June2012 : Land & cadastre

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Natural Resource Management

Urban Planning

Cadastral Mapping

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Abbas Rajabifard President, GSDI Association

Inside...

Advisory Board 31

Aida Opoku Mensah Director - ICT Division UN Economic Commission for Africa

Bryn Fosburgh Vice President Trimble Derek Clarke Chief Director-Survey and Mapping & National Geospatial Information Department of Rural Development & Land Reform, South Africa

Cadastre & land administration

Living in a two-speed world Bhanu Rekha

Greg Bentley CEO, Benltey Systems

POINT OF VIEW Jack Dangermond President, Esri

20

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

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

42 Juergen Dold President, Hexagon Geosystems

ARTICLE The 'cadastral divide': A view from the bridge Dr. Rohan Bennett

INTERVIEWS Kamal K Singh Chairman and CEO Rolta Group

‘Cadastre marks beginning of healthy economy’ Drs Th A J Burman (Dorine)

24

Chair Executive Board, Cadastre, Land Registry and Mapping Agency (Kadaster), The Netherlands

Mark Reichardt President and CEO Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

Matthew M O'Connell President and CEO GeoEye

‘Modern technology vital for effective land management’ Prabhu Dayal Meena

38

Additional Secretary, Department of Land Resources Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India

Preetha Pulusani Chief Strategy Officer, Rolta Group

CASE STUDIES

Shailesh Nayak Secretary Ministry of Earth Sciences Government of India

46 48 50 51 52

Vanessa Lawrence CB Director General and CEO, Ordnance Survey, UK

Lesotho: Towards Effective Land Management Rwanda: Road to economic reforms Philippines: Land reforms unlock the potential of agriculture Australia: GeoPDF maps support statutory land-based applications Ethiopia: GNSS for sustainable development COVER IMAGE COURTESY (digital cadastre): Geodis

07 Editorial CHAIRMAN M P Narayanan PUBLISHER Sanjay Kumar PUBLICATIONS TEAM Managing Editor Prof. Arup Dasgupta Editor - Europe Prof. Ian Dowman Editor - Latin America (Honorary) Tania Maria Sausen Sr. Associate Editor (Honorary) Dr. Hrishikesh Samant Executive Editor Bhanu Rekha Product Manager Shivani Lal Assistant Editors Deepali Roy, Aditi Bhan, Vaibhav Arora, Anand Kashyap DESIGN TEAM Sr. Creative Designer Deepak Kumar Graphic Designer Manoj Kumar Singh CIRCULATION TEAM Circulation Manager Vijay Kumar Singh

08 News

54 Picture this

D ISCLAIMER Geospatial World does not necessarily subscribe to the views expressed in the publication. All views expressed in this issue are those of the contributors. Geospatial World is not responsible for any loss to anyone due to the information provided.

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Geospatial World I June 2012

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EditorSpeak

From no-win to win-win he measurement and record of land ownership is as ancient as civilisation itself. The act of staking out a parcel of land to grow crops or to build a dwelling marked the transition of humans from hunter-gatherers to farmers and tradesmen. It led to the creation of society and 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.

T

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 and monitoring activities. In conjunction with satellite imagery, it provides better information about the quality of land and therefore its best use. It enables the owner to manage his land sustainably.

The integration of cadastral information with natural resources and economic information enables better planning and better utilisation of scarce resources. The lack of such information gives rise to malpractices. For example, one opinion is that the collapse of the US property market and its disastrous effect on the international stock market was due to the fact that land information was not available to the mortgage market. In developing countries, land records and the technology of managing them have remained unchanged for a century or more and is the root cause for crimes like land grabbing and encroachment. The importance of the cadastre for planning was realised but the old maps were found to be too full of errors to be useful. The task of correcting these maps was seen to be so humongous as to be impossible.

Modern technology has changed this no-win situation to a winProf. Arup Dasgupta Managing Editor win situation. Many countries are remapping their cadastres arup@geospatialmedia.net using the latest electronic tools which can directly transfer the data to computers to be used with GIS and other software.

Going beyond this, technology now enables 3D cadastre, real time cadastre and even crowd sourced 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. However, it is worthwhile to note that technology can provide data but its use for the improvement of the 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 tribal groups 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 land owners.

Geospatial World I June 2012

7

NEWS

N IG E R IA

Sat services to be commercialised The newly-launched earth observation satellite, NigeriaSat-2, is now set for commercial activities, according to Director-General of the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) Mohammed Seidu.

He also revealed that Nigeria's first satellite in orbit, NigeriaSat-1, will be decommissioned soon. Seidu, who was giving a rundown of the activities of NASRDA to media, said that Nigeria would save over USD 2 billion annually on high resolution imagery

by NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X.

RWAN DA

Govt to reassess GISbased wetland report The Rwandan government ordered reassessment of a GIS-based wet-

lands report of the country. The report was prepared by the Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA) in 2007. It had drawn mixed reactions, especially in the Eastern Province, where mayors noted that some of the areas highlighted in the report were actually not swamps. "A committee bringing together ministries of local government, agriculture, natural resources, REMA and Rwanda Natural Resources Authority, was constituted to assess the report," Rose Mukankomeje, Director General of REMA, informed.

CHAD

Satellites help estimate population Chris Grundy of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine led a project to estimate the population of Am Timan city, using satellite images. It is for the first time that the population of an entire city has been estimated from the space, to speed up medical and disaster relief efforts.

So far, groups like Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) relied on the 'quadrat' method to estimate popula-

tion size. Using 'Quadrat', in Am Timan, surveyors visited 1160 dwellings and gave a population of 49,722.

On the other hand, the satellite technique required sampling visits to only 348 dwellings and gave estimates of 46,625 for manual and 45,400 for the automated method.

SOUTH AFR ICA

Africa gets first open geospatial lab Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo) and the International Cartographic Association (ICA) set up the Open Source Geospatial Lab at the Centre for Geoinformation Science (CGIS) at the University of Pretoria. In 2011, the two had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop global collaboration opportunities for academia, industry and government organisations in the field of open-source GIS software and data.

The goal is to establish five laboratories in Asia, Europe, Africa, the Americas and Australasia during the first phase. These will act as nodes for future expansion.

G HANA

Space centre inaugurated Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology set up Space Science and Technology Centre at Kuntunse. Through the Centre, the ministry aims to focus on various projects and programmes in areas such as remote sensing and GIS, meteorology, astronomy, astrophysics and human capacity development. Prof. Kofi Awoonor, Chairman of the Council of State, explained that the Centre has been established by the Ministry under the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission. It will undertake all space science programmes and research activities in the country.

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Geospatial World I June 2012

ness about sericulture in local languages.

I N DIA

Precision agriculture gets boost Karnataka state government provided USD 220,000 fund for a precision agriculture project at the state's three agricultural universities. The project's lead institution is the University of Agriculture Sciences (UAS), Raichur. In conversation with American Society of Agronomy, M.B. Patil from the UAS said that India is 20 to 30 years behind the West in precision agriculture. While the rapid progress in Karnataka is encouraging, Patil cautioned that the project would not expand too quickly as the technology is relatively expensive.

GIS aiding silk production The Central Silk Board (CSB), in association with Meghalaya State Space Application Centre, rolled out the project, 'Applications of Remote Sensing and GIS in Sericulture Development', under the 11th Five Year Plan of the Government of India. The project aims to identify potential areas for development of silkworm food plants in 24 states across the country covering 106 districts and develop silk varieties such as ‘mulberry, eri, muga and tasar’ through a network called Sericulture Information Linkages and Knowledge System (SILKS). The SILKS is a single window information and advisory service system for farmers. It spreads awareGeospatial World I June 2012

Southern Command to survey defence land In the wake of several alleged land scams, Southern Command of Indian Army decided to carry out GIS-based survey of the defence land falling under its jurisdiction and to digitise land records. Southern Command is spread over 19 cantonments and 31 military stations with land holding of over 7.5 lakh acres. In 2011, the multi-crore Adarsh Society scam in Mumbai had rocked the country. Cases of alleged scams involving defence land in Pune were also reported.

Gujarat verifies title claims in g-way Approximately 90 percent claims for land, made by Gujarat state's tribals, under the Forest Rights Act 2006, are not genuine, claimed a document, released by the state government.

The document explained that the tribals' land title claims were verified with the "use of four-layered superimposed digitised maps and satellite imagery along with GPS-based personal digital assistant maps". The document, titled "Tribal Sub-Plan: Annual Development Programme 2012-13", was brought out by the tribal development department.

Scanpoint Geomatics bags award Scanpoint Geomatics Ltd. bagged National Awards on Technology for the indigenous development and commercialisation of GIS and image processing software, IGiS. As part of

MapmyIndia eyes INR 100 cr revenue Digital navigation device maker MapmyIndia will cross INR 100crore revenue mark in the fiscal year (FY) 2013. It will also expand

business in South Asian and African countries, which will be announced next year, according to MapmyIndia Managing Director Rakesh Verma, Economic Times reported. The company expects significant boost in revenue from sale of its Androidbased navigation devices, location based services and sale of map navigation applications. "We have partnered with almost all car makers for selling Car Pads in most of the vehicles priced above INR 5 lakh," Verma said.

the award, former President of India, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam gave away INR 10 lakh to the company. The software is jointly developed by ScanPoint and Space Applications Centre (SAC) Ahmedabad. The award is instituted by the Department of Science & Technology and Department of BioTechnology. It recognises successful commercialisation of indigenous technology by an industrial/individual concern.

9

Pitney Bowes opens R&D centre Pitney Bowes Inc. opened its second R&D centre in Pune. The company's first R&D centre is located in Noida.

The new centre will focus on research and development for its global portfolio, including Volly - a digital mailbox solution. Pitney Bowes considers India to be strategically important from both a market and an operational perspective.

"Innovations form the foundation of our growth strategy and with the current expansion, we hope to further leverage India's talent pool for the same." said Sue McKinney, Vice President, Global Product Development, Pitney Bowes Inc.

a satellite to monitor the Arctic. The 10-kg cube-shaped satellite, worth JNY 200 million, jointly developed by Tokyo-based AXELSPACE Corp., is scheduled to be launched from the Yasny Cosmodrome in Russia on September 28, 2012. Weathernews plans to use the data to provide navigational information to commercial vessels plying the Arctic Ocean during the summer. The service will be available starting in Summer 2013.

JAPAN CH I NA

Private firm to monitor Arctic Ocean Weathernews Inc., a weather forecasting company, unveiled a micro satellite that it developed to monitor vessels in the Arctic Ocean. The company claimed that it will be the first attempt by a private company to use

Campaign against incorrect maps soon The National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation (NASMG) announced a campaign against maps with incorrect national boundaries and missing territory in

teaching materials, travel guides and imported publications. The campaign will also target publication of maps which may compromise with sovereignty and state’s security. The campaign, co-launched by 13 departments, including the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China, Central Committee and the Foreign Ministry, will be formally launched in June and will last until October 2012.

KUWAIT

Civil info authority gets GIS The General Director of the Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI) Musaed Al-Asousi launched the agency's GIS system. He informed that the system would allow PACI to perform its role in the best possible manner. The GIS will provide easy access to all kinds of buildings' data and information about agriculture, industrial, sports areas and chalets.

Moreover, other public institutions will also benefit from this system owing to the wide range of maps that are included in this system.

SI NGAP OR E

OneMap gets crowdsourcing tools Singapore Land Authority (SLA) launched 'OneMap Crowd Sourcing Tools' to enable government departments and non-governmental organisations collect data. Users can use the set of map-based tools to tag location along 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 locations. The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory (ACRA) also launched its "BizQuery" service on OneMap.

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Geospatial World I June 2012

UK

Olympics pollution to be mapped in 3D Researchers at the University of Leicester developed 'CityScan technology' to monitor the impact of increased traffic on pollution levels in London during the Olympics. Lead researcher Dr Roland Leigh claimed that using the new technology, his team will be able to map pollution in 3D to show emissions of nitrogen dioxide and how far they spread.

The new technology gathers scattered sunlight to scan whole cities and takes readings of air quality, to investigate the impact of the extra traffic on pollution. It can show the air quality over every point of the city.

It can also reveal the days and times when pollution levels are at their highest.

Software to track disasters Using home broadband routers, a new software developed at the University of Abertay, Dundee, can 'ping' thousands of addresses to check whether buildings are still standing after being hit by a disaster. The system shows live data on 'safe' areas using Google Maps. A press statement by the University claimed that within seconds, any disaster can be detected, mapped and its progress tracked - and support efforts targeted to the areas in greatest need at any moment. The basic principle of the software prototype could also be

Geospatial World I June 2012

applied to mobile phone networks, if an app was developed to support this.

And as geolocation runs on satellites, the disaster tracking could remain accurate even as phone networks go down.

Alternative location market set to grow GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and cellular location technologies will each be installed in over one billion devices in 2017, with direct revenues forecast to break the USD 8 billion mark, according to a market report by ABI Research. These are the findings of a recently released report by ABI Research, Alternative Positioning Technologies. It considers the penetration of over seven alternative location technologies and how they can be combined to meet the needs of each market. It also looks at how the lines between wide-area and precision indoor location will blur into a ubiquitous location in all environments.

SWE DE N

'Real-time LBA market to grow at 91pc' The total value of the global real-time mobile location-based advertising and marketing (LBA) market will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 91 percent. In 2011, it was EUR 192 million, which will reach to EUR 4.9 billion in 2016, according to a market report by Berg Insight. This will then correspond to 28.3 percent of all mobile advertising and marketing. This means that LBA will represent more than 4 percent of

Spread of infectious diseases mapped Musarte Continuendo Foundation (The Netherlands), Infectious Disease Research

Foundation (The Netherlands) and the Wellcome Trust jointly produced and released the Atlas of Human Infectious Diseases. It is a collection of up-to-date maps presenting the status of major human infections around the world.

The map-making for the Atlas began in 2007 and shows the status of infectious diseases through to 2011. It also helps explain where and why diseases occur, by showing the driving forces behind them.

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

ITALY

Emergency mapping group formed Approximately 20 representatives from different space agencies congregated in Ispra city and formed

11

International Working Group on Satellite-based Emergency Mapping (IWG-SEM). Member agencies include European Commission - Joint Research Centre (EU-JRC), US Geological Survey, Group on Earth Observations, United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), SERVIR, German Space Agency (DLR), CSA/Athena Global, SERTIT, ITHACA and Sentinel Asia. The vision of IWG-SEM was defined as "Supporting disaster response by improving international cooperation in satellite-based emergency mapping".

scanning data and the topographic map at scale of 1:50,000. Antti Kosonen, Director at the NLS, observed, "By making map data freely available, NLS paves the way for other government agencies in granting access to data. We hope that the datasets will give rise to new innovations."

FI N LAN D

NLS opens access to spatial data The National Land Survey (NLS) opened all its topographic data to be used free of charge. At the outset, the freely available data will particularly benefit application developers, map enthusiasts and organisations using geographic information.

According to Kari-Pekka Karlsson, Product Group Manager at the NLS, freely available data includes data from the topographic database, laser

FRANCE

Competition open for satnav business ideas Now in its eighth year, European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC) opened with the prize pool worth about EUR 1 million in cash awards. The Competition is accepting ideas till 30 June 2012. Winners will be announced at the award ceremony in Munich, Germany, on 25 October.

More information on the competition

is available on the ESNC website at www.galileo-masters.eu. ESA's Technology Transfer Programme (TTP) has been a partner in the competition since 2005. After the business incubation period, typically of 1-2 years, ESA could further help the companies to get access to funding through the TTP-organised ESA Investment Forum and the Open Sky Technologies Fund.

U KRAI N E

Governors to take care of environment Ukrainian governors' performance will be judged not only by economic performance, but also by the environmental condition. Recently, the Ministry of Environment announced deployment of remote sensing technologies and advanced geospatial data processing tools. The data analysis report will be forwarded to Ukrainian Prime Minister, Mykola Azarov. By supporting this initiative, Azarov stated that the ecological state of the region is an important component of assessing the quality of life.

G E R MANY

Renewable energy potential mapped The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), in association with German Aerospace Center, (DLR) launched the first global atlas for solar and wind energy. The atlas provides open access to information about where solar and wind energy can best be exploited. The atlas is a database 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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Geospatial World I June 2012

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3/20/12 10:58 AM

Tasmania rolls out spatial info project Tasmanian government rolled out Spatial Information Foundations project. The two-year project is part of the Tasmanian Government ICT Strategy and it supports the Economic Development Plan, strategies for planning reform and the SenseT (Sensing Tasmania) programme.

Some of the objectives of the project include development of a new web interface for the Land Information System Tasmania (LIST), a new Tasmanian land parcel and property boundary database (numeric cadastre), a web-based spatial data and services directory and high speed image servers.

Question mark over PSMA's data 30 percent of data provided by PSMA for multi-dwelling units such as apartment blocks was inconsistent, complained Mike Quigley, Chief Executive of NBN Co. to a Senate, iTnews

reported. PSMA is a government authorised spatial data provider. The PSMA database, dubbed G-NAF, provides addresses for 13.14 million Australians premises. NBN Co. had struck its geospatial data deal with PSMA in March, but now the company is forced to invest in new systems to manually double-check inaccurate data.

FIJ I

SOPAC uses LiDAR for floodplain mapping The Secretariat of the Pacific Community's Applied Geoscience and Technology Division (SPC SOPAC) conducted a LiDAR-based airborne survey of the Nadi and Ba basins.

The survey was funded by the World Bank. Litea Biukoto from SPC SOPAC's Disaster Reduction Program said the data will be used to produce detailed floodplain maps that could assist the National Disaster Management Office and other agencies.

"With LiDAR we can detect subtle features in the landscape like river terraces and channel banks, the

amount and types of vegetation on slopes, building locations and heights, to name just a few things. It can also penetrate tree canopies," said Eric Sage from Network Mapping, the company contracted to carry out the survey.

N EW Z EALAN D

Christchurch City Council wins ALGIM GIS award Christchurch City Council (CCC) received the Association of Local Government Information Management (ALGIM) GIS Project of the Year Award. CCC received the award for implementing an innovative GIS solution in response to the devastating earthquake that took place on February 22, 2011. The Council is New Zealand's second-largest local government authority responsible for nearly 370,000 residents. It implemented a suite of Intergraph solutions for managing and sharing upto-date infrastructure services data with key stakeholders after the earthquake.

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 analysed the government's spatial capability and explained how spatial data can be benefit public and private sector. It contained 22 recommendations. Now the government responded to the report. The government said that Australia New Zealand Land Information Council is currently considering a revised Strategic Objective Statement and Terms of Reference. Revising the strategic objectives will include consideration of the appropriate forms of interaction with PSMA Australia Ltd. Moreover, the Government has established Office of Spatial Policy.

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Geospatial World I June 2012

B USI N ESS

Global sat industry grows by 5 pc Global satellite industry recorded a revenue growth of 5 percent in 2011, according to 2012 State of the Satellite Industry report by the Satellite Industry Association (SIA). Globally, 2011 revenues for the satellite industry totalled USD 177.3 billion. Patricia Cooper, President of SIA noted, "Worldwide satellite industry revenues have shown an average annual growth rate of 9 percent over the past five years, demonstrating the ongoing resilience of the industry." However, the report also observed that the US Satellite Industry Employment decreased by 1 percent in the first three quarters of 2011, a net loss of 2,169 jobs.

DARPA calls bids for SeeMe programme The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) released its latest Broad Agency Announcement (DARPA-BAA-12-35) for the programme, Space Enabled Effects for Military Engagements (SeeMe). Bidders will be competing for approximately USD 45 million to be distributed via multiple awards. The goal of this programme is to provide needed on-demand imagery directly to the warfighters in the field from verylow-cost satellite constellations in a timely manner. Such a programme will fill current gaps in critical information prior to, during and after mili-

Geospatial World I June 2012

tary engagements. The challenge here is to provide full constellation coverage over a selected latitude band at a cost that is only a fraction of current airborne costs. This roughly translates into a satellite unit cost of no more than USD 500,000, exclusive of launch and ground operations.

Trimble acquires Spime Trimble acquired Spime, a location-based service (LBS) platform developer, VentureBeat

P OLICY

Congress yet to resolve data sharing issue A new Congressional Research Service (CRS) report observed that the US Congress recognised challenges of coordinating and sharing geospatial data at different levels but could not overcome. The report, Issues and Challenges for Federal Geospatial Information, written by Peter Folger, stated, "While Congress explored issues of cost, duplication of effort and coordination of geospatial information in hearings during the 108th Congress, lawmakers still face considerable challenges with regard to coordinating how geospatial data is acquired and used by local, state and federal entities in collaboration with the private sector." It added, "As much as 80 percent of government information has a geospatial component and the federal government's role has changed from being a primary provider of authoritative geospatial information to coordinating and managing geospatial data and facilitating partnerships."

Call for presidential debate on EO sats The newspaper, The Washington Post, wants NASA's earth science satellites and NOAA's weather satel-

reported. Shankar Narayanan, Chief Executive of Spime, confirmed on his LinkedIn page that Spime is now a Trimble company.

Spime's MapMan LBS Platform integrates social and location services into GPS-enabled apps.

Spime also offers a navigation service and map service under the names Northstar Nav and Northstar Map. Spime's customers include mobile operators, manufacturers, developers and platform and semiconductor providers. Nokia's Navteq has also partnered with Spime for its LBS technology.

lites to be on the list of issues debated in this presidential election year, according to its recently published editorial. The editorial came in the wake of the National Research Council's (NRC) mid-term review of how NASA and NOAA are implementing the recommendations of the NRC's 2007 Earth Science and Applications from Space (ESAS) Decadal Survey.

The NRC report concluded that the US earth observation satellite sys-

15

tems are in a precarious situation because of budget shortfalls, lack of affordable launch vehicles and changes directed by the White House Office of Management and Budget and by Congress.

APPLICATIONS

Sparse data challenges NOAA As sea ice continues to diminish during summer and the Arctic sea route opens to more vessels, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) faces a huge challenge in upgrading navigational data.

"Much of the coastline and offshore waters here are comparatively poorly mapped, mapped in a sort of onceupon-a-time time frame," observed Kathryn Sullivan, Deputy Administrator and acting chief scientist for the NOAA. According to NOAA, about onethird of the country's Arctic waters are important to navigation, based on water depth and the draft of ships expected to transit the region. The Agency's Office of Coast Survey identifies 38,000 squares miles as a pri-

ority for new surveys, a task that will take 25 years.

25,000 species on earth mapped A research team from Yale University and the University of Colorado (UC) Boulder developed beta version of 'Map of Life'. It is a web-based tool to show the distribution of all living plants and animals on the earth.

The beta version of map provides information about almost 25,000 species. "We are taking 200 years of different types of knowledge coming from different sources, all documenting the locations of species around the world and compiling them in a way that will greatly enhance our knowledge of biodiversity," said UCBoulder Associate Professor Robert Guralnick.

Google to provide warships' location info Google will soon make public information about virtually every ship at sea, giving the current location and identity even of American warships, AOL Defense reported.

According to the report, Michael

Jones, Chief Technology Advocate at Google Ventures said, "This technology cost three million dollars for the whole programme." While none of this makes Google an intelligence agency, it certainly highlights a trend of great interest to the intelligence community and the military. "I think the macro level issue here is: Welcome to the new age of transparency," said Keith Masback, president of the US Geospatial Intelligence Foundation.

ORBIS calculates travel times in ancient Rome Researchers at Stanford University developed a Web-based tool, ORBIS. It shows how long and costly it was to move people and wheat between cities in the Roman Empire. "This tool is an exemplar of a shift in digital humanities projects," Scott Weingart, a doctoral student in library sciences at the University of Indiana. Weingart was asked by the researchers to preview and comment on it.

The interface of the tool is a little like adjusting travel in the old children's computer game Oregon Trail.

The ORBIS team used ancient maps and records, modern-day weather

Sensor network to monitor water resources Engineers at the University of California developed a GPS-powered Floating Sensor Network. Through the smartphone-equipped floating robots equipped with sensors, engineers aim to develop next generation of water monitoring technology which promises to transform the way government agencies monitor one of the state's most precious resources. The Floating Sensor Network project is led by Alexandre Bayen, a researcher at the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS). According to the university's press statement, such a flexible system could be critical in the event of an emergency, including a levee breach or oil spill.

16

Geospatial World I June 2012

measurements and modern-day historians' experiments with trying to sail in Roman-style ships to inform their calculations.

Birds' navigation mechanism simplified The question of how birds navigate using magnetic fields has always remained a big puzzle. Now, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, USA, identified a group of 53 cells in a pigeon's brain that respond to the direction and strength of the earth's magnetic field. While the researchers adjusted the elevation angles and magnitude of their artificial magnetic field, they simultaneously 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 sort of 3D compass reading along the familiar north-south directions as well as pointing directly upward or downward.

A navigation system for the blind A computer science engineering team of Kostas Bekris and Eelke Folmer at the University of Nevada, Reno, developed 'Navatar' - an indoor navigation system for people with visual impairment. They used a combination of human-computer interaction and motion-planning research to build a low-cost accessible navigation system, which can run on a standard smartphone.

Navatar uses digital 2D architectural maps and low-cost sensors, such as accelerometers and compasses that are available in most

Geospatial World I June 2012

smartphones. For this work, Bekris and Folmer won a PETA Proggy Award for Leadership in Ethical Science.

M ISCE LLAN EOUS

Army releases 'HyDRA' app The US Army Geospatial Center (AGC) and Engineer Research and Development Center released

AGC provides free terrain databases The US Army Geospatial Center (AGC) announced to provide open access of modelling and simulation terrain databases along with operational geospatial products on its Common Map Background (CMB) website.

There are 161 free synthetic terrain databases that support live, virtual and constructive (L/V/C) simulations used in training, testing and experimentation hosted on the CMB. These terrain databases are available in multiple formats suitable for use in Joint Semi-Automated Forces (JSAF), One Semi-Automated Forces (OneSAF), Virtual Battle Space 2 (VBS2) and other Department of Defense simulations.

OGC adopts new standard The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) members adopted the OGC Sensor Observation Service (SOS) Interface Standard Version 2.0. It is available at: http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/sos. According to the OGC's press statement, whether from in-situ sensors (e.g., water monitoring) or remote sensors (e.g., satellite imaging), observations made from sensor systems contribute most of the geospatial data by volume used in geospatial systems today. The SOS

Hydrologic Data Resources Application (HyDRA) - a Web-based data survey and analysis tool. It aims to provide the Department of Defense (DoD) logistics and geospatial intelligence-related water communities with information on water resources data collection, visualisation and dissemination in a mobile, enterpriseenabled environment. It allows users to view, collect and edit unclassified water resources features via Android 2.2+ OS smart devices using Google MapsTM and Google EarthTM applications.

2.0 includes a modular restructuring of the document, a new and easy to use key-value-pair binding, a new SOAP binding, a redesign of the observation offering concept and relies on the common OGC Sensor Web Enablement Service Model.

Esri GPS base station joins CORS network Esri set up a GPS base station to

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assist its GIS developers and to support surveyors, engineers, scientists and those in public works and public safety in the community surrounding the Esri campus in Redlands, California.

Moreover, the base station, named GISA, has been accepted by the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) and incorporated into the national Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) network. The GISA operates Trimble NetR9 - a dual-frequency GPS/GNSS receiver, with Zephyr Geodetic Model 2 antenna. It broadcasts real-time GPS/GNSS data on the Internet in industry standard Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services (RTCM) formats, which allows GPS users to obtain real-time centimetre positions.

Facebook faces USD 15 bn lawsuit A lawsuit, filed in Federal Court in San Jose, demands USD 15 billion from Facebook for violating federal wiretap laws. The lawsuit combines 21 separate cases across the US in 2011 and early 2012. It is an amended consolidated class-action complaint that claims the company is invading

the privacy of its users by tracking them across the Internet. Like the previous lawsuits, Facebook is once again being accused of violating the Federal Wiretap Act, which provides statutory damages per user of USD 100 per day per violation, up to a maximum per user of USD 10,000.

The complaint also asserts claims under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the Stored Communications Act, various California Statutes, and California common law.

CANADA

CSA under budget cloud Missed deadlines and an underfunded Canada Space Agency (CSA) may scuttle plans to build the next generation of earth observing satellites, according to MacDonald, Detwillier and Associates Ltd. (MDA).

However, Industry Minister Christian Paradis said the Canadian government is committed to the satellite project. Original estimates put the cost of the project at CAD 600 million, but revised calculations almost doubled the amount to CAD 1

billion, according to the Ottawa Citizen. It is pertinent to mention here that Canada's 2012 federal budget reduced CSA funding from USD 443 million in 2011 to USD 363.2 million this year, with further declines projected in subsequent years.

GSDI Association elects new President Members of the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) Association chose EuroGeographics' Secretary General and Executive Director, Dave Lovell as its President-elect. The election took place during a meeting of the Association's Council held before the GSDI World Conference in Quebec City. Lovell has represented Europe on the Board of GSDI since 2007 and will continue in his role at EuroGeographics.

Esri to lead GeoFoundation Exchange project Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) selected Esri Canada to lead the GeoFoundation Exchange project. The project is funded under NRCan's GeoConnections programme. It focuses on developing a prototype for an open, Web-based system that will enable cost-effective and efficient sharing of geographic basemap data across the country. Joe Oliver, Minister of Natural Resources, said, “Open and accessible data is our key strategy to increase the availability of information to Canadians, create socio-economic opportunities and enable citizens to participate more fully in the process of government.�

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Geospatial World I June 2012

Xiang Yu, Peace Map Co., Ltd.

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POINT OF VIEW

Collaborative approach key to tackling global challenges

T

he world today is integrally connected through four rapid connectivities of environment, people, economy and ideas. We all know that global warming and climate change are no longer problems of individual countries. Nations today

20

are concerned about the growing inflationary pressures, recessions and potential fall in growth rates. At the same time, advances in transportation have progressively made movement of people across nations and regions more feasible. This has

led to the globalisation of expertise and talents which can flow seamlessly from one nation to another.

Similarly, ideas and innovations are no longer geographically or politically confined. An invention made today in one corner of the world takes no

Geospatial World I June 2012

by multiple experts based at different points of the globe.

To develop a world that is prosperous, healthy, secure, devoid of terrorism and on a sustainable growth path, we need to evolve platforms for the seamless flow and exchange of knowledge and technology across the world. Geospatial technology is a vital tool that can help us in realising this vision.

Target 3 billion With the rapid development in space technology during the last 55 years, geospatial technology is really going to be a game changer, particularly in the development of remote and rural areas of the world covering 3 billion people. About 38 out of every 100 workers in the world are into agriculture. In the least developed nations, this ratio goes up to 68 percent. Our urgent challenge is to explore how geospatial knowledge can enhance the potential of this workforce. Some of the challenges in this area are:

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam 11th President of India

time to find its market thousands of miles away. The expansion of information and communication technology and the convergence of technological tools are structuring new world knowledge, where problems of one part of the world can be solved

Geospatial World I June 2012

As geospatial community, we need to focus on how we are using technology of the 21st century to solve the problems which are reminiscent of perhaps the 18th or the 19th century. We need to re-think on how the technologies at our disposal can solve some of the problems of the 3 billion rural population of the world and help them unleash their potential, thereby leading to better human life, without damaging the environment around us.

Another challenge we face today is to take urban quality amenities to the 3 billion rural population of the world. There is an urgent need to bridge the divide between the rich and poor and urban and rural. In the book, Target 3 Billion, co-authored by me, we have researched many fields, which point out that the poorest of the world are actually paying the highest per unit cost for basic amenities of clean water, nutritious food and healthcare. How can we overcome this ironic reality of the 21st century? Can the geospatial community champion the missions like:

• Delivering better crop productivity by enhancing the spatial utilisation of the • Helping to identify the state of farmland, characterising the soil conpotable water availability in the tent, agro climatic variations and regions. changing weather • Helping to identify conditions of the "hot spots" for local farmland. Can energy generation geospatial technoloTo develop a world capacity including gy be used to manenergy from waste, that is prosperous age the information energy from bio fuels and healthy, we need from end-to-end for and small scale hydro the crop cycle? to evolve platforms plants, which can ow for the seamless flo • Mapping the water empower the local and exchange of content of all water communities. bodies, their silting knowledge and status and their technology across The third area potential to bring the world that is critical in welfare to the farmlands. empowering 3 bil• Better pest management and weed management by using GIS to detect and map the spread of pests in the region and highlighting the vulnerable areas for urgent action.

lion is that of environment. The changing environment worst affects the poorest. Nearly, half of the population of the world lives within 150-200 km of the sea

21

Dr. Kalam delivering the keynote address at Geospatial World Forum 2012

coast and factors like global warming are going to worst hit the impoverished in these areas. Besides, the economically weaker sections are most vulnerable to environment borne diseases. Geospatial community has to play an active role in areas such as: • Accurately mapping the carbon balance of different regions of the world.

This would include determining the carbon stock, forest and tree cover. • Helping to identify optimal locations for renewable energy at a small scale, like wind, solar and cultivation of bio fuels. • Can technology give every nation a monthly status of deep forest and forest conditions including quantum of oxygen generated?

To make all the user community pyramid data to become useful, irrespective of the nation and the region, it is vital to make it available in a commonly acceptable standards and formats which are interoperable protocol standards. Can the geospatial community discuss and recommend strategies through which these requirements can be met to make the quality of the life of bottom of the pyramid community enriched and enhanced in a sustainable way? This

22

will be the cornerstone for empowering 3 billion.

Evolving an effective solution to the challenges being faced by 3 billion rural population of the world requires the formulation of the World Geospatial Knowledge Platform, which brings us to our second topic of relevance in this discussion.

World Geospatial Knowledge Platform Today, the challenges in some parts of the world are poverty, illiteracy, need for safe drinking water, clean and green energy, equitable distribution of resources, quality education with values for all, overcoming societal imbalances, curing diseases, quality healthcare for all and good living conditions. Overcoming these challenges would require the creation of World Geospatial Knowledge Platform, which can be done as a venture between multiple nations, industries and academic and research institutions in this domain.

World Geospatial Knowledge Platform is a meeting place for science, technology, industry, management and marketing. The platform will enable joint design, development, cost effective production and marketing of the knowledge products, systems and services in various domains based on the core competence of partner nations.

The convergence of bio, nano, eco and IT is expected to touch every area of concern to the humanity. The World Geospatial Knowledge Platform will take up the missions, in

some of the areas discussed further, which are of utmost urgency to all of us to make our world a safe, sustainable, peaceful and prosperous place to live: Agriculture and allied activities: Some of the challenges in this area are increasing production of food grains in an environment of reduced land, reduced water and reduced manpower; preservation of food; food processing; cost effective storage and distribution. The world today has over 7 billion people, which is expected to reach 9 billion by the end of 2050. We need to increase the utilisation of land and productivity almost exponentially to cater to the most fundamental need of food. This would require the World Geospatial Knowledge Platform to focus on crop patterns, soil management and irrigation systems.

Environment and energy independence: We have over 7 billion people, of which about half live in coastal regions which are susceptible to risks of climate change. Most of the nations are also net importers of fossil fuel energy. Hence, it is important for nations to jointly embark on a mission of energy independence. This can include graduation to solar power, which would have tremendous scope as many of these nations and regions are near the equator.

Urban planning:: In an increasingly urbanising world, the World Geospatial Knowledge Platform will have to play an important role in managing urban planning and executing missions of urban amenities planning. This would include spatiotemporal designing, road density mapping and sub-surface mapping.

Geospatial World I June 2012

Healthcare: The development of 'health geographic information system' for the world would be a crucial mission for the World Geospatial Knowledge Platform. In a converging world, with mobile people, the spread of disease from one part of the world to another is rapid. GIS can be useful for emergency medical care system. Using an integration of spatial (location) and statistical attributes, we can also use GIS for helping to tackle specific diseases in specific regions.

Utility planning: Another area of World Geospatial Knowledge Platform to work would be towards effective execution of utility planning including transmission line laying to maximise efficiency and minimise the damage to environment, reducing pilferage using GIS and installing small scale hydro and solar plants for remote locations.

Disaster prediction and management: World Geospatial Knowledge Platform should take up the mission of earthquake forecast, which is predicting earthquakes. Of course, this is a tough challenge which needs a targeted working group of scientists and geologists from all the nations.

An important area to focus on in this

Geospatial World I June 2012

domain would be detecting precursors to earthquake in the form of a transient short term thermal rise in land surface temperature which can range from 2 to 12 degrees. Satellite thermal remote sensing can be crucial to map and detect this.

We need to jointly fund the World Geospatial Knowledge Platform with a funding of USD 15 billion spread over a period of ten years. Out of this, about USD 5 billion can be earmarked for university linkages and research in specific areas. While, the USD 10 billion corpus needs to be invested into social entrepreneurs who can take the products and services into ground level implementation in each of the countries. Of course, their experiences need to be shared on an open source platform for everyone to benefit.

Enabling technologies The world's water resources are facing potential threats from various forms of water mismanagement, either man made or due to natural calamity. Global climate change has changed dynamics of the environment, resulting in floods and droughts. Our water reserves in deep water table are being drawn down at alarming rates without being replenished.

The quality of our water is being contaminated by pollutants, sediments and sewage. Our river ways are becoming clogged with sediments due to erosion.

These aspects need continuous observation for preservation,

World Geospatial Knowledge Platform is a meeting place for science, technology, industry and marketting. It will enable joint design and development of the knowledge products and services in domainss based on the core competence of partner nations

upkeep and improvement. Certainly, geospatial technology provides the means to monitor, measure, model and manage these resources from the local to the global scale. It can be done nationally and globally.

GIS and remote sensing are indeed "enabling technologies" for marine science, but marine science also can help to improve GIS and remote sensing. For instance, the ability to better handle and visualise time has been a long-standing research issue for GIS. We know the adage "location, location, location."

But in the oceans, it is said "time is of the essence," as it is often only by time that we can get location, especially on the deep seafloor or in the deeper parts of the water column that are out of reach of satellites and global positioning systems.

The global vision 2030 envisages the realisation of green, clean environment without pollution, having prosperity without poverty and peace without fear of war. What is needed is the participation of multiple nations and people from across the globe towards common objectives.

(Based on the speech delivered by Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam at Geospatial World Forum 2012 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

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INTERVIEW

Cadastre marks beginning of a healthy economy Dutch cadastre is 180 years old.

What are the changes it has undergone over these years?

Cadastral system in the Netherlands started as a means of collecting taxes. It has evolved to provide information about cadastre and land registry along with geospatial information. In 2004, it merged with the topographical service of the Ministry of Defence, establishing the Cadastre, Land Registry and Mapping Agency.

As a result, we can give more integrated answers and solutions to the society. The second major change is that we have moved towards a partnership organisation. We are aware of our position with other parties.

The process of information sharing is not restricted to a nation's border.

We have partners in public and private sectors with whom we are working to move a step forward.

land; there are people who rent out their parcel/home/ building to others. We also keep our people updated about the purposes for which they can use our datasets. Apart from providing information about land registry and ownership, Kadaster also offers advice on issues like building a new infrastructure, building a railroad etc. If someone wants to convert their residential land into an industrial one, we also provide information about that.

No. To be precise, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment, along with some private organisations, is responsible.

Kadaster now includes all kinds of geospatial information. Is it the agency responsible ng geospafor providin tial information in the Netherlands?

Do you have a mechanism to involve citizens’ participation in cadastre information?

We do involve our citizens. We have information about ownership of land parcels. Not every citizen in the Netherlands is an owner of a particular piece of

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

Geospatial World I June 2012

The ministry gives us a task and on the basis of that we provide information about land registry and mapping, combined with geospatial information.

The Netherlands has a very unique geography as most of the country is below sea level. What kind of challenges does it present in terms of cadastral information?

It is true that half of our country is below the sea level. Therefore, we are very good in defending ourselves against the sea and reclaiming new land from the sea. Despite being a small country, we have a population of around 16 million people. So, we reclaim land in order to provide shelter to people. Kadaster keeps all the information about the reclaimed land.

How are cadastral and land registry needs changing or evolving over a period of time?

How is Kadasster using the latest geospatial technology?

One of the major technological developments is 3D cadastre. Our team is working towards integrating 3D cadastre into the conventional system of 2D. However, this integration is in a development phase. In the Netherlands, we have three or more owners for one piece of land. As an example, the same piece of land may have an underground parking, a building and apartments in that building, and all of these may have different owners. So, the same piece of land has many different owners and 3D registration would help us in registering the exact ownership.

Earlier, land surveying was conducted by a team of three or more people who used to go to the field to take

Geospatial World I June 2012

measurements.

Nowadays, only one person, equipped with a GPS device, is required to take measurements.

Our organisation has adopted many of these technological advancements. The way 3D cadastre one can distribute information is changing almost daily.

The way in which data is distributed is changing because of the developments in IT. How is er disseminating informaKadaste tion to its users? Is Kadaster also providing value-added products and servvices?

We are cooperating with the public sector to add value to our datasets and deliver it to our citizens and customers. We sell our information according to the tariff fixed by the ministry. As far as open data is concerned, we are still contemplating about it. Discussions about privacy and quality are important before providing open data facility. Sometimes we gather a person's confidential financial information for land registry; for example, the amount of loan taken to buy a parcel or building. We cannot divulge such confidential information. Therefore, we are discussing this issue with people and society on how to protect privacy, authenticity and quality of information. However, our topographical information is open for free use since January 1st, 2012.

Does industry support you in providing value-added information?

Yes, in some smaller projects they support us (or we support them). We try to cooperate with each other.

In developing nations, it is observed that (re)organisation of land has a direct bearing on the nomic development of the econ country. How does an organised land system contribute to the onomic growth continuous eco of a developed nation like The Netherlands?

I think registration of land and its ownership marks the beginning of a healthy economy. We have chosen this theme to commemorate our 175th anniversary. We held discussions with our guests on the topic, on how land registry and ownership can contribute to the economic

Earlier, land surveying was conducted by a team of three or more people. n, Nowadays, only one person equipped with a GPS device, is required to take measurements. The way one can distribute informattion is changing almost daily

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growth of a country. We are convinced that if people register their land and ownership, their investments will increase. In the Netherlands, every inch of our land is registered. People have so much faith in us that whenever they want to buy land, they approach Kadaster to know about the owner and the history of that land. People in our country feel secure with information provided by the Kadaster.

In what way does Kadaster interact with initiatives like spatial data infrastructure (SDI)?

We are collaborating with several organisations to create a national spatial data infrastructure (NSDI).

For example, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation has some kind of spatial data and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment has different data.

We are trying to collaborate with all such organisations to create an SDI.

As a cadastral organisation, you have to be very accurate with your measurements. On the other hand,, organisations like those involved in soil conservation, land use and agriculture are not so particcular about accuracy in terms of measurements; they are more worried about the accuracy in terms of correct thematic information, like the kind of soil etc. Do you face such issues?

Yes, we often face such issues. However, we at Kadaster are very proud for being accurate. For years, our surveyors have been trained to be precise and accurate while taking measurements. Customers are not willing to pay for more accurate measurements. Since our professionals are trained in accuracy, they

26

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

are a bit apprehensive about these developments. We are having discussions to make them aware about such kind of demands.

You are looking towards two different standards, one which is precise and the other which is not.

But still, the two are tied up in some way.

We don't have a ready solution for this problem. But, we are trying to make standards in our field. We are trying to do that in Europe through the INSPIRE project.

INSPIRE is a pan-European concept, but still there will be differences; for example, the astre is maintained in the way cada UK or in the Netherlands or in Italy. Do you think that these ationalised? If yes, should be ra how?

The approach of INSPIRE is very good; it starts with determining the standards for each country. The first

step of INSPIRE will be to identify all the sources from different countries with which we will work. Then, some kind of certification will be given about which source is from Italy, the Netherlands, Spain etc. We are having detailed discussions about standardisation.

Kadaster is quite active in providing consultancy services for various international projects.

Whatt is the rationale in providing these services?

We have special staff within our organisation to handle international projects. We think it is our social responsibility to help countries where land registry and cadastre are not well developed. We work in close coordination with the locals of a particular country. We provide consultancy services to those countries which ask for help. In many cases, we work in cooperation with the World Bank, welfare organisations and the local government.

Geospatial World I June 2012

Esri I Advertorial

Streamlining Land Records Management F

or more than 35 years, Esri has been leading the way in advancing geographic information system (GIS) technology. Founded on the belief that Geography Matters, the company has more than 4,000 skilled employees worldwide who work with hundreds of partners and hundreds of thousands of GIS users to better understand and find solutions to global challenges.

GIS for Land Administration GIS software continues to evolve to meet the changing needs of land administration professionals. Land records agencies have traditionally required an assortment of software programmes. This was necessary to accommodate survey data residing in file-based systems on multiple operating systems, maps located in both GIS and CAD programs and ownership and appraisal data contained in specialised valuation systems.

Often this data was not easily accessible to departments other than those maintaining it. While many land records agencies have integrated maps and computerassisted mass appraisal (CAMA) systems using a GIS, they have only recently fully integrated all types of land records into the GIS.

Geospatial World I June 2012

Esri - The Leader in Land Management Solutions The land administration community has used Esri GIS technology and complementary solutions from its partners to better manage day-today operations as well as long-term planning. Esri technology provides efficient methodologies to edit parcel data, connect to assessment databases and publish mapping and GIS data on the web, enabling public access. Centralised land records data and open architecture provide data access where needed across

the organisation. The Esri integrated collection of GIS products is well suited for efficient and accurate mapping; fair and accurate assessment of all real property; and timely access to ownership, assessment and map data.

Land Management Solutions Esri's ArcGIS is an integrated collection of software products for building a complete GIS system. With ArcGIS, organisations have a comprehensive and highly integrated platform for creation, integration, maintenance

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and dissemination of land records data. ArcGIS supplies the most comprehensive strategy for land records management. GIS users now have a robust and highly customisable suite of tools for creating and maintaining land records.

ArcGIS can read many formats natively and contains an arsenal of data conversion and geopro-

cessing tools that are helpful for land management professionals.

ArcPad and ArcGIS for Windows Mobile, Esri's solutions for mobile field data collection and mapping, enhance the speed of data updates since information can be captured, edited and displayed during collection.

The ArcScan for ArcGIS extension supplies

Graphics to geographics Mapmaking has come a long way since the days of labor-intensive methods. Automated methods have made maps more than just pretty pictures. Maps become spatially intelligent as ArcGIS seamlessly integrates spatial data and allows you to visualise this information to make informed decisions. Geography is at the heart of a more resilient and sustainable future. Governments, industry leaders, academics, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) trust us to connect them with the analytic knowledge they need to make these critical decisions that shape the planet.

straightforward and controlled vectoring of scanned documents to speed parcel editing tasks and clean up unwanted parts of a raster image prior to batch vectoring.

Incorporating Survey Data The geodatabase is the common data storage and management framework for ArcGIS. It combines "geo" (spatial data) with "database" (data repository) to create a central data repository for spatial data storage and management.

The geodatabase supports all the different elements of GIS data used by ArcGIS. The Parcel Fabric [a dataset for the storage, maintenance, and editing of parcels] gives surveyors and engineers the ability to build a survey information system inside their GIS. Survey points can be stored and managed sep-

arately from GIS layers, but the layers can be made "survey aware" so that they can be edited using the survey data.

This allows users to update existing spatial data with more accurate information on an incremental basis so workflows are not disrupted.

Building a Framework for Managing Resources Land management systems require technology with the capacity to manage what is often an enormous number of land parcels and real estate objects. By linking maps and legal descriptions to landownership records, GIS provides an efficient method for record keeping as well as identifying fraudulent claims or errors in land recording. Additionally, advances in GIS through web-viewers make parcel information and maps

Learn more about ArcGIS at esri.com/arcgis

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Geospatial World I June 2012

RUSSIAN REVOLUTION Rosreestr, a geoportal providing access to cadastral information in Russia, introduces e-governmentt to the country data layers on land parcels; buildings; state, municipal and city administrative borders; land zone borders; cadastre districts; and the geodetic network. Currently, there are more than 49 million land parcels in the system. 12,000 users use the system per day.

Development of the portal was awarded to the Federal Cadastral Center, Zemlya, with EDATA+, the

Landuse categories

Cadastral cost per metre

based on Esri ArcGIS technology is run by the Federal Survey. This geoportal, Rosreestr (http://maps.rosreestr.ru/portal), now stores and delivers Russian cadastral data from the Federal Real Estate Cadastre and includes information for registration of rights, receipt of information and documentation.

professional services arm of EsriCIS, Esri's distributor in the Commonwealth of Independent States serving as a systems integrator.

Working with the Ministry of Economic Development, DATA+ began development at the end of 2009 and launched into production status in March 2010. Data processing to consolidate all the data took six months, and today the data is

upgraded automatically.

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

tion was a huge task: coordinates for the plots were in 1 of 20,000 different local coordinate systems. Most of this cadastral information was stored in either MapInfo Interchange or GIS ObjectLand format. Esri CIS staff chose parameters of a system of coordinates for the cadastre, implementing the Gauss-Kr端ger projection with a spheroid of Krassovsky.

Esri CIS staff created an XML parser to convert the XML documents into objects. This made the

Case Study

Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than a ninth of the earth's land area and home to 143 million people. Managing the property rights for so many across a vast landscape is a monumental task.

Until a few years ago, Russian property rights, cadastre and mapping were managed by separate agencies. This meant that while the Russian cadastre was completely mapped and recorded, the data was not consolidated Today, legislative and regulatory issues related to cadastral matters are managed by one agency, the Ministry of Economic Development. A public geoportal

Thousands use the automated system The public cadastre map includes

Geospatial World I June 2012

29

Map of Sochi area olympic games 2014

data easier to manipulate with JavaScript applications. Esri ArcGIS was then used to automate the data process and store the data in a geodatabase. ModelBuilder in ArcGIS created an automated workflow for the task of converting the data. Once the data

readily available to the public, businesses and other agencies, which saves time and money.

A GIS-based workflow using ArcGIS helps eliminate errors resulting from overlapping boundaries, incomplete parcel descriptions and other discrepancies in land records. Esri's integrated collection of GIS solutions is well matched to these requirements.

ArcGIS System

30

was created and stored, topographic maps were prepared and published.

Rosreestr also allows members of the community to explore the data in ways they have not been able to do before. Different kinds of thematic maps can be

A Vertically Integrated System State and provincial governments are the crucial link between national and local land records agencies. Common data formats and IT standards for GIS enable state agencies to integrate information from many sources, ensuring that adjacent jurisdictional boundaries align

created of the attributes included in the data. Web services for Rosreestr have been created using JavaScript, which makes them available for others who want to build their own applications and provide additional services.

Focusing on valuation State agencies monitor the land records and valuation activities of local governments, and in some cases, state agencies perform valuations. The goal is to identify and investigate anomalies in value. ArcGIS helps to generate value surfaces that expedite these types of monitoring tasks.

Benefits for an enterprise cadastral system ArcGIS supports all major cadastral applications and provides a comprehensive solution for converting, editing, mapping, managing, analysing and disseminating land records data.

Users can develop common data models that not only make data more realistic but also provide a standardised method for developing and exchanging data. The ArcGIS Local Government data model, for example, accommodates a range of applications and parcel definitions. This flexible and object-based model captures the collective experience gained from more than 40 years of managing parcels using GIS.

For more information on GIS for cadastre, visit esri.com/cadastre

Geospatial World I June 2012

CADASTRE AND LAND ADMINISTRATION

LIVING

IN A TWO-SPEED WORLD

Clear, legal and secure documentation of land is of great interest to the individual who possesses it as it is to the economic growth of a country. The world economy is moving at two speeds post down nturn 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 administratio on systems in less developed and more developed worlds.

Geospatial World I June 2012

31

he structure of world economy is changing dynamically in important ways, with effects that are difficult to predict. The great financial crisis that hit the West hard had left many countries facing a period of negative growth, budget deficits and high unemployment. However, China, India and the East registered strong economic growth during this period and since then, the world seems to be moving at two different speeds - that of the more developed world (characterised by high debt, low economic growth and low population growth) and that of the less developed world (characterised by low debt, high economic growth and high population growth) (As shown in Figures 1 and 2). Experts predict that probably in the next 10 years, these two worlds, moving at two different speeds, will reach a balancing point where they will contribute equally to the world GDP. From the standpoint of an individual or citizen, clear, legal and secure documentation of his/her ownership over the piece of land he/she possesses is of utmost significance. According to Hernando de Soto in his bestseller book, Mystery of Capital, this documentation is the basis to access credit and release the capital value of land. This in fact is not only an individual interest but is important for the government as it serves as the fundamental requirement in enabling an equitable system for land and property taxation which essentially leads to the inclusive economic growth of the country.

The experiments and experience of the more developed world (Western world) in building modern cadastre and land administration systems is150-200 years old. The less developed world (emerging Asian and African economies) opened up to the importance of reorganisation of its land assets only in the mid 20th century.

T

Figure 2

A quick stock-taking and analysis of trends in cadastre and land administration systems in these two regions clearly establishes the linkages of land administration to economic development and substantiates the fact that the world is indeed moving at two different speeds. To put it another way, the two worlds are on the same track but the developed world is ahead while the developing world has to put in some hard work to catch up. This article attempts a comparative analysis of cadastre and land administration trends in more developed and less developed regions of the world.

CADASTRE AND LAND ADMINISTRATION IN LESS DEVELOPED WORLD According to a 2006 estimate by UN Habitat, the population of cities in developing countries will double from 2 billion to 4 billion by 2036. To prevent people from living in slums, developing nations must create the equivalent of a city housing one million people (the size of Prague) every week, between now and 2036. This is a daunting task and the developing world has to reach the level of sophistication of the developed world in a situation where the demands on land are far more complex than in the developed world. "The intersection of technology, fundamental economics, effective policies and the effective deployment of technology are the prerequisites to achieve this goal," opines Pete Large, Vice President, Trimble Navigation Ltd. However, several bottlenecks need to be overcome to build and implement a land administration system. These include archaic property identification systems, inappropriate legal policies in place, lack of technical knowhow and capacities to name a few.

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

Figure 1

32

Geospatial World I June 2012

South Asia: Every country presents its own unique scenario with respect to land administration. In the case of Sri Lanka, unprotected land rights system, non-existent land planning system are compounding the travails of the country, which is emerging from decades-old ethnic strife. Poor land administration system is also a cause of low investments flowing into the country, according to RPR Rajapaksha, Land Commissioner General, Ministry of Land & Land Development, Sri Lanka. Despite land being the most popular form of security, its contribution

"The intersection of technology, fundamental economics, effective policies and the effective deployyment of technology are the prerequisites to prevent people from living in slums with growing urban population in developing countries"

- Pete Large Vice President, Trimble Navigation Ltd.

Geospatial World I June 2012

Land - Magnitude of the problem •

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

•

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 in slums, developing nations must create the equivalent of a city housing 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 the earthquake

Image Courtesy: yay micro

system - or even setting up practically a new one for the overall development. This has often led to the implementation of accelerated, systematic land registration/titling campaigns with financial aid and technical assistance from foreign donors.

The Torrens system of land tenure has played an important role in shaping the modern economies of the region including Malaysia. Malaysia started using ICT for land administration in 1980 when it has introduced computerised land revenue system (SHTB). In 1995, it introduced Computerised Land Registration System (CLRS). It has conducted thorough studies in 2000 to develop a comprehensive and well integrated land administration system and introduced e-Land System (e-Tanah) in 2005 as a pilot project in the State of Penang. Now, the system is being expanded to cover entire Peninsular Malaysia in phases to establish an efficient and adaptable system to achieve service delivery excellence in the country, informs Y.Bhg. Dato' Haron Bin Abdul Kader, Director - E-Tanah Project Team, Ministry of Natural Resources & Environment, Malaysia. According to Dato' Kader, this is translating into an efficient work culture in land administration and improved ratings for Malaysia by the World Bank.

to the credit market is quite low due to the non-availability of organised land information system. However, the country has ambitious plans to prepare cadastres for all land blocks which account for 12 million land parcels under the Land Title Project in 10 years. It also aims to complete the conversion of deed registrations into land title registrations in the next 10 years.

India is setting up land administration systems in its states through its flagship National Land Records Modernisation Programme (NLRMP). PD Meena, Additional Secretary, Department of Land Resources describes the progress achieved and the challenges in implementing the massive programme on Pg 38.

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

Namibia's present system of land surveying, registration and development covers part of the country due to the colonial policy of confirming the majority of the people to former "homelands" (now communal areas) and barring them from owning land and securing tenure. In many municipalities, towns, villages and settlements, there is frustration about the inability to plan, survey and register land rights and the inadvertent difficulty in accessing credit for investment, informs Anna Namhindo, Director of Survey and Mapping, Ministry of Lands, Namibia.

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

33

“More than 50 million people in 15 member states of UNECE live in informal settlements.

Rapid urba anisation, poverty and lack of access to land and ownership have led citizens to build their homes illegally under very poor environmental and social conditions.�

- Gulnara Roll UNECE

most importantly, granted equal rights to men and women when applying for rights to communal land. With the implementation of CLRA, land is being continuously re-distributed to previously disadvantaged Namibians through resettlement and affirmative action loan schemes, Anna says. At present, 50% of Namibia's population lives in communal areas where they do not have individual land titles. However, their customary land rights are being registered as part of communal land registration in accordance with CLRA but this framework is proving to be too costly and elitist, Anna adds. To address the issues, flexible land tenure has been introduced and passed by the Parliament in November 2011.

While Namibia is still in the process of reorganising its land, other African countries like South Africa, Rwanda (refer Pg 48) and Morocco have success stories to share. The northwest African country of the Kingdom of Morocco has strong economic fundamentals supported by liberal economic policies based on supply and demand. Morocco's system operates with two cadastral instruments - juridical and national cadastres which have strong social and economic impact on the society. The formalisation of land rights has begun early and it allowed participation of individuals and groups in the formal land and labour markets. This has effectively increased the revenue from the titling process which led to the progressive increase in FDI in real estate, divulges Moha EL-AYACHI, General Secretary of National Board of Licensed Surveyors, Morocco.

Eastern Europe: According to a study by UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), more than 50 million people in 15 member states of UNECE live in informal settlements, informs Gulnara Roll, Economic Affairs Officer, Secretariat of the Committee for Housing and Land Management, UNECE. Rapid urbanisation, poverty and lack of access to land and ownership, in addition to limit-

34

ed or no social housing, have led citizens to build their homes illegally under very poor environmental and social conditions. This phenomenon is growing at an exponential rate in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia and calls for urgent political, legal and planning solutions, she exhorts.

Post-communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEEC) have opened up to the importance of reliable cadastral systems in the past 20 years, as the lack of the same delayed the progress of reforms and influenced political decisions and economic transition.

Today, the land administration and land governance situation in Estonia, Lithuania and Slovakia is advanced and progressive. Lithuania has one of the most modern, if not the most modern, web-based multi-purpose cadastre in the world serving the public and private sectors, says Dr Babette Wehrmann in his paper titled, Governance of land tenure in Eastern Europe and CIS. The land governance situation in Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Macedonia, Poland, Romania and Slovenia is much more diverse. Access to land is bet-

World Bank initiatives in land administration Country

Title

Description

Senegal, Africa

Sustainable Land Management Project (SLM) - Senegal

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

Vietnam, South East Asia

Vietnam - Land Administration Project

The aim of the project is to develop an improved land administration system in select provinces in Vietnam.

Croatia, Europe and Central Asia

Croatia - Integrated Land Administration System

The system once developed will assist the government to modernise the land administration and management system in order to improve the efficiency, transparency and cost effectiveness of government services.

Tajikistan, Central Asia

AF Land Registration & Cadastre System for Sustainable Agriculture Project Tajikistan

The initiative aims to expand farmland restructuring activities under the Farm Privatization Support Project, and to enable more rural people to become independent farmers and take management decisions in response to market forces.

Honduras, Latin American and Caribbean

Second Land Administration Project - Honduras

The objective of the project is to provide the population in the project area with improved, decentralised land administration services, including better access to and more accurate information on property records and transactions.

Geospatial World I June 2012

ter regulated; land reforms are advanced but not yet finished in these countries.

From the above analysis, it can be inferred that a lot of work is in progress in many countries of the less developed world and offers huge market for technology providers. According to Kees de Zeeuw and Peter Laaraker of Kadaster, "It can be concluded that the development of cadastral systems in Asia is moving at an impressive pace, and that our colleagues from Africa need support for their actions in relation to their governments."

CADASTRE AND LAND ADMINISTRATION IN MORE DEVELOPED WORLD Europe is at the forefront of the developed world in building modern, technology-intensive cadastre systems, with a history of more than two centuries. Today, in countries in Western Europe like The Netherlands, Germany, United Kingdom, Austria and Switzerland cadastre systems not only provide information about the ownership and value of land but may also include information on land use, legal restrictions, regulations concerning land use and the registration of important assets or infrastructure, such as utilities.

An aware population, greater ICT percolation, higher acceptability of geospatial technology and motivated leadership are driving the agendas of national mapping organisations and cadastral agencies in developed nations with the effect that the role of these organisations is broadening in an attempt to create citizen-centric solutions for effective governance. Apart from building and managing the core cadastre infrastructure, NMOs are efficiently integrating with other themes of information to input the national SDIs, thereby contributing to the sustainable development.

South Korea: The existing land administration in South Korea has been established as early as in 1910s, during the Japanese regime adopting the title registration system. The country promulgated the Cadastral Law in 1950.

Around 32 million land parcels in Korea have been computerised from 1975-1984 and 759,000 cadastral map sheets digitised between 1999 and 2003. A modern land administration system in Korea, called the Korean Land Information System (KLIS) has been developed to protect the property rights of the public by efficiently managing cadastre and registry books, as well to provide the gov-

Geospatial World I June 2012

UN HABITAT Initiatives in cadastre and land administration Title

Country/region Description

Social Tenure Domain Model (STDM): Phase two

Global

This project focuses on developing (including implementing, pilot, testing and disseminating) propoor, gender sensitive, large-scale land tools capable of recording a wide range of land rights. STDM will improve security of tenure, reduce evictions and lower planning and servicing costs.

Strengthening the capacities of ICGLR member states to address the land and property issues of IDPs and refugees

10 countries in Great Lakes region of East and Central Africa

UN-HABITAT and the International Conference of the Great Lakes Secretariat will collaborate to strengthen the capacity of Governments and practitioners to understand and address the land and property issues related to IDPs and refugees in four pilot ICGLR Member States.

Enhancing the Global Contribution of Local Authorities and their Partners towards achieving the MDGs through Capacity Building of Local Government Training Institutes

This initiative aims to enhance the contribution and role of local authorities and their partners in achieving the MDGs, in particular in addressing poverty, gender inequity and equality and in the realisation of improved local governance and sustainable development by strengthening the capacities of local government training institutes".

Urban Management Training Programme for South Sudan , under Support to the States programme

The general purpose of the Urban Management Training Programme is to strengthen the skills and knowledge of Goss officials in urban management particularly in the areas of Town planning and strategic management, Land Management, and Housing Policy.

Africa & Arab States, Sudan

ernments with political statistics to deal with the overheated real estate markets affected by the rapid economic growths since late 1980s.

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

Canada: The second largest country in the world, Canada has an extremely diverse and complex landmass. As a consequence, land administration in Canada is quite complex and multi-faceted and is shared between feder-

35

al, provincial, municipal and aboriginal levels of government. The federal government continues to play a vital role in nation building and frontier land administration.

Canada's land title and survey systems are in an evolving phase. "We have recently completed a mapping project which started in 1940s. It is also focussing on land reform through First Nations lands administration renewal, integrated parcel creation processes with land use planning and land registration systems," says David Harper, Director-GeoConnections.

Land administration in Canada's Arctic, the economic development of self-governing aboriginals, climate change-disaster response and natural resource exploration, extraction and distribution are a few challenges for effective land administration in Canada, David shares.

Image Courtesy: Esri

Germany: Germany built its cadastre at the beginning of 19th century to streamline its taxation system. Its property cadastre has been set up only a century later as a parcel-based system. These two systems are constantly updated and kept consistent. With changing societal needs, the cadastre has started increasingly being used for other mapping and planning purposes and it started incorporating other related data like land use, soil evaluation and protected sites. This data is being used for several applications and the German cadastre currently meets the requirements of legal relations, the administration and the economy. As 3D forms the basis for urban planning, state surveying and mapping agencies are providing LoD-1 models and it is envisaged that the multi-

Multipurpose cadastre

36

"The measure of an effective land administration system is one that is state-of-the art and enables justified land ownership, promotes efficient land use planning and locally accepted land valuation sysstems"

- Kees de Zeeuw and Peter Laaraker Dutch Cadastre Land Registry and Mapping Agency (Kadaster)

purpose cadastre would provide LoD-2 models in the future to prepare solar cadastres. As Germany aims to provide secure conditions for economic activities, it is actively working on taking its cadastres to next level of functioning and flexibility, informs Peter Creuzer, Director State Survey and Geospatial Basic Information State Agency for Geoinformation and Land Development of Lower Saxony (LGLN), Germany.

(Refer interview with Dorine Burmanje, Chair Executive Board, Kadaster (Pg-24) for details on the Dutch experience)

TWO-SPEED WORLD - OF OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES From the above description of the development and workin-progress of cadastre and land administration systems, it is evident that individual countries are tracing their own trajectories of evolution owing to the legacy systems in place, popular need/demand and political will while simultaneously learning from the success stories. However, it is noted that only 40-50 countries in the world are active in reorganising their land systems.

The above analysis brings out the differences and similarities between the two sets of countries. Two factors appear to be important for the success. Firstly, the chosen approach is key as it determines the outcome.

The Rwanda case shows how an approach strongly supported and pushed by national government can result in a successful implementation of a land administration system. However, a 'one size fits all' formula cannot apply in land administration. Applying the same approach to other countries asks for prudence. Secondly, it is important to understand and take into account the nuances of each culture and country. Even within a country this can vary, as is the case in Morocco. Dealing with the cultural situation should be the challenge, than trying to change it.

Also, countries with huge potential to overcome their

Geospatial World I June 2012

poverty are often not able to achieve the desired success, due to mismanagement and corruption related to access to land and its resources based on social equity. To gauge these dynamics with clarity, it is important to understand that land administration may include issues like land valuation, land titling, land use planning and the use of land administration systems. "The measure of an effective land administration system is one that is state-of-the art and enables justified land ownership, promotes efficient land use planning and locally accepted land valuation systems. Domain standards are under development for land administration (like LADM and STDM), but those standards have to be flexible and should be adaptable and extensible in local environment," inform Kees de Zeeuw and Peter Laaraker of Kadaster.

Bringing in the industry perspective, Juergen Dold, Hexagon Geosystems says, geospatial information will help to de-complex the issues and helps in de-regulating certain activities to be more efficient. What has been collected over the past few decades can be moved to new technology to meet new demands of the economy in developed nations while geospatial information is required to regulate things in less developed world. So, actually these two kinds of countries are moving at two different speeds.

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 in place

Deed registration/Informal systems of registration

Secure title, formal registration

Governed by red tape and bureaucracy

Systematic, transparent, citizen-centric systems

Outdated land records; ineffective property registration system, ineffective policy framework

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

Fragmented systems, disparate databases, different organisations dealing with different components

Integrated system - land records database and land registration integrated into single system

Creating basic framework for cadastre and land administration

Evolving multipurpose cadastres

Lacking trained human capacities

Ample technically-capable human resources

Second mover advantage

Consultants for less developed nations

Innovative options like point cadastres, crowdsourcing, high resolution satellite imagery, low resolution RS imagery being explored

Technology intensive. However, innovative options being actively pursued

Geospatial World I June 2012

"What has been collected over the past few decades can be moved to new technology to meet new demands of the economy in developed nations while geospatial information is required to regulate things in n less developed world"

- Juergen Dold President Hexagon Geosystems

Geospatial technology can map in great detail, create spatial data with phenomenal accuracy but is cost- and technology-intensive, which is acting as deterrents for developing countries to quickly adopt and utilise it. Indicating this trend, Pete Large of Trimble says "in cadastral applications, the need for high accuracies and real time capabilities are being questioned, particularly in developing countries. It can be argued that the need for rapid coverage of large numbers of parcels takes precedence over obtaining "survey grade" accuracy. " Another important issue is the awareness and motivation of leadership. Leaders must understand the importance of GIS, not simply talk about geospatially enabled data. Geospatial community must focus on making GIS dynamic through a continuous flow of updated information that is linked to (near) real time actions. This will enable decision makers to make faster and better decisions for improved economy, opines Juergen.

CONCLUSION From the country experiences cited above, it is evident that a cadastral divide does exist between the less developed and more developed worlds and that not one answer or solution exists. Unlike other markets, land is not a homogenous product. Each parcel is unique, with a particular set of locational and physical attributes. The players in the land market are diverse and often have conflicting agendas. So, it is important to take a coordinated approach and involve citizens in a big way. Industry can play an evangelising role in creating more awareness, in convincing the leadership and in understanding the needs of the market and tailor-make their solutions. It is essential to strike a balance between the push of technology and pull of customer needs.

Bhanu Rekha, Executive Editor bhanu@geospatialmedia.net

37

INTERVIEW

Modern technology vital for effective land management What are the challenges for effective land management in a huge country like India?

To find a rightful place in the comity of nations, a country should have an efficient and robust land records management system. This is possible only if we have real time and upto-date land records. In this regard, conducting survey of land is the foremost challenge. The last survey in India was done almost 100 years ago using compass, chains and other orthodox methods. There is bound to be difference between the old and new records when a fresh survey is conducted using modern technologies. This challenge needs to be

subject under the Indian Constitution, so the status of land records maintenance is varied across the country. In fact, there are variations in the land records management within a state due to the historical evolution of these areas. For example, in Andhra Pradesh, there are different systems of land records management in the Madras presidency part, the Nizam area and the areas which were earlier part of the central province. In the north eastern states, there is the concept of community management of land. However, the central government has been incentivising the states to migrate from the manual system of land records

The primary goal of NLRMP is to introduce conclusive titling with title guarantee and indemnificatiion in the country, instead of the present land titling system which provides merely for registratio on of deeds and documents and "presumptive" property titles sorted out so that survey can be undertaken at a fast pace. Capacity building in modern technology is another major challenge.

What is the status of land records management in various states across the country?

'Land and its management' is a state

38

management to the computerised system.

Tell us about the various land records modernisation programmes initiated by the ndia?

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

management of land records through the use of modern technology. Up to 2007-08, it was administering two centrally-sponsored schemes including Computerisation of Land Records (CLR), and Strengthening of Revenue Administration and Updating of Land Records (SRA & ULR). Significant progress was achieved through these schemes.

What were the gaps felt by policy makers in the aforesaid schemes and how has the National Land ords Modernisation ProReco gramme addressed these issues?

Progress under the aforesaid schemes was uneven across the country. While some states including Karnataka, Gujarat and Goa moved forward rapidly, pooling together support from central government and their own resources, others lagged behind, or made progress only in some areas, such as, computerisation of textual records.

Keeping in view the above position, the cabinet in 2008 approved the merger of these two schemes under the centrally-sponsored scheme of National Land Records Modernisation Programme (NLRMP). The NLRMP combines key components of the above two schemes and adds new components such as integration

Geospatial World I June 2012

of textual and spatial records, computerisation of registration, and inter-connectivity between revenue and registration systems. The primary goal of this scheme is to introduce conclusive titling with title guarantee and indemnification in the country, instead of the present land titling system which provides merely for registration of deeds and documents and "presumptive" property titles.

What is the current status of NLRMP and how much progress has been made?

During 2008-09, funds to the tune of INR 255.73 crore (USD 51 million approx) were recommended by the project sanctioning and monitoring committee for covering 69 districts in 20 states. Accordingly, as per availability of funds, INR 188.76 crore (USD 37 million approx) was released. During 2009-10, INR 195.44 crore (USD 39 million approx) was released to 18 states for covering 72 more districts under the programme. During 2010-2011, an amount of INR 154.78 crore (USD 31 million approx) was released. Further, during financial year 2011-12, funds to the tune of INR 107.14 crore (USD 21 million approx) have been released to the states. Thus, so far, funds amounting to INR 605.15 crore (USD 121 million approx) have been released to 30 states for coverage of 267 districts.

nents of the NLRMP. NIC is providing training and capacity building to the states in the implementation of the programme. This has ensured effective hand holding of the states.

What are the challenges being faced in implementing NLRMP? How have these challenges been overcome?

The major constraints being faced in the implementation of NLRMP include: • Release of funds by the states to the implementing agencies takes a long time, hampering the progress of the programme.

ment unit at the state level. Other steps in this direction include the establishment of the National Institute of Land Administration and Management at the central level as well as training and capacity building of various stakeholders.

What are the various citizen services being envisaged by the NLRMP? The successful implementation of NLRMP will offer various benefits to the citizens such as:

• Non-linkage between revenue and registration offices renders the land records database obsolete.

• Lack of proper bandwidth creates difficulty in sharing of data between the central database and the tehsils.

• Lack of adequately trained human resources at the present stage, considering high-tech and complex nature of the programme.

To overcome the above mentioned constraints, the department is actively pursuing the constitution of the project manage-

What is the role of National Informatics Centre (NIC) in the NLRMP? NIC is the central agency which is coordinating the software compo-

Geospatial World I June 2012

Prabhu Dayal Meena Additional Secretary, Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Development, ndia Government of In

39

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

• Since the records will be placed on the websites with proper security IDs, property owners will have free access to their records without any compromise with regard to confidentiality of the information.

• Payment of stamp duty and registration fees through banks will be convenient for the citizens.

• Automatic and automated mutations will significantly reduce the scope of fraudulent property deals.

What is the role of geospatial technology in NLRMP? The main thrust of NLRMP has been to modernise land records management system in the country, so that objective of real time up-to-date land records could be achieved. Various GIS layers like vegetation cover, soil types, roads, water bodies, crops etc. can be laid on top of the digitised maps generated through this programme. These GIS-based maps can be used for not only land management but also for various other planning purposes. It is imperative that the latest developments in the field of geospatial technologies be shared and discussed for their effective utilisation.

What is the role of public-private partnerships (PPP) in NLRMP? NLRMP has generated enormous workload on the existing revenue and registration machinery. It also requires high level of technological inputs at almost every stage. Capacity building of the in-situ staff is essential but is likely to take time. In order to streamline the implementation of the programme and to achieve the targets within the proposed timeframe, states may like to go for the PPP models with respect to certain activities under the programme or outsource them on a turn-key basis.

Implementing a huge project like NLRMP requires lot of skilled manpower. Does NLRMP has uilding as one of its capacity bu mandates?

Capacity building is an important component of NLRMP. States are required to draw up a comprehensive training programme to develop their human resources for effective maintenance and sustenance of NLRMP. This should cover the policy makers, heads of the departments of revenue, survey, registration and their offices and staff, master trainers and field-level functionaries including surveyors, village accountant and other revenue staff, who will be trained for operating the system including mutation DoLR has been actively involved in spreading awareness about the benefits of and updating of effective land administration and the role of geospatial technology for the same

40

land records, issue of authenticated copies of RoRs with map-to-scale, handling modern survey equipment such as GPS and TS. Organisations like Survey of India, NIC and Indian Space Research Organisation have been involved in imparting training to master trainers, who will train the State staff on these methodologies.

How is interconnectivity of land records with other records helpful for various stakeholders?

The interconnectivity of land records with other stakeholders like registration department, banks and land acquisition collectors will not only keep the land records database upto-date but also help stakeholders in discharging their mandates effectively. For example, at present, a farmer has to take a copy of the RoRs from the revenue department and go to the bank for a loan against his property. The bank, after checking these documents, sanctions the loan and sends the information to the registration department for filing the entry of the lien on the property.

Registration department informs the revenue department in this regard, so that this lien is reflected on the land database.

However, once banks and the land records database are integrated, the banks will fetch the RoRs from this land records database. After the loan is sanctioned by the bank, the information regarding lien will be sent to this land records database immediately by the system itself. So, the credit facility will be available to the farmers easily and the banks will also be assured of the credibility of the farmer in repaying the loan.

Geospatial World I June 2012

The 'cadastral divide' A view from the bridge

The 'cadastral divide' describes the gap between countries that have effective land administration systems and those that do not.

Here, we look at challenges on both sides with a view to bridging understandings, identifying shared challenges and determining where cadastral research and practice is headed in the near future

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Geospatial World I June 2012

Courtesy: Esri

M

any of the world's most developed property markets sit idle today: land values are down, new loan approvals have fallen and fewer building permits are being issued. Revival attempts through tax breaks and reduced transaction costs appear to have failed, at least for the short term.

What caused this stagnation? Mainstream media tells the story of the subprime mortgage collapse in the United States, of the resultant freeze in global credit supply, of government funded stimulus packages and more recently, of the European debt crisis and subsequent bailout attempts. We're all familiar with the key events, players and processes.

In parallel, the geospatial community has undertaken its own analysis. In particular, those professionals involved in land administration have asked the question: "What role did our cadastres and land registries play in all this?"

An idea of Peter Dale provides a useful tool for framing the discussion. Dale is a prominent land administrator and academic from the United Kingdom. He has helped drive many developments in land administration over the last 40 years. In 2000, Dale developed a model that demonstrated the link between our cadastres and land registries on one hand and the components of a land market on the other. The model suggests that any land market is underpinned by three pillars (Figure 1): land registration and cadastre, market-based land valuation and financial services. Using this approach, it is fair to say that most mainstream analysis assigns blame for the property market collapse to the financial services pillar: inappropriate lending and credit access mechanisms created an inflated property market bubble that ultimately burst around 2007/8.

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

Courtesy: Esri

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

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

In 2009, Daniel Roberge and Bengt Kjellson suggested appropriate decisions about fiscal and monetary policy that the lack of a good property rights infrastructure (i.e. can be made: the growth of the tree can be kept sustainland register and cadastre) in the United States conable through a constant flow of good land information tributed to the collapse of its property market and led to between land market players. the subsequent contamination of international stock As simple as this model appears, it seems that only a markets. In 2010, David Cowan and Donald Buhler, very small percentage of the world's economies have it amongst others, demonstrated how a mortgage-discloworking. It is particularly difficult to achieve in federated sure-contagion-early-warning-system could have been in countries where land administration might not be an place if land parcel data had been linked to mortgage activity of the central government. At any rate, more and data at a national level. All these authors assume that more central governments are realising the importance aggregated land information about the status of tenures and potential of maintaining what some are calling AAA and values was missing: this information should have or Triple A rated land information, that is, information been provided to decision makers by the land administrathat is authoritative, accurate and assured. A dynamic tion system. With this in mind, Dale's model might be flow of AAA land information is an important factor in considered a little static: it does not show the information sustaining healthy land markets. Researchers from Uniflows and feedback loops versity of Melbourne's Centhat should be in place tre for SDIs and Land between the policy/legal Administration have chamMore and more central governments are realising the importance and potential framework, the three pilpioned the idea most of maintaining AAA land d information lars and the players the recently. An argument could information that is authoritative, accurate land market. also be made that the inforand assured.

A dynamic flow of AAA land To help explain the mation should be unaminformation is an important factor in importance of these inforbiguous and available to the sustaining healthy land markets mation flows, Nilofer Tampublic. In this way, the AAA buwala and her co-authors concept would fully adhere added some dynamism to to the old-school principles Dale's model. They suggested that the parcel level spatial of land registration as laid out by Dowson and Sheppard and textual information held in a land administration sysand Simpson, amongst others. tem must be aggregated and fed directly to central The demand for AAA (AA) land information is driving macroeconomic decision makers. Using this information, many countries to invest much effort into their land infor-

Geospatial World I June 2012

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As Daniel Roberge recently observed in the media, they probably only represent around 30 countries globally and less than 25% of the world's estimated 6 billion land parcels.

In essence, there exists a 'cadastral divide': the remaining 160 countries (or so) and the 4 billion land parcels within them face a whole different set of challenges. In these countries, the basic benefits of land administration, as laid out by Prof. Joe Henssen of the Netherlands, are not being met (Figure 3). In these countries, the lack of good land governance, including transparent land administration systems, is demonstrated to produce conflicts in peri-urban areas, slum 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, TU formation, land grabbing, food insecurity, Munchen, Germany. poor access to clean water and inadequate infrastructure provision. It is these counmation systems. We're seeing projects aimed at creating tries where successful developments in land administramore spatially accurate cadastres, object-oriented cadastion and geospatial science will have perhaps the greattres (that is, inclusion of other forms of property rights, est impact on economies. restrictions and responsibilities), 3D cadastres, real-time But, what is going wrong in these contexts? After cadastres, interoperable cadastres (between nations and around 50 years of land administration projects, why are states) and 'greening' the cadastre. All these are cadasmany tenures still not secure? There is much already tral design elements that support achievement of the known- the issues start at institutional and societal levels AAA (AA) vision. There is much discourse already availand run all the way down to the organisational and techable and perhaps a hint of healthy competition amongst nical implementations that are put in place. Jaap Zevencountries. The stakes are high: most agree that countries bergen (ITC University of Twente) and Clarissa Augustinus that are able to get the design elements implemented will (UN-Habitat), amongst others, suggest that at current be far better placed to manage the 'information' and rates it will take decades, if not centuries, to get any'green' economies of the 21st century. Of course, there where near full coverage in many country contexts. are some assumptions in all this: better assessment However, it seems that a paradigm shift is taking frameworks will be needed to determine whether these place- at least amongst geospatial and land administrainvestments in AAA (AA) land information actually deliver tion professionals. There is now wide agreement that full on the benefits promised. title with accurately surveyed boundaries should not be Meanwhile, it needs to be remembered that the counattempted upfront in many contexts. The concept of the tries charging towards the AAA (AA) vision are a minority. 'continuum of land rights' has taken hold: a staged or phased approach to delivering more secure land rights is needed. From a land administration perspective, this There is now wide agreement that full title means, in the short term, that we need to develop and with accurately surveyed boundaries utilise faster, cheaper and more fit-for-purpose land should not be attemp pted upfront in many administration designs. The range of new approaches contexts. The concept of the 'continuum of and tools is emerging at a rapid pace. Tools already availd or land rights' has taken hold: a staged able include: phased approach to delivering more secure

land rights is needed

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

Geospatial World I June 2012

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

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

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

• Crowdsourced cadastre (or Cadastre 2.0) - an approach where citizens are trained to undertake adjudication, demarcation, surveying and recordation processes themselves using low cost processes and mobile technology.

• High resolution satellite imagery (HRSI) - for fast paced participatory adjudication and mapping programmes in rural areas.

• Low altitude remotely sensed imagery (LARSI) - imagery captured by lightweight and unmanned aircraft equipped with a camera, GNSS receiver and other positioning tools. Like HRSI, the imagery can be used to speed up adjudication and mapping programmes. The higher resolutions available enable utility in more built up areas.

• The pro-poor land recordation system - a set of transparent principles and processes developed by UN-Habitat that enable the recordation and maintenance of land interests in places where individuals might live on less than USD 2 a day.

These approaches represent just a small sample of a growing number of 'progressive' tools. Many others are still in development. It remains to be seen how great an impact these approaches can have on reducing the cadastral divide. Whilst many are at a technical level, they might provide a catalyst for overcoming inhibitors at insti-

The cadastral divide is a reality. Whilst a divide is evident, by looking to both sides we see a briidge linking shared interests and challenges. Overcoming the cadastral divide should be a focus for all

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

In the meantime, the push to utilise the cadastre beyond traditional juridical and fiscal functions continues.

Since discussions on 'multipurpose cadastres' began in the early 1970s, the application of the cadastre in urban and rural planning, environmental management, law enforcement, delivery of educational services and so on, has been demonstrated. However, rapid population growth, urbanisation and climate change are driving a new range of applications. Cadastres can play a role in supporting food security; total tenure security (beyond mere legal instruments); post-conflict state building; housing production and even good governance (including operationalising transparency).

So, how can all this be summarised? First, the cadastral divide is a reality. In fact, the division is far more fragmented than presented here: all systems are at various states of establishment, renewal, maintenance or even decay. Second, whilst a divide is evident, by looking to both sides we see a bridge linking shared interests and challenges. These are the need for: system adaptation in order to support emerging societal roles; development of more holistic assessment tools for ensuring fit-for-purpose and construction of a range of design elements to support both pro-poor and more developed contexts (Figure 4). Third, and finally, overcoming the cadastral divide should be a focus for all. With the right mix of pragmatism and design selection, it can be reduced even in the short term. Geospatial practitioners and land administrators are encouraged to get involved: follow developments, share lessons and take part in bridging the divide.

Dr Rohan Bennett

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, TU Munchen, Germany.

Geospatial World I June 2012

Assistant Professor, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation, Department of Urban and Regional Planning and Geo-information (ITC), University of Twente, The Netherlands

bennett@itc.nl

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LESOTHO

TOWARDS EFFECTIVE LAND MANAGEMENT L

Case Study

able challenges facing land management in Lesotho. The formal land administration system remains inaccessible to a large number of people.

The prime objective of Land Act 1979 was to improve land administration and to control indiscriminate allocations of land. To achieve this, it provided for an elaborate organisational structure as well as tenure reforms and other innovations.

Implementation of the act proved problematic, with lack of support and funding and inefficiency and corruption in land administration.

With the encouragement and support of a new donor partner - the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a foreign aid agency of the Government of the USA - a new Land Act 2010 and Land Administration Authority Act 2010 soon emerged and recently became a law.

The Land Administration Authority Act, 2010 empowers a new land agency to implement the land administration parts of the Land Act. The Project Implementation Unit within the MCC supported Land Administration Reform Project (LARP) is manned by Kadaster Inter-

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national from the Netherlands for 5 years until September 2013.

Cadastral Survey Taking into account Lesotho's longstanding problem of informal and unplanned settlements, the 1979 Land Act and the 1980 Land Survey Act made provision for two types of cadastral surveys: precise surveys and general title surveys.

The current initiative to regularise the tenure of 55,000 unplanned and informal plots is using both precise title surveys of fixed boundaries, where these exist and general title surveys of general

boundaries where boundary features exists but surveys do not.

The land tenure regularisation activity is making full use of new technologies. Private sector land surveyors are using both terrestrial and satellite-based methods to prepare cadastral and site plans that are submitted to the chief surveyor

for approval. Orthophotomaps are also used in the checking and approval processes and the final results are maintained in a digital cadastral database.

The activity for modernisation and improvement of land administration services has moved from the design into the building phase of the Images by: Co Meijer, Kadaster International

and tenure system and land laws are more or less the same in Lesotho as most other countries of the Southern Africa region. There are consider-

project. The LAA has been established and required staff has been recruited. New procedures have been developed to safeguard and smoothen the land administration processes and automation of these processes will be implemented soon.

After a pilot/ testing phase in which 5000 parcels have been regularised, the implementation phase of a further 50,000 parcels has started.

Before September 2013, adjudication records comprising parcel maps and lists of landholders entitled to be regularised and granted a lease will be recorded, giving people security of tenure.

Geospatial World I June 2012

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19.04.12 11:01

RWANDA

Road to economic reforms wanda is a developing country in East Africa. It is landlocked and has the highest population density in SubSaharan Africa. Rwanda has an agriculture-based economy with most of the population engaged in subsistence or semi-subsistence agriculture. Genocide and war in 1994 impoverished the country and left the economy in shambles. To rebuild the economy, create jobs and modernise the economic framework after the chaos, the government embarked on multiple reforms of its systems, including the land tenure system. Great progress has been made since 1994, with per capita income nearly tripling.

R

Case Study

Land reform Land in Rwanda was governed by customary law until the Belgians, who took over control of the country from the Germans after World War I, introduced written laws to guarantee land tenure security for settlers and other foreigners who wished to invest in Rwanda. This system remained in place after independence in 1962. After 1994, the government started to prepare for land reforms to ensure security of tenure for all land claimants.

Until the organic land law were introduced in 2005, less than one percent of the land in Rwanda was registered under freehold or leasehold titles and the rest of the land belonged to the state by law. In reali-

48

ty, people continued to follow the customary rules in land use. There was a rudimentary cadastral system in the country, coupled with a weak and incomplete land administration.

Urban land (in Kigali City) and rural land (outside Kigali City) were managed by different institutions under outdated laws and there was no clear policy framework.

Unsurprisingly, the country faced widespread problems involving secu-

mits. In rural areas, the lack of tenure security led to resource misuse, land degradation and land disputes.

All these obstacles contributed to the difficulties of doing business in Rwanda. Among the 145 countries covered by the World Bank Doing Business report in 2005, Rwanda was ranked as one of the most difficult countries to do business.

The reform of the land manage-

rity of tenure. In the prevailing informal land market, there was no recognition of land as capital and it could not be used as collateral to obtain credit. In urban areas, where new investment demand was high, there was no mechanism to allocate well-secured and well-zoned sites to potential investors, resulting in complexities for obtaining building per-

ment system was, therefore, a prerequisite for sustainable economic growth, especially given the pressure arising from the combination of a growing population and increasing land scarcity. The need for land reforms was clearly set in Rwanda's Vision 2020.

The preparation for the national policy started in 1999 and the

Geospatial World I June 2012

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

The Land Administration Information System developed by the government will contribute enormously to the improvement of land market via digital land registry and transactions

Geospatial World I June 2012

Image before demarcation

Image after demarcation and digitisation

tenure reforms in Rwanda. Using satellite imagery, the pilot project demarcated and adjudicated a total of 14,908 land parcels in the four cells.

The results of the pilot programmes were used to design the strategic road map for land tenure reform. This detailed strategic plan, adopted by the government in March 2008, set out implementation strategy for land tenure reforms. In the mean time, the Government of Rwanda acquired high resolution aerial photographs (25cm resolution) for the whole country.

parcels has been entered into the Land Tenure Regularisation Support System, which is being used to process the first titling. Three million formal leasehold titles have been issued across the country.

In parallel with the regularisation effort, the government has also intensified its efforts in improving the registration of property. Since 2008, the government reviewed property registration procedures with a view to remove the unnecessary steps and to combine others. As a result, procedures for property registration were significantly streamlined. It now takes less than 30 days to register a transaction, compared to 354 days in 2009. Beyond the results that have already been achieved through land tenure regularisation and land registration reforms, the government has developed a Land Administration Information System (LAIS). This will contribute enormously to the improvement of land market via digital land registry and transactions, thereby reducing the time required for registration and transfer of property.

Systematic land registration Land tenure regularisation A national roll - out programme started in June 2009; using aerial photographs printed on sheet at a scale of 1:1500 or 1:2000; para-surveyors were trained in image interpretation and boundary demarcation.

As of April 2012; 10.2 million parcels in 2131 cells out of 2148 total cells in Rwanda (representing 99%) had been demarcated and adjudicated by the adjudication committee composed of members of the cell land committee and village leaders. It should be noted that disputes occurred in less than one percent of the parcels (totalling 10,528).

Six million parcels have been digitised using Arc-GIS and proprietary information of seven million

The target The Government of Rwanda, through the Department of Lands (former National Land Centre) and Mapping within Rwanda Natural Resources Authority, is targeting to complete the issuance of all leasehold titles.

Case Study

process picked up speed after 2001, when the then Ministry of Environment, Forestry, Lands, Mines and Water, came in place to champion the process with government support. In 2004, a new National Land Policy was adopted based on broad agreement of all stakeholders. In the 2004 policy, social equity, economic efficiency and land use sustainability were set out as the guiding principles for subsequent land reforms.

Within this policy framework, the government has been pursuing land policy reforms since 2005.

The most important step in land legislative reforms is the enactment of the Organic Law Determining the Use and Management of Land in Rwanda (OLL) on 15th September 2005. This law, for the first time in Rwanda, stipulated the legal right for all citizens to gain land rights through a long-term lease. Whether the land is acquired through customary use, from the competent authorities, or via purchase, the right holders have the legal rights to use the land for residential, industrial, commercial, social or cultural and scientific purposes.

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PHILIPPINES

Land reforms unlock the potential of agriculture

he Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) spearheads the implementation of the ten-year comprehensive agrarian reform programme of the Philippine government by virtue of Republic Act 6657 or the "Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988." It embodies the state policy of liberating the vast potential wealth of the Philippine agriculture and covers all public and private agricultural lands including other lands of the public domain suitable for agriculture.

Case Study

T

Constraints Like it often happens with its other programmes and projects, the government realised that targets were not being met as envisioned because of constraints with respect to operational and institutional aspects.

Among the components affected was the land tenure improvement with special focus on land acquisition and

50

distribution (LAD) which incorporates the following: land surveys; land valuation and compensation; land titling and registration; and land coverage and beneficiary identification. To address this concern, Republic Act 6657 was amended and the Philippine Congress passed Republic Act 9700, known as the "Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Extension with Reforms" (CARPER), in July 2009.

The Philippine Congress has allocated 150 billion pesos or USD 3.5 billion for its implementation and enforcement.

Under CARPER, DAR intends to complete the programme by mid2014. This calls for all survey work to be completed by 2013 so as to pave the way for the distribution of agricultural lands by the middle of 2014.

Achieving the goals DAR understands the need to develop appropriate mechanisms to meet the targets pursuant to the mediumterm Philippine development plan of the present administration. The department will vigorously pursue suitable strategic actions and oper-

ating mechanisms. Some of these are: • Outsource document research pertaining to survey, ownership and status of lands as well as pre-survey approval quality assurance or the inspection, verification and approval of surveys; • Design and develop Web-based digital projection maps to ascertain the legal land status of lands; • Apply reliable and reasonable geospatial technologies at all levels such as geographic/land information systems including AutoCAD-related solutions; • Implement appropriate capacity building programmes to enhance and sustain the required internal efficiency and work productivity; • Formulate specific guidelines and technical standards to address operational and institutional concerns and to ensure effective implementation of the said strategies; • Design and develop a Web-based CARP project management information system to institutionalise a wellinformed project management team including the department's top management in support of policy development, planning, and decision making; and

Virgilio R. Delos Reyes, Secretary, Department of Agrarian Reforms has sent out clear orders to tap competent consultants to assist the Department in carrying out its mandate on land acquisition and distribution which fundamentally emanates from land surveys and operationalisation of sound geospatial management in route to good land administration. Towards this end, the department is optimistic that it will achieve its goal.

Geospatial World I June 2012

AUSTRALIA

GeoPDF maps support statutory land-based applications gForce Queensland is an industry organisation representing rural producers in

A

Queensland, Australia. AgForce Projects, the state-government funded projects division of AgForce, delivers free training, technology and skills to all Queensland producers. AgForce Projects supplies Queensland producers with property-based maps to assist with property management, coal seam gas (CSG)/mining preparedness and statutory land-based applications to government.

For many years, producers relied on traditional hardcopy property maps with clear overlays to capture property resources. The process was tedious and the map data often

Geospatial World I April 2012

became obsolete. The introduction of interactive, portable and intelligent TerraGo GeoPDF maps revolutionised property mapping for many producers. GeoPDF maps provide a simple and highly intuitive way to share up-to-date geospatial information.

GeoPDF maps can be marked up by producers using the free Adobe Reader software in conjunction with the no-cost TerraGo Toolbar, informs George Demmy, CTO, TerraGo Technologies. TerraGo Toolbar allows the producer to customise the map with georeferenced markups according to the information required. In addition, georeferenced notes, photos, audio and video updates can be added to

GeoPDFVeg

ensure the map information remains current.

AgForce Projects delivers a CD package containing a GeoPDF of their property, the latest versions of Adobe Reader and TerraGo Toolbar software and a user guide. In less than 12 months, AgForce Projects has provided more than 1,200 GeoPDF maps to producers for use with applications for vegetation clearing. Although its members are untrained in map production, they are able to use simple, freely available software to produce the maps and data required for the submissions to the government.

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ETHIOPIA

GNSS for sustainable development he River Nile has sustained life in North Africa for millennia, during which time Egypt has successfully tapped into this resource. But in the area of the headwaters of the Blue Nile, Ethiopia has lacked the infrastructure to harness the river's potential. In order to redress this imbalance, the Ministry of Water and Energy for the Republic of Ethiopia commissioned a feasibility study for 800 km² of net irrigation development in three schemes, which required a total study or search area of 1,700 km² in Ethiopia's Nile basin. The project was funded by the World Bank and is being undertaken by UK based consultancy company Halcrow.

T

Case Study

The work areas were mostly in beautiful mountain landscapes, with the largest of the three schemes in the Upper Beles, west of Lake Tana.

However, the team was challenged by walking about 25 km a day in temperatures up to 40 °C, with changes in altitude of some 600 m (2.000 ft), prevalence of diseases, the possibility of fatal snakebites and scorpion stings and lack of basic civic amenities.

Research on methods to survey vast inaccessible areas of the globe brought up the possible use of 0.5 m (19.7 in) resolution satellite imagery using stereo-photogrammetric processing, which could be used to survey ground levels to under 0.32 m

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(12.6 in) accuracy in height. This would mean changing the survey methodology to make use of ground control points in selected areas of the imagery to accurately resect the satellite positions. After a trial area was processed and the results compared with previously surveyed

ground heights, a decision was made to purchase imagery for all the areas. As far as the team was aware, this is the first time that an area of this size had been surveyed using satellite imagery to such a high accuracy, inform Jacques Malaprade, Land Surveying Project Manager at Halcrow and Hugh Anderson, Technical Specialist at Leica Geosystems Ltd. Previous surveys at similar accuracies were for only one image pair, whereas the Beles survey contained 30 image pairs. The decision was made to complete the survey with terrestrial methods using long range GPS-RTK. Leica GPS1200 and Leica GPS900 instruments were used for geodetic control surveys, tying in to

the IGS network and local country datums and map projections to provide photogrammetric ground control points for the stereo satellite imagery. The Leica Geosystems GNSS instruments were chosen, as they were rugged enough to withstand the tough physical environment. At the same time they provided the team with peace of mind about reliability and accuracy of data, critical aspects when working in such demanding conditions. The Leica Geosystems instruments were

also easy and quick to learn which helped when training the local Ethiopian team.

As a result of this project, the Halcrow team has learnt new skills with respect to photogrammetric mapping from satellite imagery, the Ethiopian surveyors have learnt new surveying skills with Leica GNSS and the local people in Ethiopia will benefit from the design of irrigation projects that could feed future generations.

Geospatial World I June 2012

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First look at the world On May 22, 1570, bookmaking and map-making history were made, when Abraham Ortelius, 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 book that bound together a collection of maps. It was also the first map collection to aim at comprehensive coverage of the known world and the first to organise the maps logically, with all those applying to the same continent or region grouped together. The work was discontinued after 1612, having been eclipsed in authority by a new atlas based on the work of Gerardus Mercator — the first book to use the name atlas for the genre.

Courtesy: Library of Congress

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GeospatialWorld I June 2012

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