus on how we are usingtechnology of the 21st century to solvethe problems which are reminiscentof perhaps the 18th or the 19th centu-ry. We need to re-think on how thetechnologies at our disposal cansolve some of the problems of the 3billion rural population of the worldand help them unleash their poten-tial, thereby leading to better humanlife, without damaging the environ-ment around us.

Another challenge we face todayis to take urban quality amenities tothe 3 billion rural population of theworld. There is an urgent need tobridge the divide between the richand poor and urban and rural. In thebook, Target 3 Billion, co-authoredby me, we have researched manyfields, which point out that the poor-est of the world are actually payingthe highest per unit cost for basicamenities of clean water, nutritiousfood and healthcare. How can weovercome this ironic reality of the 21st

century? Can the geospatial commu-nity champion the missions like:

• Helping to identify the state ofpotable water availability in theregions.

• Helping to identify"hot spots" for localenergy generationcapacity includingenergy from waste,energy from bio fuelsand small scale hydroplants, which canempower the localcommunities.

The third areathat is critical inempowering 3 bil-lion is that of envi-

ronment. The changing environmentworst affects the poorest. Nearly,half of the population of the worldlives within 150-200 km of the sea


To develop a worldthat is prosperous

and healthy, we needto evolve platforms

for the seamless floowand exchange ofknowledge and

technology acrossthe world

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam11th President of India


coast and factors like global warm-ing are going to worst hit the impov-erished in these areas. Besides, theeconomically weaker sections aremost vulnerable to environmentborne diseases. Geospatial commu-nity has to play an active role inareas such as:

• Accurately mapping the carbon bal-ance of different regions of the world.This would include determining thecarbon stock, forest and tree cover.

• Helping to identify optimal locationsfor renewable energy at a small scale,like wind, solar and cultivation of biofuels.

• Can technology give every nation amonthly status of deep forest and for-est conditions including quantum ofoxygen generated?

To make all the user communitypyramid data to become useful, irre-spective of the nation and the region,it is vital to make it available in acommonly acceptable standards andformats which are interoperable pro-tocol standards. Can the geospatialcommunity discuss and recommendstrategies through which theserequirements can be met to makethe quality of the life of bottom of thepyramid community enriched andenhanced in a sustainable way? This

will be the cornerstone forempowering 3 billion.

Evolving an effectivesolution to the challengesbeing faced by 3 billionrural population of theworld requires the formu-lation of the WorldGeospatial KnowledgePlatform, which brings usto our second topic of rele-vance in this discussion.

World Geospatial

Knowledge

Platform

Today, the challenges in some partsof the world are poverty, illiteracy,need for safe drinking water, cleanand green energy, equitable distribu-tion of resources, quality educationwith values for all, overcoming socie-tal imbalances, curing diseases,quality healthcare for all and goodliving conditions. Overcoming thesechallenges would require the cre-ation of World Geospatial KnowledgePlatform, which can be done as aventure between multiple nations,industries and academic andresearch institutions in this domain.World Geospatial Knowledge Plat-form is a meeting place for science,technology, industry, managementand marketing. The platform willenable joint design, development,cost effective production and mar-keting of the knowledge products,systems and services in variousdomains based on the core compe-tence of partner nations.

The convergence of bio, nano,eco and IT is expected to touch everyarea of concern to the humanity. TheWorld Geospatial Knowledge Plat-form will take up the missions, in

some of the areas discussed further,which are of utmost urgency to all ofus to make our world a safe, sustain-able, peaceful and prosperous placeto live:

Agriculture and allied activities:Some of the challenges in this areaare increasing production of foodgrains in an environment of reducedland, reduced water and reducedmanpower; preservation of food; foodprocessing; cost effective storageand distribution. The world today hasover 7 billion people, which isexpected to reach 9 billion by the endof 2050. We need to increase the util-isation of land and productivityalmost exponentially to cater to themost fundamental need of food. Thiswould require the World GeospatialKnowledge Platform to focus on croppatterns, soil management and irri-gation systems.

Environment and energy inde-pendence: We have over 7 billionpeople, of which about half live incoastal regions which are suscepti-ble to risks of climate change. Mostof the nations are also net importersof fossil fuel energy. Hence, it isimportant for nations to jointlyembark on a mission of energy inde-pendence. This can include gradua-tion to solar power, which wouldhave tremendous scope as many ofthese nations and regions are nearthe equator.

Urban planning:: In an increas-ingly urbanising world, the WorldGeospatial Knowledge Platform willhave to play an important role inmanaging urban planning and exe-cuting missions of urban amenitiesplanning. This would include spatio-temporal designing, road densitymapping and sub-surface mapping.

Dr. Kalam deliveringthe keynote address atGeospatial WorldForum 2012

Healthcare: The development of'health geographic information sys-tem' for the world would be a crucialmission for the World GeospatialKnowledge Platform. In a convergingworld, with mobile people, thespread of disease from one part ofthe world to another is rapid. GIS canbe useful for emergency medicalcare system. Using an integration ofspatial (location) and statisticalattributes, we can also use GIS forhelping to tackle specific diseases inspecific regions.

Utility planning: Another area ofWorld Geospatial Knowledge Plat-form to work would be towardseffective execution of utility planningincluding transmission line laying tomaximise efficiency and minimisethe damage to environment, reduc-ing pilferage using GIS and installingsmall scale hydro and solar plantsfor remote locations.

Disaster prediction and manage-ment: World Geospatial KnowledgePlatform should take up the missionof earthquake forecast, which is pre-dicting earthquakes. Of course, thisis a tough challenge which needs atargeted working group of scientistsand geologists from all the nations.An important area to focus on in this

domain would be detecting precur-sors to earthquake in the form of atransient short term thermal rise inland surface temperature which canrange from 2 to 12 degrees. Satellitethermal remote sensing can be cru-cial to map and detect this.

We need to jointly fund the WorldGeospatial Knowledge Platform witha funding of USD 15 billion spreadover a period of ten years. Out ofthis, about USD 5 billion can be ear-marked for university linkages andresearch in specific areas. While, theUSD 10 billion corpus needs to beinvested into social entrepreneurswho can take the products and serv-ices into ground level implementa-tion in each of the countries. Ofcourse, their experiences need to beshared on an open source platformfor everyone to benefit.

Enabling technologies

The world's water resources are facing potential threats from variousforms of water mismanagement,either man made or due to naturalcalamity. Global climate change haschanged dynamics of the environ-ment, resulting in floods anddroughts. Our water reserves in deepwater table are being drawn down at

alarming rates withoutbeing replenished.The quality of ourwater is being con-taminated by pollu-tants, sediments andsewage. Our riverways are becomingclogged with sedi-ments due to erosion.These aspects needcontinuous observa-tion for preservation,

upkeep and improvement. Certainly,geospatial technology provides themeans to monitor, measure, modeland manage these resources fromthe local to the global scale. It can bedone nationally and globally.

GIS and remote sensing areindeed "enabling technologies" formarine science, but marine sciencealso can help to improve GIS andremote sensing. For instance, theability to better handle and visualisetime has been a long-standingresearch issue for GIS. We know theadage "location, location, location."But in the oceans, it is said "time isof the essence," as it is often only bytime that we can get location, espe-cially on the deep seafloor or in thedeeper parts of the water columnthat are out of reach of satellites andglobal positioning systems.

The global vision 2030 envisagesthe realisation of green, clean environment without pollution, having prosperity without poverty and peace without fear of war. Whatis needed is the participation of multiple nations and people fromacross the globe towards commonobjectives.

(Based on the speech delivered by Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam at Geospatial World

Forum 2012 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands)


World GeospatialKnowledge Platform is a

meeting place for science,technology, industryand marketting. It will

enable joint design anddevelopment of the

knowledge products andservices in domainss basedon the core competence of

partner nations


INTERVIEW

Dutch cadastre is 180 years old.What are the changes it hasundergone over these years?

Cadastral system in the Netherlandsstarted as a means of collecting tax-es. It has evolved to provide informa-tion about cadastre and land registryalong with geospatial information. In2004, it merged with the topographi-cal service of the Ministry ofDefence, establishing the Cadastre,Land Registry and Mapping Agency.As a result, we can give more inte-grated answers and solutions to thesociety. The second major change isthat we have moved towards a part-nership organisation. We are awareof our position with other parties.The process of information sharing isnot restricted to a nation's border.We have partners in public and pri-vate sectors with whom we areworking to move a step forward.

Do you have a mechanism toinvolve citizens’ participation incadastre information?

We do involve our citizens. Wehave information about owner-ship of land parcels. Not everycitizen in the Netherlands is anowner of a particular piece of

land; there are people who rent outtheir parcel/home/ building to oth-ers. We also keep our people updat-ed about the purposes for which theycan use our datasets. Apart fromproviding information about landregistry and ownership,Kadaster also offers advice onissues like building a newinfrastructure, building arailroad etc. If someonewants to convert their resi-dential land into an industri-al one, we also provide infor-mation about that.

Kadaster now includes all kindsof geospatial information. Isit the agency responsiblefor providinng geospa-tial information inthe Nether-lands?

No. To be precise, the Ministry ofInfrastructure and Environment,along with some private organisa-

tions, is responsible.

Cadastre marks

beginning of

a healthy economy

Drs. Th A J Burmanje (Dorine)Chair Executive Board

Cadastre, Land Registry andMapping Agency (Kadaster)

The Netherlands

The ministry gives us a task and onthe basis of that we provide informa-tion about land registry and map-ping, combined with geospatial infor-mation.

The Netherlands has a very uniquegeography as most of the countryis below sea level. What kind ofcchallenges does it present interms of cadastral information?

It is true that half of our country isbelow the sea level. Therefore, weare very good in defending ourselvesagainst the sea and reclaiming newland from the sea. Despite being asmall country, we have a populationof around 16 million people. So, wereclaim land in order to provide shel-ter to people. Kadaster keeps all theinformation about the reclaimedland.

How are cadastral and landregistry needs changing orevolving over a period of time?How is Kadasster using the latestgeospatial technology?

One of the major technologicaldevelopments is 3D cadastre. Ourteam is working towards integrating3D cadastre into the conventionalsystem of 2D. However, this integra-tion is in a development phase. In theNetherlands, we have three or moreowners for one piece of land. As anexample, the same piece of land mayhave an underground parking, abuilding and apartments in thatbuilding, and all of these may havedifferent owners. So, the same pieceof land has many different ownersand 3D registration would help us inregistering the exact ownership.

Earlier, land surveying was conduct-ed by a team of three or more peoplewho used to go to the field to take

measurements.Nowadays, onlyone person,equipped with aGPS device, isrequired to takemeasurements.Our organisationhas adopted manyof these techno-logical advance-ments. The wayone can distributeinformation ischanging almost daily.

The way in which data isdistributed is changing becauseof the developments in IT. How isKadasteer disseminating informa-tion to its users? Is Kadaster alsoproviding value-added productsand servvices?

We are cooperating with the publicsector to add value to our datasetsand deliver it to our citizens and cus-tomers. We sell our informationaccording to the tariff fixed by theministry. As far as open data is con-cerned, we are still contemplatingabout it. Discussions about privacyand quality are important before pro-viding open data facility. Sometimeswe gather a person's confidentialfinancial information for land reg-istry; for example, the amount ofloan taken to buy a parcel or build-ing. We cannot divulge such confi-dential information. Therefore, weare discussing this issue with peopleand society on how to protect priva-cy, authenticity and quality of infor-mation. However, our topographicalinformation is open for free usesince January 1st, 2012.

Does industry support you in pro-viding value-added information?

Yes, in some smaller projects theysupport us (or we support them). Wetry to cooperate with each other.

In developing nations, it isobserved that (re)organisation ofland has a direct bearing on theeconnomic development of thecountry. How does an organisedland system contribute to thecontinuous ecoonomic growthof a developed nation like TheNetherlands?

I think registration of land and itsownership marks the beginning of ahealthy economy. We have chosenthis theme to commemorate our175th anniversary. We held discus-sions with our guests on the topic,on how land registry and ownershipcan contribute to the economic


Earlier, land surveyingwas conducted by a teamof three or more people.

Nowadays, only one personn,equipped with a GPSdevice, is required to

take measurements. Theway one can distributeinformattion is changing

almost daily

3D cadastre

growth of a country. We are con-vinced that if people register theirland and ownership, their invest-ments will increase. In the Nether-lands, every inch of our land is regis-tered. People have so much faith inus that whenever they want to buyland, they approach Kadaster toknow about the owner and the histo-ry of that land. People in our countryfeel secure with information providedby the Kadaster.

In what way does Kadasterinteract with initiatives like spatialdata infrastructure (SDI)?

We are collaborating with severalorganisations to create a nationalspatial data infrastructure (NSDI).For example, the Ministry of Eco-nomic Affairs, Agriculture and Inno-vation has some kind of spatial dataand the Ministry of Infrastructureand Environment has different data.We are trying to collaborate with allsuch organisations to create an SDI.

As a cadastral organisation, youhave to be very accurate with yourmeasurements. On the otherhand,, organisations like thoseinvolved in soil conservation, landuse and agriculture are not soparticcular about accuracy in termsof measurements; they are moreworried about the accuracy interms of ccorrect thematic informa-tion, like the kind of soil etc. Doyou face such issues?Yes, we often face such issues. How-ever, we at Kadaster are very proudfor being accurate. For years, oursurveyors have been trained to beprecise and accurate while takingmeasurements. Customers are notwilling to pay for more accuratemeasurements. Since our profes-sionals are trained in accuracy, they

are a bit apprehensive about thesedevelopments. We are having discus-sions to make them aware aboutsuch kind of demands.

You are looking towards twodifferent standards, one which isprecise and the other which is not.But still, the two are tied up insome way.

We don't have a ready solution forthis problem. But, we are trying tomake standards in our field. We aretrying to do that in Europe throughthe INSPIRE project.

INSPIRE is a pan-Europeanconcept, but still there will bedifferences; for example, theway cadaastre is maintained in theUK or in the Netherlands or inItaly. Do you think that theseshould be raationalised? If yes,how?

The approach of INSPIRE is verygood; it starts with determining thestandards for each country. The first

step of INSPIRE will be to identify allthe sources from different countrieswith which we will work. Then, somekind of certification will be givenabout which source is from Italy, theNetherlands, Spain etc. We are hav-ing detailed discussions about stan-dardisation.

Kadaster is quite active inproviding consultancy services forvarious international projects.Whatt is the rationale in providingthese services?

We have special staff within ourorganisation to handle internationalprojects. We think it is our socialresponsibility to help countrieswhere land registry and cadastre arenot well developed. We work in closecoordination with the locals of a par-ticular country. We provide consul-tancy services to those countrieswhich ask for help. In many cases,we work in cooperation with theWorld Bank, welfare organisationsand the local government.


Kadaster’s involvement in a project outside Europe for developing land registration systems

Esri I Advertorial


For more than 35 years, Esrihas been leading the way inadvancing geographic informa-

tion system (GIS) technology. Found-ed on the belief that Geography Mat-ters, the company has more than4,000 skilled employees worldwidewho work with hundreds of partnersand hundreds of thousands of GISusers to better understand and findsolutions to global challenges.

GIS for Land Administration

GIS software continues to evolve tomeet the changing needs of landadministration professionals. Landrecords agencies have traditionallyrequired an assortment of softwareprogrammes. This was necessary toaccommodate survey data residingin file-based systems on multipleoperating systems, maps located inboth GIS and CAD programs andownership and appraisal data con-tained in specialised valuation sys-tems.

Often this data was not easilyaccessible to departments otherthan those maintaining it. Whilemany land records agencies haveintegrated maps and computer-assisted mass appraisal (CAMA) sys-tems using a GIS, they have onlyrecently fully integrated all types ofland records into the GIS.

Esri - The Leader in Land

Management Solutions

The land administration communityhas used Esri GIS technology andcomplementary solutions from itspartners to better manage day-to-day operations as well as long-termplanning. Esri technology providesefficient methodologies to edit par-cel data, connect to assessmentdatabases and publish mapping andGIS data on the web, enabling publicaccess. Centralised land recordsdata and open architecture providedata access where needed across

the organisation. The Esri integratedcollection of GIS products is wellsuited for efficient and accuratemapping; fair and accurate assess-ment of all real property; and timelyaccess to ownership, assessmentand map data.

Land Management Solutions

Esri's ArcGIS is an integrated collec-tion of software products for buildinga complete GIS system. With ArcGIS,organisations have a comprehensiveand highly integrated platform forcreation, integration, maintenance

Streamlining Land

Records Management


and dissemination of landrecords data. ArcGIS sup-plies the most compre-hensive strategy for landrecords management. GISusers now have a robustand highly customisablesuite of tools for creatingand maintaining landrecords.

ArcGIS can read manyformats natively and con-tains an arsenal of dataconversion and geopro-

cessing tools that arehelpful for land manage-ment professionals. ArcPad and ArcGIS forWindows Mobile, Esri'ssolutions for mobile fielddata collection and map-ping, enhance the speedof data updates sinceinformation can be cap-tured, edited and dis-played during collection.The ArcScan for ArcGISextension supplies

straightforward and con-trolled vectoring ofscanned documents tospeed parcel editing tasksand clean up unwantedparts of a raster imageprior to batch vectoring.

Incorporating

Survey Data

The geodatabase is thecommon data storage andmanagement frameworkfor ArcGIS. It combines"geo" (spatial data) with"database" (data reposito-ry) to create a central datarepository for spatial datastorage and management.The geodatabase supportsall the different elementsof GIS data used byArcGIS.

The Parcel Fabric [adataset for the storage,maintenance, and editingof parcels] gives surveyorsand engineers the abilityto build a survey informa-tion system inside theirGIS. Survey points can bestored and managed sep-

arately from GIS layers,but the layers can bemade "survey aware" sothat they can be editedusing the survey data.This allows users toupdate existing spatialdata with more accurateinformation on an incre-mental basis so workflowsare not disrupted.

Building a Framework

for Managing Resources

Land management systems require technolo-gy with the capacity tomanage what is often anenormous number of land parcels and realestate objects. By linkingmaps and legal descrip-tions to landownershiprecords, GIS provides anefficient method forrecord keeping as well asidentifying fraudulentclaims or errors in landrecording. Additionally,advances in GIS throughweb-viewers make parcelinformation and maps

Graphics to geographics

Mapmaking has come a long way since the days oflabor-intensive methods. Automated methods havemade maps more than just pretty pictures. Mapsbecome spatially intelligent as ArcGIS seamlesslyintegrates spatial data and allows you to visualisethis information to make informed decisions. Geog-raphy is at the heart of a more resilient and sustain-able future. Governments, industry leaders, academ-ics, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)trust us to connect them with the analytic knowledgethey need to make these critical decisions thatshape the planet.

Learn more about ArcGIS at esri.com/arcgis


Russia is the largest country inthe world, covering more than aninth of the earth's land area andhome to 143 million people. Man-aging the property rights for somany across a vast landscape is amonumental task.

Until a few years ago, Russianproperty rights, cadastre andmapping were managed by sepa-rate agencies. This meant thatwhile the Russian cadastre wascompletely mapped and recorded,the data was not consolidated

Today, legislative and regula-tory issues related to cadastralmatters are managed by oneagency, the Ministry of EconomicDevelopment. A public geoportal

based on Esri ArcGIS technologyis run by the Federal Survey. Thisgeoportal, Rosreestr(http://maps.rosreestr.ru/portal),now stores and delivers Russiancadastral data from the FederalReal Estate Cadastre andincludes information for registra-tion of rights, receipt of informa-tion and documentation.

Thousands use the automatedsystemThe public cadastre map includes

data layers on land parcels;buildings; state, municipal andcity administrative borders; landzone borders; cadastre districts;and the geodetic network. Cur-rently, there are more than 49million land parcels in the sys-tem. 12,000 users use the systemper day.

Development of the portal wasawarded to the Federal CadastralCenter, Zemlya, with EDATA+, the

professional services arm of Esri-CIS, Esri's distributor in the Com-monwealth of Independent Statesserving as a systems integrator.Working with the Ministry of Eco-nomic Development, DATA+began development at the end of2009 and launched into produc-tion status in March 2010. Dataprocessing to consolidateall the data took sixmonths, andtoday thedata is

upgraded automatically.

From 20,000 coordinate systems to 1Assimilating the spatial informa-

tion was a huge task: coordinatesfor the plots were in 1 of 20,000different local coordinate sys-tems. Most of this cadastral infor-mation was stored in either MapInfo Interchange or GISObjectLand format. Esri CIS staffchose parameters of a system ofcoordinates for the cadastre,implementing the Gauss-Krügerprojection with a spheroid ofKrassovsky.

Esri CIS staff created an XMLparser to convert the XML docu-ments into objects. This made the

RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

Rosreestr, a geoportal providing access to cadastral information in Russia,introduces e-governmentt to the country

Landuse categories

Cadastral cost per metre

Case

Stu

dy

readily available to thepublic, businesses andother agencies, whichsaves time and money. A GIS-based workflowusing ArcGIS helps eliminate errors resultingfrom overlapping bound-aries, incomplete parceldescriptions and otherdiscrepancies in landrecords. Esri's integratedcollection of GIS solutionsis well matched to theserequirements.

A Vertically Integrated

System

State and provincial gov-ernments are the cruciallink between national andlocal land records agen-cies. Common data for-mats and IT standards forGIS enable state agenciesto integrate informationfrom many sources,ensuring that adjacentjurisdictional boundariesalign

Focusing on valuationState agencies monitorthe land records and valuation activities of localgovernments, and in somecases, state agencies perform valuations. Thegoal is to identify andinvestigate anomalies invalue. ArcGIS helps togenerate value surfacesthat expedite these typesof monitoring tasks.

Benefits for an enterprisecadastral systemArcGIS supports all majorcadastral applications andprovides a comprehensivesolution for converting,editing, mapping, manag-ing, analysing and dissem-inating land records data.

Users can develop common data models that not only make datamore realistic but alsoprovide a standardisedmethod for developing and exchanging data. TheArcGIS Local Governmentdata model, for example,accommodates a range ofapplications and parceldefinitions. This flexibleand object-based modelcaptures the collectiveexperience gained frommore than 40 years ofmanaging parcels usingGIS.


For more information on GIS for cadastre,

visit esri.com/cadastre

data easier to manipulate withJavaScript applications. EsriArcGIS was then used to automatethe data process and store thedata in a geodatabase. Model-Builder in ArcGIS created an auto-mated workflow for the task ofconverting the data. Once the data

was created and stored, topo-graphic maps were prepared andpublished.

Rosreestr also allows mem-bers of the community to explorethe data in ways they have notbeen able to do before. Differentkinds of thematic maps can be

created of the attributes included in the data. Web servicesfor Rosreestr have been createdusing JavaScript, which makesthem available for others whowant to build their own applica-tions and provide additional services.

Map of Sochi area olympic games 2014

ArcGIS System


LIVING

IN A TWO-SPEED

WORLD

IN A TWO-SPEED

WORLD

Clear, legal and secure documentation of land is of great interest to the individual who possesses

iit as it is to the economic growth of a country. The world economy is moving at two speeds post

downnturn and with that, land and cadastre systems too seem to be evolving at two different paces.

In thiis lead article, Executive Editor Bhanu Rekha does a status check and presents

a comparative analysis of trends in cadastre and land administratioon systems in

less developed and more developed worlds.

CADASTRE AND LAND ADMINISTRATION

he structure of world economy is changingdynamically in important ways, with effectsthat are difficult to predict. The great finan-cial crisis that hit the West hard had leftmany countries facing a period of negativegrowth, budget deficits and high unemploy-

ment. However, China, India and the East registeredstrong economic growth during this period and sincethen, the world seems to be moving at two differentspeeds - that of the more developed world (characterisedby high debt, low economic growth and low populationgrowth) and that of the less developed world (charac-terised by low debt, high economic growth and high pop-ulation growth) (As shown in Figures 1 and 2). Expertspredict that probably in the next 10 years, these twoworlds, moving at two different speeds, will reach a bal-ancing point where they will contribute equally to theworld GDP.

From the standpoint of an individual or citizen, clear,legal and secure documentation of his/her ownershipover the piece of land he/she possesses is of utmost sig-nificance. According to Hernando de Soto in his bestsellerbook, Mystery of Capital, this documentation is the basisto access credit and release the capital value of land. Thisin fact is not only an individual interest but is importantfor the government as it serves as the fundamentalrequirement in enabling an equitable system for land andproperty taxation which essentially leads to the inclusiveeconomic growth of the country.

The experiments and experience of the more devel-oped world (Western world) in building modern cadastreand land administration systems is150-200 years old. Theless developed world (emerging Asian and Africaneconomies) opened up to the importance of reorganisa-tion of its land assets only in the mid 20th century.

A quick stock-taking and analysis of trends in cadas-tre and land administration systems in these two regionsclearly establishes the linkages of land administration toeconomic development and substantiates the fact thatthe world is indeed moving at two different speeds. To putit another way, the two worlds are on the same track butthe developed world is ahead while the developing worldhas to put in some hard work to catch up. This articleattempts a comparative analysis of cadastre and landadministration trends in more developed and less devel-oped regions of the world.


IN LESS DEVELOPED WORLD

According to a 2006 estimate by UN Habitat, the popula-tion of cities in developing countries will double from 2billion to 4 billion by 2036. To prevent people from living inslums, developing nations must create the equivalent of acity housing one million people (the size of Prague) everyweek, between now and 2036. This is a daunting task andthe developing world has to reach the level of sophistica-tion of the developed world in a situation where thedemands on land are far more complex than in the devel-oped world. "The intersection of technology, fundamentaleconomics, effective policies and the effective deploymentof technology are the prerequisites to achieve this goal,"opines Pete Large, Vice President, Trimble NavigationLtd. However, several bottlenecks need to be overcome tobuild and implement a land administration system. Theseinclude archaic property identification systems, inappro-priate legal policies in place, lack of technical knowhowand capacities to name a few.

South East Asia: Many countries in South East Asia haverecognised the need for the improvement of the cadastral

T


Figure 1

Figure 2

system - or even setting up practically a new one for theoverall development. This has often led to the implemen-tation of accelerated, systematic land registration/titlingcampaigns with financial aid and technical assistancefrom foreign donors.

The Torrens system of land tenure has played animportant role in shaping the modern economies of theregion including Malaysia. Malaysia started using ICT forland administration in 1980 when it has introduced com-puterised land revenue system (SHTB). In 1995, it intro-duced Computerised Land Registration System (CLRS). Ithas conducted thorough studies in 2000 to develop acomprehensive and well integrated land administrationsystem and introduced e-Land System (e-Tanah) in 2005as a pilot project in the State of Penang. Now, the systemis being expanded to cover entire Peninsular Malaysia inphases to establish an efficient and adaptable system toachieve service delivery excellence in the country, informsY.Bhg. Dato' Haron Bin Abdul Kader, Director - E-TanahProject Team, Ministry of Natural Resources & Environ-ment, Malaysia. According to Dato' Kader, this is translat-ing into an efficient work culture in land administrationand improved ratings for Malaysia by the World Bank.

South Asia: Every country presents its own unique sce-nario with respect to land administration. In the case ofSri Lanka, unprotected land rights system, non-existentland planning system are compounding the travails of thecountry, which is emerging from decades-old ethnicstrife. Poor land administration system is also a cause oflow investments flowing into the country, according toRPR Rajapaksha, Land Commissioner General, Ministryof Land & Land Development, Sri Lanka. Despite landbeing the most popular form of security, its contribution

to the credit market is quite low due to the non-availabili-ty of organised land information system. However, thecountry has ambitious plans to prepare cadastres for allland blocks which account for 12 million land parcelsunder the Land Title Project in 10 years. It also aims tocomplete the conversion of deed registrations into landtitle registrations in the next 10 years.

India is setting up land administration systems in itsstates through its flagship National Land Records Mod-ernisation Programme (NLRMP). PD Meena, AdditionalSecretary, Department of Land Resources describes theprogress achieved and the challenges in implementingthe massive programme on Pg 38.

Africca: Many African nations have colonial legacies of landadministration systems to deal with. However today, justabout every country in Africa is engaged in some form ofland reforms and modernisation of its land systems.

Namibia's present system of land surveying, registra-tion and development covers part of the country due tothe colonial policy of confirming the majority of the peopleto former "homelands" (now communal areas) and bar-ring them from owning land and securing tenure. In manymunicipalities, towns, villages and settlements, there isfrustration about the inability to plan, survey and registerland rights and the inadvertent difficulty in accessingcredit for investment, informs Anna Namhindo, Directorof Survey and Mapping, Ministry of Lands, Namibia.

To address the concerns and remove uncertaintiesaround land, Namibia has implemented Namibian LandPolicy (NLP) and Communal Land Reform Act (CLRA) and


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"The intersection of technology, fundamentaleconomics, effective policies and the effectivedeployyment of technology are the prerequisites toprevent people from living in slums with growingurban ppopulation in developing countries"

- Pete LargeVice President, Trimble Navigation Ltd.

Land - Magnitude of the problem

• Of the world's ~6 billion land parcels, 70-75% are not formallyregistered

• In developing countries: typical 20% formal registration, 80% informal

• Land reform initiatives only in 50 countries

• Most traditional systems provide occupancy rights only

• The population of cities in developing countries will double from 2 billion to 4 billion by 2030. To prevent people from living inslums, developing nations must create the equivalent of a cityhousing 1 million people every week between now and 2036

• Land records often get destroyed in natural disasters - in Haiti for example, 95 percent of land records were lost due to theearthquake

most importantly, granted equal rights to men andwomen when applying for rights to communal land. Withthe implementation of CLRA, land is being continuouslyre-distributed to previously disadvantaged Namibiansthrough resettlement and affirmative action loanschemes, Anna says. At present, 50% of Namibia's popu-lation lives in communal areas where they do not haveindividual land titles. However, their customary landrights are being registered as part of communal land reg-istration in accordance with CLRA but this framework isproving to be too costly and elitist, Anna adds. To addressthe issues, flexible land tenure has been introduced andpassed by the Parliament in November 2011.

While Namibia is still in the process of reorganisingits land, other African countries like South Africa, Rwan-da (refer Pg 48) and Morocco have success stories toshare. The northwest African country of the Kingdom ofMorocco has strong economic fundamentals supportedby liberal economic policies based on supply anddemand. Morocco's system operates with two cadastralinstruments - juridical and national cadastres which havestrong social and economic impact on the society. Theformalisation of land rights has begun early and itallowed participation of individuals and groups in the for-mal land and labour markets. This has effectivelyincreased the revenue from the titling process which ledto the progressive increase in FDI in real estate, divulgesMoha EL-AYACHI, General Secretary of National Board ofLicensed Surveyors, Morocco.

Eastern Europe: According to a study by UN EconomicCommission for Europe (UNECE), more than 50 millionpeople in 15 member states of UNECE live in informalsettlements, informs Gulnara Roll, Economic Affairs Offi-cer, Secretariat of the Committee for Housing and LandManagement, UNECE. Rapid urbanisation, poverty andlack of access to land and ownership, in addition to limit-

ed or no social housing, have led citizens to build theirhomes illegally under very poor environmental and socialconditions. This phenomenon is growing at an exponen-tial rate in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asiaand calls for urgent political, legal and planning solu-tions, she exhorts.

Post-communist countries in Central and EasternEurope (CEEC) have opened up to the importance of reli-able cadastral systems in the past 20 years, as the lack ofthe same delayed the progress of reforms and influencedpolitical decisions and economic transition.

Today, the land administration and land governancesituation in Estonia, Lithuania and Slovakia is advancedand progressive. Lithuania has one of the most modern, ifnot the most modern, web-based multi-purpose cadastrein the world serving the public and private sectors, saysDr Babette Wehrmann in his paper titled, Governance ofland tenure in Eastern Europe and CIS. The land gover-nance situation in Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic,Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Macedonia, Poland, Romaniaand Slovenia is much more diverse. Access to land is bet-


World Bank initiatives in land administration

Country Title Description

Senegal,Africa

Sustainable Land Manage-ment Project(SLM) - Senegal

The project aims to reduce land degradation and improve ecosystemfunctions and services in the target areas by adopting sustainable land management practices.

Vietnam,South EastAsia

Vietnam - LandAdministrationProject

The aim of the project is to develop animproved land administration systemin select provinces in Vietnam.

Croatia,Europeand Cen-tral Asia

Croatia - Integrat-ed Land Adminis-tration System

The system once developed will assistthe government to modernise the landadministration and management sys-tem in order to improve the efficiency,transparency and cost effectivenessof government services.

Tajikistan,CentralAsia

AF Land Registra-tion & CadastreSystem for Sus-tainable Agricul-ture Project -Tajikistan

The initiative aims to expand farmlandrestructuring activities under the FarmPrivatization Support Project, and toenable more rural people to becomeindependent farmers and take man-agement decisions in response tomarket forces.

Honduras,LatinAmericanandCaribbean

Second LandAdministrationProject - Hon-duras

The objective of the project is to pro-vide the population in the project areawith improved, decentralised landadministration services, including bet-ter access to and more accurate infor-mation on property records and trans-actions.

“More than 50 million people in 15 memberstates of UNECE live in informal settlements.Rapid urbaanisation, poverty and lack of accessto land and ownership have led citizens to buildtheir homes iillegally under very poor environmentaland social conditions.”

- Gulnara RollUNECE

ter regulated; land reforms are advanced but not yet fin-ished in these countries.

From the above analysis, it can be inferred that a lotof work is in progress in many countries of the less devel-oped world and offers huge market for technologyproviders. According to Kees de Zeeuw and Peter Laarak-er of Kadaster, "It can be concluded that the developmentof cadastral systems in Asia is moving at an impressivepace, and that our colleagues from Africa need supportfor their actions in relation to their governments."


IN MORE DEVELOPED WORLD

Europe is at the forefront of the developed world in build-ing modern, technology-intensive cadastre systems, witha history of more than two centuries. Today, in countriesin Western Europe like The Netherlands, Germany, Unit-ed Kingdom, Austria and Switzerland cadastre systemsnot only provide information about the ownership and val-ue of land but may also include information on land use,legal restrictions, regulations concerning land use andthe registration of important assets or infrastructure,such as utilities.

An aware population, greater ICT percolation, higheracceptability of geospatial technology and motivated lead-ership are driving the agendas of national mappingorganisations and cadastral agencies in developednations with the effect that the role of these organisationsis broadening in an attempt to create citizen-centric solu-tions for effective governance. Apart from building andmanaging the core cadastre infrastructure, NMOs areefficiently integrating with other themes of information toinput the national SDIs, thereby contributing to the sus-tainable development.

South Korea: The existing land administration in SouthKorea has been established as early as in 1910s, duringthe Japanese regime adopting the title registration sys-tem. The country promulgated the Cadastral Law in 1950.Around 32 million land parcels in Korea have been com-puterised from 1975-1984 and 759,000 cadastral mapsheets digitised between 1999 and 2003. A modern landadministration system in Korea, called the Korean LandInformation System (KLIS) has been developed to protectthe property rights of the public by efficiently managingcadastre and registry books, as well to provide the gov-

ernments with political statistics to deal with the over-heated real estate markets affected by the rapid econom-ic growths since late 1980s.

The evolution of land administration system in South Korea has coincided with the changes in the landpolicies from time to time, including policies on propertytaxation, land use planning and management, land subdivision and supply and real estate market controlsand management. These changes had a direct bearing onthe rapid economic development of the country, accord-ing to Prof Jiyeong Lee, University of Seoul.

Canada: The second largest country in the world, Canadahas an extremely diverse and complex landmass. As aconsequence, land administration in Canada is quitecomplex and multi-faceted and is shared between feder-


UN HABITAT Initiatives in cadastre and land administration

Title Country/region Description

Social TenureDomain Model(STDM): Phasetwo

Global This project focuses on develop-ing (including implementing, pilot,testing and disseminating) pro-poor, gender sensitive, large-scaleland tools capable of recording awide range of land rights. STDMwill improve security of tenure,reduce evictions and lower plan-ning and servicing costs.

Strengtheningthe capacities ofICGLR memberstates to addressthe land andproperty issuesof IDPs andrefugees

10 countries inGreat Lakesregion of Eastand CentralAfrica

UN-HABITAT and the InternationalConference of the Great LakesSecretariat will collaborate tostrengthen the capacity of Govern-ments and practitioners to under-stand and address the land andproperty issues related to IDPsand refugees in four pilot ICGLRMember States.

Enhancing theContribution ofLocal Authoritiesand their Partnerstowards achiev-ing the MDGsthrough CapacityBuilding of LocalGovernmentTraining Institutes

Global This initiative aims to enhance thecontribution and role of localauthorities and their partners inachieving the MDGs, in particularin addressing poverty, genderinequity and equality and in therealisation of improved local gov-ernance and sustainable develop-ment by strengthening the capaci-ties of local government traininginstitutes".

Urban Manage-ment TrainingProgramme forSouth Sudan ,under Support tothe States pro-gramme

Africa & ArabStates, Sudan

The general purpose of the UrbanManagement Training Programmeis to strengthen the skills andknowledge of Goss officials inurban management particularly inthe areas of Town planning andstrategic management, Land Man-agement, and Housing Policy.

al, provincial, municipal and aboriginal levels of govern-ment. The federal government continues to play a vitalrole in nation building and frontier land administration.Canada's land title and survey systems are in an evolvingphase. "We have recently completed a mapping projectwhich started in 1940s. It is also focussing on land reformthrough First Nations lands administration renewal, inte-grated parcel creation processes with land use planningand land registration systems," says David Harper, Direc-tor-GeoConnections.

Land administration in Canada's Arctic, the economicdevelopment of self-governing aboriginals, climatechange-disaster response and natural resource explo-ration, extraction and distribution are a few challengesfor effective land administration in Canada, David shares.

Germany: Germany built its cadastre at the beginning of19th century to streamline its taxation system. Its proper-ty cadastre has been set up only a century later as a par-cel-based system. These two systems are constantlyupdated and kept consistent. With changing societalneeds, the cadastre has started increasingly being usedfor other mapping and planning purposes and it startedincorporating other related data like land use, soil evalu-ation and protected sites. This data is being used for sev-eral applications and the German cadastre currentlymeets the requirements of legal relations, the adminis-tration and the economy. As 3D forms the basis for urbanplanning, state surveying and mapping agencies are pro-viding LoD-1 models and it is envisaged that the multi-

purpose cadastre would provide LoD-2 models in thefuture to prepare solar cadastres. As Germany aims toprovide secure conditions for economic activities, it isactively working on taking its cadastres to next level offunctioning and flexibility, informs Peter Creuzer, Direc-tor State Survey and Geospatial Basic Information StateAgency for Geoinformation and Land Development ofLower Saxony (LGLN), Germany.

(Refer interview with Dorine Burmanje, Chair Execu-tive Board, Kadaster (Pg-24) for details on the Dutchexperience)

TWO-SPEED WORLD - OF OPPORTUNITIES

AND CHALLENGES

From the above description of the development and work-in-progress of cadastre and land administration systems,it is evident that individual countries are tracing their owntrajectories of evolution owing to the legacy systems inplace, popular need/demand and political will whilesimultaneously learning from the success stories. How-ever, it is noted that only 40-50 countries in the world areactive in reorganising their land systems.

The above analysis brings out the differences andsimilarities between the two sets of countries. Two fac-tors appear to be important for the success. Firstly, thechosen approach is key as it determines the outcome.The Rwanda case shows how an approach strongly sup-ported and pushed by national government can result in asuccessful implementation of a land administration sys-tem. However, a 'one size fits all' formula cannot apply inland administration. Applying the same approach to othercountries asks for prudence. Secondly, it is important tounderstand and take into account the nuances of eachculture and country. Even within a country this can vary,as is the case in Morocco. Dealing with the cultural situa-tion should be the challenge, than trying to change it.

Also, countries with huge potential to overcome their


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Multipurpose cadastre

"The measure of an effective land administrationsystem is one that is state-of-the art and enablesjustified land ownership, promotes efficient landuse planning and locally accepted land valuationsysstems"

- Kees de Zeeuw and Peter LaarakerDutch Cadastre

Land Registry and Mapping Agency (Kadaster)


poverty are often not able to achieve the desired success,due to mismanagement and corruption related to accessto land and its resources based on social equity. To gaugethese dynamics with clarity, it is important to understandthat land administration may include issues like land val-uation, land titling, land use planning and the use of landadministration systems. "The measure of an effectiveland administration system is one that is state-of-the artand enables justified land ownership, promotes efficientland use planning and locally accepted land valuationsystems. Domain standards are under development forland administration (like LADM and STDM), but thosestandards have to be flexible and should be adaptable andextensible in local environment," inform Kees de Zeeuwand Peter Laaraker of Kadaster.

Bringing in the industry perspective, Juergen Dold,Hexagon Geosystems says, geospatial information willhelp to de-complex the issues and helps in de-regulatingcertain activities to be more efficient. What has been col-lected over the past few decades can be moved to newtechnology to meet new demands of the economy indeveloped nations while geospatial information isrequired to regulate things in less developed world. So,actually these two kinds of countries are moving at twodifferent speeds.

Geospatial technology can map in great detail, createspatial data with phenomenal accuracy but is cost- andtechnology-intensive, which is acting as deterrents fordeveloping countries to quickly adopt and utilise it. Indi-cating this trend, Pete Large of Trimble says "in cadastralapplications, the need for high accuracies and real timecapabilities are being questioned, particularly in develop-ing countries. It can be argued that the need for rapidcoverage of large numbers of parcels takes precedenceover obtaining "survey grade" accuracy. "

Another important issue is the awareness and moti-vation of leadership. Leaders must understand theimportance of GIS, not simply talk about geospatiallyenabled data. Geospatial community must focus on mak-ing GIS dynamic through a continuous flow of updatedinformation that is linked to (near) real time actions. Thiswill enable decision makers to make faster and betterdecisions for improved economy, opines Juergen.

CONCLUSION

From the country experiences cited above, it is evidentthat a cadastral divide does exist between the less devel-oped and more developed worlds and that not oneanswer or solution exists. Unlike other markets, land isnot a homogenous product. Each parcel is unique, with aparticular set of locational and physical attributes. Theplayers in the land market are diverse and often haveconflicting agendas. So, it is important to take a coordi-nated approach and involve citizens in a big way. Industrycan play an evangelising role in creating more awareness,in convincing the leadership and in understanding theneeds of the market and tailor-make their solutions. It isessential to strike a balance between the push of tech-nology and pull of customer needs.

The two worlds - A comparison

Less developed nations More developed nations

Late adopters of technology Early adopters of technology

Colonial systems which are rudimentary, complex

Evolved and mature systems inplace

Deed registration/Informal systems of registration

Secure title, formal registration

Governed by red tape and bureaucracy

Systematic, transparent, citizen-centric systems

Outdated land records; ineffectiveproperty registration system, ineffec-tive policy framework

Up-to-date records, effective policy framework in place.

Fragmented systems, disparatedatabases, different organisationsdealing with different components

Integrated system - land recordsdatabase and land registrationintegrated into single system

Creating basic framework for cadastre and land administration

Evolving multipurpose cadastres

Lacking trained human capacitiesAmple technically-capablehuman resources

Second mover advantageConsultants for less developednations

Innovative options like point cadas-tres, crowdsourcing, high resolutionsatellite imagery, low resolution RSimagery being explored

Technology intensive. However,innovative options being activelypursued

"What has been collected over the past fewdecades can be moved to new technology to meetnew demands of the economy in developed nationswhile geospatial information is required to regulatethings inn less developed world"

- Juergen DoldPresident

Hexagon Geosystems

Bhanu Rekha, Executive [email protected]

What are the challenges foreffective land management in ahuge country like India?

To find a rightful place in the comityof nations, a country should have anefficient and robust land recordsmanagement system. This is possi-ble only if we have real time and up-to-date land records. In this regard,conducting survey of land is the fore-most challenge. The last survey inIndia was done almost 100 years agousing compass, chains and otherorthodox methods. There is bound tobe difference between the old andnew records when a fresh survey isconducted using modern technolo-gies. This challenge needs to be

sorted out so that survey can beundertaken at a fast pace. Capacitybuilding in modern technology isanother major challenge.

What is the status of land recordsmanagement in various statesacross the country?

'Land and its management' is a state

subject under the Indian Constitu-tion, so the status of land recordsmaintenance is varied across thecountry. In fact, there are variationsin the land records managementwithin a state due to the historicalevolution of these areas. For exam-ple, in Andhra Pradesh, there are dif-ferent systems of land records man-agement in the Madras presidencypart, the Nizam area and the areaswhich were earlier part of the centralprovince. In the north eastern states,there is the concept of communitymanagement of land. However, thecentral government has been incen-tivising the states to migrate fromthe manual system of land records

management to the computerisedsystem.

Tell us about the variousland records modernisationprogrammes initiated by theGovernment of Inndia?

The Department of Land Resources(DoLR) has been striving for effective

management of land recordsthrough the use of modern technolo-gy. Up to 2007-08, it was administer-ing two centrally-sponsoredschemes including Computerisationof Land Records (CLR), andStrengthening of Revenue Adminis-tration and Updating of LandRecords (SRA & ULR). Significantprogress was achieved through theseschemes.

What were the gaps felt by policymakers in the aforesaid schemesand how has the National LandRecoords Modernisation Pro-gramme addressed these issues?

Progress under the aforesaidschemes was uneven across thecountry. While some states includingKarnataka, Gujarat and Goa movedforward rapidly, pooling togethersupport from central governmentand their own resources, otherslagged behind, or made progressonly in some areas, such as, com-puterisation of textual records.

Keeping in view the above position,the cabinet in 2008 approved themerger of these two schemes underthe centrally-sponsored scheme ofNational Land Records Modernisa-tion Programme (NLRMP). TheNLRMP combines key componentsof the above two schemes and addsnew components such as integration


INTERVIEW

The primary goal of NLRMP is to introduce conclusivetitling with title guarantee and indemnificatiion in thecountry, instead of the present land titling systemwhich provides merely for registratioon of deeds anddocuments and "presumptive" property titles

Modern technology vital for

effective land management


of textual and spatial records, com-puterisation of registration, andinter-connectivity between revenueand registration systems. The pri-mary goal of this scheme is to intro-duce conclusive titling with titleguarantee and indemnification in thecountry, instead of the present landtitling system which provides merelyfor registration of deeds and docu-ments and "presumptive" propertytitles.

What is the current status ofNLRMP and how much progresshas been made?

During 2008-09, funds to the tune ofINR 255.73 crore (USD 51 millionapprox) were recommended by theproject sanctioning and monitoringcommittee for covering 69 districts in20 states. Accordingly, as per avail-ability of funds, INR 188.76 crore(USD 37 million approx) wasreleased. During 2009-10, INR 195.44crore (USD 39 million approx) wasreleased to 18 states for covering 72more districts under the pro-gramme. During 2010-2011, anamount of INR 154.78 crore (USD 31million approx) was released. Fur-ther, during financial year 2011-12,funds to the tune of INR 107.14 crore(USD 21 million approx) have beenreleased to the states. Thus, so far,funds amounting to INR 605.15 crore(USD 121 million approx) have beenreleased to 30 states for coverageof 267 districts.

What is the role ofNational InformaticsCentre (NIC) in theNLRMP?

NIC is the centralagency which iscoordinating thesoftware compo-

nents of the NLRMP. NIC is providingtraining and capacity building to thestates in the implementation of theprogramme. This has ensured effec-tive hand holding of the states.

What are the challenges beingfaced in implementing NLRMP?How have these challenges beenovercome?

The major constraints being faced inthe implementation of NLRMPinclude:

• Release of funds by the states to theimplementing agencies takes a longtime, hampering the progress of theprogramme.

• Non-linkage between revenue andregistration offices renders the landrecords database obsolete.

• Lack of proper bandwidth cre-ates difficulty in sharing of databetween the central databaseand the tehsils.

• Lack of adequately trainedhuman resources at the presentstage, considering high-tech andcomplex nature of the programme.

To overcome the above mentionedconstraints, the department isactively pursuing the constitution ofthe project manage-

ment unit at the state level. Othersteps in this direction include theestablishment of the National Insti-tute of Land Administration andManagement at the central level aswell as training and capacity buildingof various stakeholders.

What are the various citizenservices being envisaged by theNLRMP?

The successful implementation ofNLRMP will offer various benefits tothe citizens such as:

Prabhu DayalMeena

Additional Secretary,Department of Land Resources,

Ministry of Rural Development,Government of Inndia

• Real-time land ownership recordswill be available to the citizen.

• Since the records will be placed onthe websites with proper security IDs,property owners will have free accessto their records without any compro-mise with regard to confidentiality ofthe information.

• Payment of stamp duty and registra-tion fees through banks will be conven-ient for the citizens.

• Automatic and automated mutationswill significantly reduce the scope offraudulent property deals.

What is the role of geospatialtechnology in NLRMP?

The main thrust of NLRMP has beento modernise land records manage-ment system in the country, so thatobjective of real time up-to-date landrecords could be achieved. VariousGIS layers like vegetation cover, soiltypes, roads, water bodies, crops etc.can be laid on top of the digitisedmaps generated through this pro-gramme. These GIS-based maps canbe used for not only land manage-ment but also for various other plan-ning purposes. It is imperative thatthe latest developments in the fieldof geospatial technologies be sharedand discussed for their effective utili-sation.

What is the role of public-privatepartnerships (PPP) in NLRMP?

NLRMP has generated enormousworkload on the existing revenue andregistration machinery. It alsorequires high level of technologicalinputs at almost every stage. Capaci-ty building of the in-situ staff isessential but is likely to take time. Inorder to streamline the implementa-tion of the programme and toachieve the targets within the pro-posed timeframe, states may like togo for the PPP models with respectto certain activities under the pro-gramme or outsource them on aturn-key basis.

Implementing a huge projectlike NLRMP requires lot of skilledmanpower. Does NLRMP hascapacity buuilding as one of itsmandates?

Capacity building is an importantcomponent of NLRMP. States arerequired to draw up a comprehensivetraining programme to develop theirhuman resources for effective main-tenance and sustenance of NLRMP.This should cover the policy makers,heads of the departments of rev-enue, survey, registration and their

offices andstaff, mastertrainers andfield-levelfunctionariesincluding sur-veyors, villageaccountant andother revenuestaff, who willbe trained foroperating thesystem includ-ing mutationand updating of

land records, issue of authenticatedcopies of RoRs with map-to-scale,handling modern survey equipmentsuch as GPS and TS. Organisationslike Survey of India, NIC and IndianSpace Research Organisation have been involved in impartingtraining to master trainers, who will train the State staff on thesemethodologies.

How is interconnectivity of landrecords with other records helpfulfor various stakeholders?

The interconnectivity of land recordswith other stakeholders like registra-tion department, banks and landacquisition collectors will not onlykeep the land records database up-to-date but also help stakeholders indischarging their mandates effec-tively. For example, at present, afarmer has to take a copy of theRoRs from the revenue departmentand go to the bank for a loan againsthis property. The bank, after check-ing these documents, sanctions theloan and sends the information tothe registration department for filingthe entry of the lien on the property.Registration department informs therevenue department in this regard,so that this lien is reflected on theland database.

However, once banks and the landrecords database are integrated, thebanks will fetch the RoRs from thisland records database. After the loanis sanctioned by the bank, the infor-mation regarding lien will be sent tothis land records database immedi-ately by the system itself. So, thecredit facility will be available to thefarmers easily and the banks willalso be assured of the credibility ofthe farmer in repaying the loan.


DoLR has been actively involved in spreading awareness about the benefits ofeffective land administration and the role of geospatial technology for the same


The 'cadastral divide'

A view from the bridge

The 'cadastral divide' describes the gapbetween countries that have effective landadministration systems and those that do not.Here, we look at challenges on both sides witha view to bridging understandings, identifyingshared challenges and determining wherecadastral research and practice is headed inthe near future

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Many of the world's most developed propertymarkets sit idle today: land values are down,new loan approvals have fallen and fewer build-

ing permits are being issued. Revival attempts throughtax breaks and reduced transaction costs appear to havefailed, at least for the short term.

What caused this stagnation? Mainstream media tellsthe story of the subprime mortgage collapse in the UnitedStates, of the resultant freeze in global credit supply, ofgovernment funded stimulus packages and more recent-ly, of the European debt crisis and subsequent bailoutattempts. We're all familiar with the key events, playersand processes.

In parallel, the geospatial community has undertakenits own analysis. In particular, those professionalsinvolved in land administration have asked the question:"What role did our cadastres and land registries play inall this?"

An idea of Peter Dale provides a useful tool for fram-ing the discussion. Dale is a prominent land administratorand academic from the United Kingdom. He has helpeddrive many developments in land administration over thelast 40 years. In 2000, Dale developed a model thatdemonstrated the link between our cadastres and landregistries on one hand and the components of a landmarket on the other. The model suggests that any landmarket is underpinned by three pillars (Figure 1): landregistration and cadastre, market-based land valuationand financial services. Using this approach, it is fair to saythat most mainstream analysis assigns blame for theproperty market collapse to the financial services pillar:inappropriate lending and credit access mechanisms created an inflated property market bubble that ultimatelyburst around 2007/8.

Meanwhile, some land administrators have arguedthat a portion of the blame should be assigned to pillar 1.


In 2009, Daniel Roberge and Bengt Kjellson suggestedthat the lack of a good property rights infrastructure (i.e.land register and cadastre) in the United States con-tributed to the collapse of its property market and led tothe subsequent contamination of international stockmarkets. In 2010, David Cowan and Donald Buhler,amongst others, demonstrated how a mortgage-disclo-sure-contagion-early-warning-system could have been inplace if land parcel data had been linked to mortgagedata at a national level. All these authors assume thataggregated land information about the status of tenuresand values was missing: this information should havebeen provided to decision makers by the land administra-tion system. With this in mind, Dale's model might beconsidered a little static: it does not show the informationflows and feedback loopsthat should be in placebetween the policy/legalframework, the three pil-lars and the players theland market.

To help explain theimportance of these infor-mation flows, Nilofer Tam-buwala and her co-authorsadded some dynamism toDale's model. They suggested that the parcel level spatialand textual information held in a land administration sys-tem must be aggregated and fed directly to centralmacroeconomic decision makers. Using this information,

appropriate decisions about fiscal and monetary policycan be made: the growth of the tree can be kept sustain-able through a constant flow of good land informationbetween land market players.

As simple as this model appears, it seems that only avery small percentage of the world's economies have itworking. It is particularly difficult to achieve in federatedcountries where land administration might not be anactivity of the central government. At any rate, more andmore central governments are realising the importanceand potential of maintaining what some are calling AAAor Triple A rated land information, that is, informationthat is authoritative, accurate and assured. A dynamicflow of AAA land information is an important factor insustaining healthy land markets. Researchers from Uni-

versity of Melbourne's Cen-tre for SDIs and LandAdministration have cham-pioned the idea mostrecently. An argument couldalso be made that the infor-mation should be unam-biguous and available to thepublic. In this way, the AAAconcept would fully adhereto the old-school principles

of land registration as laid out by Dowson and Sheppardand Simpson, amongst others.

The demand for AAA (AA) land information is drivingmany countries to invest much effort into their land infor-

Source: Dale, P., (2000), The importance of land administration in the development of land markets - a global perspective, Land markets and land consolidationin central Europe, TU Delft - UDMS, P31-42

Source: Tambuwala, N., Bennett, R.M., Rajabifard, A., Wallace, J., Williamson, I.P., (2011) Onthe role of government land information in macroeconomic policies. In: Environment andplanning, C : Government and policy, 29(2011)6, pp. 1087-1101.

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More and more central governmentsare realising the importance and potential

of maintaining AAA landd information -information that is authoritative, accurateand assured. A dynamic flow of AAA land

iinformation is an important factor insustaining healthy land markets

mation systems. We're seeing projects aimed at creatingmore spatially accurate cadastres, object-oriented cadas-tres (that is, inclusion of other forms of property rights,restrictions and responsibilities), 3D cadastres, real-timecadastres, interoperable cadastres (between nations andstates) and 'greening' the cadastre. All these are cadas-tral design elements that support achievement of theAAA (AA) vision. There is much discourse already avail-able and perhaps a hint of healthy competition amongstcountries. The stakes are high: most agree that countriesthat are able to get the design elements implemented willbe far better placed to manage the 'information' and'green' economies of the 21st century. Of course, thereare some assumptions in all this: better assessmentframeworks will be needed to determine whether theseinvestments in AAA (AA) land information actually deliveron the benefits promised.

Meanwhile, it needs to be remembered that the coun-tries charging towards the AAA (AA) vision are a minority.

As Daniel Roberge recently observed in themedia, they probably only represent around30 countries globally and less than 25% ofthe world's estimated 6 billion land parcels.In essence, there exists a 'cadastral divide':the remaining 160 countries (or so) and the4 billion land parcels within them face awhole different set of challenges. In thesecountries, the basic benefits of land admin-istration, as laid out by Prof. Joe Henssen ofthe Netherlands, are not being met (Figure3). In these countries, the lack of good landgovernance, including transparent landadministration systems, is demonstrated toproduce conflicts in peri-urban areas, slumformation, land grabbing, food insecurity,poor access to clean water and inadequateinfrastructure provision. It is these coun-

tries where successful developments in land administra-tion and geospatial science will have perhaps the great-est impact on economies.

But, what is going wrong in these contexts? Afteraround 50 years of land administration projects, why aremany tenures still not secure? There is much alreadyknown- the issues start at institutional and societal levelsand run all the way down to the organisational and tech-nical implementations that are put in place. Jaap Zeven-bergen (ITC University of Twente) and Clarissa Augustinus(UN-Habitat), amongst others, suggest that at currentrates it will take decades, if not centuries, to get any-where near full coverage in many country contexts.

However, it seems that a paradigm shift is takingplace- at least amongst geospatial and land administra-tion professionals. There is now wide agreement that fulltitle with accurately surveyed boundaries should not beattempted upfront in many contexts. The concept of the'continuum of land rights' has taken hold: a staged orphased approach to delivering more secure land rights isneeded. From a land administration perspective, thismeans, in the short term, that we need to develop andutilise faster, cheaper and more fit-for-purpose landadministration designs. The range of new approachesand tools is emerging at a rapid pace. Tools already avail-able include:

• The social tenure domain model (STDM) - a designapproach that enables the capture of non-traditional forms of


Source: adapted from - Henssen, J., (2010), Land registration and cadastre systems: principles and related issues, Lecture Notes, Masters Program in Land Management and Land Tenure, TUMunchen, Germany.

There is now wide agreement that full titlewith accurately surveyed boundaries

should not be attemppted upfront in manycontexts. The concept of the 'continuum of

land rights' has taken hold: a stagedd orphased approach to delivering more secure

land rights is needed


land tenure. The model is already implemented in off-the-shelf software packages.

• Point cadastre - a fast cadastral approach that captures asingle coordinate (potentially captured using handheld GNSS)to represent a parcel rather than a complete set of surveyedboundaries.

• Digital pen - a tool that greatly reduces transcriptionprocesses between the field and office, thus reducing errorsand speeding up recordation time.

• Crowdsourced cadastre (or Cadastre 2.0) - an approachwhere citizens are trained to undertake adjudication, demar-cation, surveying and recordation processes themselvesusing low cost processes and mobile technology.

• High resolution satellite imagery (HRSI) - for fast pacedparticipatory adjudication and mapping programmes in ruralareas.

• Low altitude remotely sensed imagery (LARSI) - imagerycaptured by lightweight and unmanned aircraft equipped witha camera, GNSS receiver and other positioning tools. LikeHRSI, the imagery can be used to speed up adjudication andmapping programmes. The higher resolutions availableenable utility in more built up areas.

• The pro-poor land recordation system - a set of transparentprinciples and processes developed by UN-Habitat thatenable the recordation and maintenance of land interests inplaces where individuals might live on less than USD 2 a day.

These approaches represent just a small sample of agrowing number of 'progressive' tools. Many others arestill in development. It remains to be seen how great animpact these approaches can have on reducing thecadastral divide. Whilst many are at a technical level, theymight provide a catalyst for overcoming inhibitors at insti-

tutional levels. Only time and the development of newassessment tools will tell us how successful they can be.

In the meantime, the push to utilise the cadastrebeyond traditional juridical and fiscal functions continues.Since discussions on 'multipurpose cadastres' began inthe early 1970s, the application of the cadastre in urbanand rural planning, environmental management, lawenforcement, delivery of educational services and so on,has been demonstrated. However, rapid populationgrowth, urbanisation and climate change are driving anew range of applications. Cadastres can play a role insupporting food security; total tenure security (beyondmere legal instruments); post-conflict state building;housing production and even good governance (includingoperationalising transparency).

So, how can all this be summarised? First, the cadas-tral divide is a reality. In fact, the division is far more frag-mented than presented here: all systems are at variousstates of establishment, renewal, maintenance or evendecay. Second, whilst a divide is evident, by looking toboth sides we see a bridge linking shared interests andchallenges. These are the need for: system adaptation inorder to support emerging societal roles; development ofmore holistic assessment tools for ensuring fit-for-pur-pose and construction of a range of design elements tosupport both pro-poor and more developed contexts (Fig-ure 4). Third, and finally, overcoming the cadastral divideshould be a focus for all. With the right mix of pragma-tism and design selection, it can be reduced even in theshort term. Geospatial practitioners and land administra-tors are encouraged to get involved: follow developments,share lessons and take part in bridging the divide.

Dr Rohan BennettAssistant Professor, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and

Earth Observation, Department of Urban and Regional Planning

and Geo-information (ITC), University of Twente, The Netherlands

[email protected]

Source: adapted from - Henssen, J., (2010), Land registration and cadastre systems: principles and related issues, Lecture Notes, Masters Program in Land Management andLand Tenure, TU Munchen, Germany.

The cadastral divide is a reality. Whilst adivide is evident, by looking to both sideswe see a briidge linking shared interests

and challenges. Overcoming the cadastraldivide should be a focus for aall

Land tenure system and landlaws are more or less thesame in Lesotho as most

other countries of the SouthernAfrica region. There are consider-able challenges facing land manage-ment in Lesotho. The formal landadministration system remains inac-cessible to a large number of people.

The prime objective of Land Act1979 was to improve land adminis-tration and to control indiscriminateallocations of land. To achieve this, itprovided for an elaborate organisa-tional structure as well as tenurereforms and other innovations.Implementation of the act provedproblematic, with lack of support andfunding and inefficiency and corrup-tion in land administration.

With the encouragement andsupport of a new donor partner - theMillennium Challenge Corporation(MCC), a foreign aid agency of theGovernment of the USA - a new LandAct 2010 and Land AdministrationAuthority Act 2010 soon emergedand recently became a law.

The Land Administration Authori-ty Act, 2010 empowers a new landagency to implement the landadministration parts of the Land Act.The Project Implementation Unitwithin the MCC supported LandAdministration Reform Project(LARP) is manned by Kadaster Inter-

national from the Netherlands for 5years until September 2013.

Cadastral SurveyTaking into account Lesotho's long-standing problem of informal andunplanned settlements, the 1979Land Act and the 1980 Land SurveyAct made provision for two types ofcadastral surveys: precise surveysand general title surveys.

The current initiative to regu-larise the tenure of 55,000unplanned and informal plots isusing both precise title surveys offixed boundaries, where these existand general title surveys of general

boundaries where boundary featuresexists but surveys do not.

The land tenure regularisationactivity is making full use of newtechnologies. Private sector landsurveyors are using both terrestrialand satellite-based methods to pre-pare cadastral and site plans thatare submitted to the chief surveyor

for approval. Orthophotomaps arealso used in the checking andapproval processes and the finalresults are maintained in a digitalcadastral database.

The activity for modernisationand improvement of land adminis-tration services has moved from thedesign into the building phase of the

project. The LAA has been estab-lished and required staff has beenrecruited. New procedures havebeen developed to safeguard andsmoothen the land administrationprocesses and automation of theseprocesses will be implemented soon.

After a pilot/ testing phase inwhich 5000 parcels have been regu-larised, the implementation phase ofa further 50,000 parcels has started.Before September 2013, adjudicationrecords comprising parcel maps andlists of landholders entitled to beregularised and granted a lease willbe recorded, giving people security oftenure.

LESOTHO


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RWANDA

Road to economic reforms

Rwanda is a developingcountry in East Africa. It islandlocked and has the

highest population density in Sub-Saharan Africa. Rwanda has anagriculture-based economy withmost of the population engaged insubsistence or semi-subsistenceagriculture. Genocide and war in1994 impoverished the country andleft the economy in shambles. Torebuild the economy, create jobsand modernise the economicframework after the chaos, thegovernment embarked on multiplereforms of its systems, includingthe land tenure system. Greatprogress has been made since1994, with per capita income near-ly tripling.

Land reformLand in Rwanda was governed bycustomary law until the Belgians,who took over control of the countryfrom the Germans after World War I,introduced written laws to guaranteeland tenure security for settlers andother foreigners who wished toinvest in Rwanda. This systemremained in place after independ-ence in 1962. After 1994, the govern-ment started to prepare for landreforms to ensure security of tenurefor all land claimants.

Until the organic land law wereintroduced in 2005, less than onepercent of the land in Rwanda wasregistered under freehold or lease-hold titles and the rest of the landbelonged to the state by law. In reali-

ty, people continued to follow thecustomary rules in land use. Therewas a rudimentary cadastral systemin the country, coupled with a weakand incomplete land administration.Urban land (in Kigali City) and ruralland (outside Kigali City) were man-aged by different institutions underoutdated laws and there was noclear policy framework.

Unsurprisingly, the country facedwidespread problems involving secu-

rity of tenure. In the prevailing infor-mal land market, there was norecognition of land as capital and itcould not be used as collateral toobtain credit. In urban areas, wherenew investment demand was high,there was no mechanism to allocatewell-secured and well-zoned sites topotential investors, resulting in com-plexities for obtaining building per-

mits. In rural areas, the lack oftenure security led to resource mis-use, land degradation and land dis-putes.

All these obstacles contributed tothe difficulties of doing business inRwanda. Among the 145 countriescovered by the World Bank DoingBusiness report in 2005, Rwandawas ranked as one of the most diffi-cult countries to do business.

The reform of the land manage-

ment system was, therefore, a pre-requisite for sustainable economicgrowth, especially given the pressurearising from the combination of agrowing population and increasingland scarcity. The need for landreforms was clearly set in Rwanda'sVision 2020.

The preparation for the nationalpolicy started in 1999 and theC

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process picked up speed after 2001,when the then Ministry of Environ-ment, Forestry, Lands, Mines andWater, came in place to championthe process with government sup-port. In 2004, a new National LandPolicy was adopted based on broadagreement of all stakeholders. In the2004 policy, social equity, economicefficiency and land use sustainabilitywere set out as the guiding princi-ples for subsequent land reforms.Within this policy framework, thegovernment has been pursuing landpolicy reforms since 2005.

The most important step in landlegislative reforms is the enactmentof the Organic Law Determining theUse and Management of Land inRwanda (OLL) on 15th September2005. This law, for the first time inRwanda, stipulated the legal right forall citizens to gain land rightsthrough a long-term lease. Whetherthe land is acquired through custom-ary use, from the competent authori-ties, or via purchase, the right hold-ers have the legal rights to use theland for residential, industrial, com-mercial, social or cultural and scien-tific purposes.

Road map for land tenure reformThe Land Tenure Regularisation(LTR) programme, aimed at providingtenure security to individual citizens,forms the backbone of the land

tenure reforms in Rwanda. Usingsatellite imagery, the pilot projectdemarcated and adjudicated a totalof 14,908 land parcels in the fourcells.

The results of the pilot pro-grammes were used to design thestrategic road map for land tenurereform. This detailed strategic plan,adopted by the government in March2008, set out implementation strate-gy for land tenure reforms. In themean time, the Government ofRwanda acquired high resolutionaerial photographs (25cm resolution)for the whole country.

Systematic land registration - Land tenure regularisationA national roll - out programmestarted in June 2009; using aerialphotographs printed on sheet at ascale of 1:1500 or 1:2000; para-sur-veyors were trained in image inter-pretation and boundary demarcation.As of April 2012; 10.2 million parcelsin 2131 cells out of 2148 total cells inRwanda (representing 99%) hadbeen demarcated and adjudicated bythe adjudication committee com-posed of members of the cell landcommittee and village leaders. Itshould be noted that disputesoccurred in less than one percent ofthe parcels (totalling 10,528).

Six million parcels have beendigitised using Arc-GIS and propri-etary information of seven million

parcels has been entered into theLand Tenure Regularisation SupportSystem, which is being used toprocess the first titling. Three millionformal leasehold titles have beenissued across the country.

In parallel with the regularisationeffort, the government has alsointensified its efforts in improvingthe registration of property. Since2008, the government reviewed prop-erty registration procedures with aview to remove the unnecessarysteps and to combine others. As aresult, procedures for property regis-tration were significantly stream-lined. It now takes less than 30 daysto register a transaction, comparedto 354 days in 2009. Beyond theresults that have already beenachieved through land tenure regu-larisation and land registrationreforms, the government has devel-oped a Land Administration Informa-tion System (LAIS). This will con-tribute enormously to the improve-ment of land market via digital landregistry and transactions, therebyreducing the time required for regis-tration and transfer of property.

The targetThe Government of Rwanda, throughthe Department of Lands (formerNational Land Centre) and Mappingwithin Rwanda Natural ResourcesAuthority, is targeting to completethe issuance of all leasehold titles. C

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The Land AdministrationInformation System

developed by thegovernment will

contribute enormously tothe improvement of land

market via digital landregistry and transactions

Image before demarcation Image after demarcation and digitisation


PHILIPPINES

The Department of AgrarianReform (DAR) spearheadsthe implementation of the

ten-year comprehensive agrarianreform programme of the Philip-pine government by virtue ofRepublic Act 6657 or the "Compre-hensive Agrarian Reform Law of1988." It embodies the state policyof liberating the vast potentialwealth of the Philippine agricultureand covers all public and privateagricultural lands including otherlands of the public domain suitablefor agriculture.

ConstraintsLike it often happens with its otherprogrammes and projects, the gov-ernment realised that targets werenot being met as envisioned becauseof constraints with respect to opera-tional and institutional aspects.Among the components affected wasthe land tenure improvement withspecial focus on land acquisition and

distribution(LAD) whichincorporatesthe follow-ing: landsurveys; landvaluationand com-pensation;land titlingand registra-tion; andland cover-age and ben-

eficiary identification. To address thisconcern, Republic Act 6657 wasamended and the Philippine Con-gress passed Republic Act 9700,known as the "ComprehensiveAgrarian Reform Extension withReforms" (CARPER), in July 2009.The Philippine Congress has allocat-ed 150 billion pesos or USD 3.5 bil-lion for its implementation andenforcement.

Under CARPER, DAR intends tocomplete the programme by mid-2014. This calls for all survey work tobe completed by 2013 so as to pavethe way for the distribution of agri-cultural lands by the middle of 2014.

Achieving the goalsDAR understands the need to devel-op appropriate mechanisms to meetthe targets pursuant to the medium-term Philippine development plan ofthe present administration. Thedepartment will vigorously pursuesuitable strategic actions and oper-

ating mechanisms. Some of theseare:

• Outsource document research per-taining to survey, ownership and statusof lands as well as pre-survey approvalquality assurance or the inspection,verification and approval of surveys;

• Design and develop Web-based digi-tal projection maps to ascertain thelegal land status of lands;

• Apply reliable and reasonablegeospatial technologies at all levelssuch as geographic/land informationsystems including AutoCAD-relatedsolutions;

• Implement appropriate capacitybuilding programmes to enhance andsustain the required internal efficiencyand work productivity;

• Formulate specific guidelines andtechnical standards to address opera-tional and institutional concerns and toensure effective implementation of thesaid strategies;

• Design and develop a Web-basedCARP project management informa-tion system to institutionalise a well-informed project management teamincluding the department's top man-agement in support of policy develop-ment, planning, and decision making;and

Virgilio R. Delos Reyes, Secretary,Department of Agrarian Reforms hassent out clear orders to tap compe-tent consultants to assist theDepartment in carrying out its man-date on land acquisition and distri-bution which fundamentallyemanates from land surveys andoperationalisation of sound geospa-tial management in route to goodland administration. Towards thisend, the department is optimisticthat it will achieve its goal.C

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Land reforms unlock the

potential of agriculture

AgForce Queensland is anindustry organisation repre-senting rural producers in

Queensland, Australia. AgForce Pro-jects, the state-government fundedprojects division of AgForce, deliversfree training, technology and skills toall Queensland producers. AgForceProjects supplies Queensland pro-ducers with property-based maps toassist with property management,coal seam gas (CSG)/mining pre-paredness and statutory land-basedapplications to government.

For many years, producers reliedon traditional hardcopy propertymaps with clear overlays to captureproperty resources. The process wastedious and the map data often

became obsolete. The introduction ofinteractive, portable and intelligentTerraGo GeoPDF maps revolu-tionised property mapping for manyproducers. GeoPDF maps provide asimple and highly intuitive way toshare up-to-date geospatial infor-mation.

GeoPDF maps can be marked upby producers using the free AdobeReader software in conjunction withthe no-cost TerraGo Toolbar, informsGeorge Demmy, CTO, TerraGo Tech-nologies. TerraGo Toolbar allows theproducer to customise the map withgeoreferenced markups according tothe information required. In addition,georeferenced notes, photos, audioand video updates can be added to

ensure the map information remainscurrent.

AgForce Projects delivers a CDpackage containing a GeoPDF oftheir property, the latest versions ofAdobe Reader and TerraGo Toolbarsoftware and a user guide. In lessthan 12 months, AgForce Projectshas provided more than 1,200GeoPDF maps to producers for usewith applications for vegetationclearing. Although its members areuntrained in map production, theyare able to use simple, freely avail-able software to produce the mapsand data required for the submis-sions to the government.

GeoPDFVeg

Geospatial World I April 2012 51

AUSTRALIA

GeoPDF maps support

statutory land-based applications


ETHIOPIA

GNSS for sustainable

development

The River Nile has sustainedlife in North Africa for mil-lennia, during which time

Egypt has successfully tapped intothis resource. But in the area ofthe headwaters of the Blue Nile,Ethiopia has lacked the infrastruc-ture to harness the river's poten-tial. In order to redress this imbal-ance, the Ministry of Water andEnergy for the Republic of Ethiopiacommissioned a feasibility studyfor 800 km² of net irrigation devel-opment in three schemes, whichrequired a total study or searcharea of 1,700 km² in Ethiopia's Nilebasin. The project was funded bythe World Bank and is beingundertaken by UK based consul-tancy company Halcrow.

The work areas were mostly inbeautiful mountain landscapes, withthe largest of the three schemes inthe Upper Beles, west of Lake Tana.However, the team was challengedby walking about 25 km a day in tem-peratures up to 40 °C, with changesin altitude of some 600 m (2.000 ft),prevalence of diseases, the possibili-ty of fatal snakebites and scorpionstings and lack of basic civic ameni-ties.

Research on methods to surveyvast inaccessible areas of the globebrought up the possible use of 0.5 m(19.7 in) resolution satellite imageryusing stereo-photogrammetric pro-cessing, which could be used to sur-vey ground levels to under 0.32 m

(12.6 in) accuracy in height. Thiswould mean changing the surveymethodology to make use of groundcontrol points in selected areas ofthe imagery to accurately resect thesatellite positions. After a trial areawas processed and the results com-pared with previously surveyed

ground heights, a decision wasmade to purchase imagery forall the areas. As far as theteam was aware, this is thefirst time that an area of thissize had been surveyed usingsatellite imagery to such ahigh accuracy, inform JacquesMalaprade, Land Surveying ProjectManager at Halcrow and HughAnderson, Technical Specialist atLeica Geosystems Ltd.

Previous surveys at similar accu-racies were for only one image pair,whereas the Beles survey contained30 image pairs. The decision wasmade to complete the survey withterrestrial methods using long rangeGPS-RTK. Leica GPS1200 and LeicaGPS900 instruments were used forgeodetic control surveys, tying in to

the IGS network and local countrydatums and map projections to pro-vide photogrammetric ground con-trol points for the stereo satelliteimagery. The Leica GeosystemsGNSS instruments were chosen, asthey were rugged enough to with-stand the tough physical environ-ment. At the same time they provid-ed the team with peace of mindabout reliability and accuracy of data,critical aspects when working insuch demanding conditions. TheLeica Geosystems instruments were

also easy and quick to learn whichhelped when training the localEthiopian team.

As a result of this project, theHalcrow team has learnt new skillswith respect to photogrammetricmapping from satellite imagery, theEthiopian surveyors have learnt newsurveying skills with Leica GNSS and the local people in Ethiopia willbenefit from the design of irrigationprojects that could feed future generations.C

ase Study

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GeospatialWorld I June 201254

First look at the world

On May 22, 1570, bookmaking and map-making history were made, when AbrahamOrtelius, a Flemish book collector and engraver published the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum(Epitome of the Theater of the World) — the world’s first atlas. His was the first bookthat bound together a collection of maps. It was also the first map collection to aim atcomprehensive coverage of the known world and the first to organise the maps logical-ly, with all those applying to the same continent or region grouped together. The workwas discontinued after 1612, having been eclipsed in authority by a new atlas based onthe work of Gerardus Mercator — the first book to use the name atlas for the genre.

Courtesy: Library of Congress

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© 2011 Bentley Systems, Incorporated. Bentley, the “B” Bentley logo, Bentley Map, and MicroStation are either registered or unregistered trademarks or service marks of Bentley Systems, Incorporated or one of its direct or indirect wholly owned subsidiaries. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

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Data courtesy City of Quebec

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