Cadastre Catalyst To Growth - WWW - Geospatialword.net - November 2011

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www.geospatialworld.net
NOVEMBER 2011 VOL 02 ISSUE 04 NOVEMBER 2011 VOL 02 ISSUE 04
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Geospatial World I November 2011
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07 Editorial 08 News 51 Events
INTERVIEWS
Cadastre defines value of
life in the Netherlands
Kees de Zeeuw
Director, Kadaster International
'Sustainability is key to land
administration'
Keith Clifford Bell
Sustainable Development Department Social,
Environment & Rural Development, East Asia
Pacific Region, The World Bank
ARTICLES
Cadastre in Africa
A leap towards modernisation
Vaibhav Arora
Marine Cadastre
Implementing a potential DSS
Dr. Michael Sutherland
CASE STUDY
Flight to efficiency
CONFERENCE REPORTS
UN - GGIM
Geo-information to address global
challenges
Asia Geospatial Forum 2011
Enabling growth with g-tech
Geospatial Technology Caravan
India on a g-track
18
25
49
50
46
42
36
32
45
5
Advisory Board
Abbas Rajabifard
President,
GSDI Association
Jack Dangermond
President, Esri
Shailesh Nayak
Secretary
Ministry of Earth Sciences
Government of India
Mark Reichardt
President and CEO
Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.
Aida Opoku Mensah
Director - ICT Division
UN Economic Commission for Africa
Josef Strobl
Director, Centre for Geoinformatics,
University of Salzburg, Austria
Vanessa Lawrence CB
Director General and CEO,
Ordnance Survey, UK
Matthew M O'Connell
President and CEO
GeoEye
Bryn Fosburgh
Vice President
Trimble
Juergen Dold
President, Hexagon Geosystems
Preetha Pulusani
Chairman and CEO
DeepTarget Inc.
Derek Clarke
Chief Director-Survey and Mapping
& National Geospatial Information
Department of Rural Development &
Land Reform, South Africa
Kamal K Singh
Chairman and CEO
Rolta Group
CADASTRE
A catalyst for
economic growth
Bryn Fosburgh
V Vice P ice President, T resident, Trimble rimble
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1 1 11
he United Nations' initiative on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) has been
kicked off with the First High Level Forum in Seoul. This relatively quiet event has been in many
ways a path breaker. Let me confess - At the outset, I wasn't too sure that the Forum would address
the real issues besetting the geospatial community of the world. I have seen that most such 'initiatives'
ultimately end up on a technology 'high' and sweep under the carpet uncomfortable issues related to
sociological, managerial, administrative and even individual concerns. At some point, these issues come
back to haunt and ultimately undermine the technological framework. If geospatial technology has not
realised its potential in full, it is because of this dichotomy. It is because technologists aspire to become
administrators instead of becoming partners of administrators.
In this context, the Forum's observation that there is a need to keep
"geodetic, technical and institutional frameworks up-to-date as
out-of-date regulations could hinder the effective operation of
NMOs" is very relevant. I may question, why only NMOs? It hampers
geospatial usage across the board. Technology must wait for the
institutional framework to catch up before embarking on new
ventures. This is easier said than done because every technology
has a bright side which is highlighted by the technologists and a
dark side which the administrators are wary of. Unless there is a
common meeting ground, this standoff brings all efforts to naught.
By highlighting the need for all frameworks to be in sync, the Forum
has addressed a key issue.
Another excellent point is the fact that industry can underpin nation-
al activities and add value to them. Apart from aiding in standardis-
ation, industry can and should contribute to data creation and DSS
development. The Forum has been bold enough to also note the
'fragility' of data sharing in GEOSS while noting the success in the
WMO and correctly attributing the success to legislation that
enables data sharing. Data sharing is an issue right down to the national level, not only because of
regulations past their 'use by' date but also a general reluctance to share data. The time has come to
move from managing geospatial data for our applications and turn our attention to managing our
applications geospatially. The UN has done the geospatial community a great service by focussing on
these issues in a comprehensive manner but will the member nations listen and act?
Coming to our current issue, we have covered the world of cadastre from various angles. Cadastre has
huge importance in terms of establishing the economic value of land. Marine cadastre has also become
very important with the need to realise the potential economic value of the sea and the land below it. The
UN-GGIM has highlighted the importance of the geodetic framework. This is the framework that ties
together land and marine cadastre. This is also an area where the best of technology is readily accepted
because the economic value of the information is visible and desirable. This is perhaps an excellent
example of managing our applications geospatially.
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Prof. Arup Dasgupta
Managing Editor
[email protected]
T
UN-GGIM: Will member nations
listen and act?
NEWS
8 Geospatial World I November 2011
NI GERIA
NigeriaSat-2 sends
first high-res imagery
The Nigerian space agency (NASRDA)
confirmed receiving the first set of
high resolution imagery from
NigeriaSat-2. The 2.5-m-resolution
image shows the airport at Salt Lake
City in great detail. Manufactured by
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd
(SSTL), the 300 kg satellite will be
used to map the entire country in
detail every four months.
NigeriaSat-2 will also be used to
complement its fellow disaster moni-
toring constellation satellites during
disasters.
KENYA
'Use GIS for disaster
mitigation'
The Institution of Surveyors of Kenya
(ISK) called on the government to find
a lasting solution to the threat of dis-
asters. This came following the
recent Sinai fire tragedy. Citing exam-
ple of Kenya Pipeline Company Ltd
which embraced GIS for real-time
information about its pipelines,
Collins K'Owuor, Chairman of ISK,
recommended that disaster pre-
paredness and mitigation should
make use of GIS. K'Owuor observed
that working in a proactive manner is
necessary to forestall such misfor-
tunes in Kenya.
SOUTH AFRI CA
SANSA set for another
satellite launch
South Africa is all set to work on its
second satellite next year and could
launch it by as early as 2014 if the
government supports the initiative by
providing adequate funding, accord-
ing to Dr Sandile Malinga, chief
executive of the South African
National Space Agency (SANSA).
The satellite would be built with the
help of Algeria and is estimated to
cost around R400 million (USD 48
million approx). Malinga informed
that the new South African satellite
will be one of four remote sensing
spacecrafts built to make up the
African Resource Management
Satellite Constellation.
RWANDA
RNRA digitises three million plots
In a bid to promote apt management of land records across the country, the
Rwanda Natural Resources Authority (RNRA) digitised over 3.3 million plots
of land, announced Didier Sagashya, Deputy Director General in charge of
Lands and Mapping at RNRA. "The promotion
of GIS will enable the country to get optimal
information concerning infrastructure and
business planning, which will put it in
a position to deal with land man-
agement issues," Sagashya
said. He also announced that
RNRA will carry out training
programmes across the
country to ensure that
people clearly under-
stand the importance of
GIS in national devel-
opment.
Salt Lake City airport
Sumbandilasat
I NDIA
Weather sat puts
nation in elite club
The Indian Space Research Organisa-
tion (ISRO) launched Megha-Tropiques,
a 1,000 kg satellite, designed to study
the water cycle and energy exchanges
in the tropics. The launch, which is
the result of an Indo-French collabo-
ration made India the second nation
in the world (after US) to undertake
such a mission. The satellite will pro-
vide scientific data on contribution of
the water cycle to the tropical atmos-
phere with information on atmos-
phere, precipitation and evaporation.
Three more satellites were simulta-
neously launched by PSLV-C8, which
included the 10.9 kg SRMSAT, remote
sensing satellite Jugnu and the 28.7
kg VesselSat.
Deadline for Delhi
to Act
The Delhi State Government issued
November 15 as the deadline for
implementation of the Delhi Geo-
graphical Spatial Data Infrastructure
Act 2011. Under the Act, all State
departments and civic agencies have
to mandatorily access, use and share
information on all projects and
update Delhi's spatial database. The
database, an interconnected 3D glob-
al information system, captures the
demographics of the capital and
utilities like sewer lines, roads and
urban planning projects through
secured communication networks.
Geospatial Delhi Ltd. along with the
Chief Secretary of Delhi as its Chair-
man will be in charge of maintaining
and updating the database.
Bhuvan's data
available for all
Registered users now can download
satellite data from Bhuvan, a geopor-
tal of Indian Space Research Organi-
sation (ISRO), which is also consid-
ered as Indias answer to Google
Earth. Presently, users can download
elevation data of CartoDEM-1arc sec-
ond and Resourcesat-1: AWiFS data
(56m) of the Indian region. Users will
also be able to access other data in
the near future. Satellite earth obser-
vation data of Indian cities and terrain
can be accessed by visiting www.bhu-
van.nrsc.gov.in.
Threat to nation's
security
Pakistan Army downloaded the GPS
coordinates of all helipads along with
code signs and nicknames from
Indian army's helicopter, Cheetah.
The helicopter strayed across the
Line of Control (LoC) into Skardu
SOI unveils maps at 1:10,000 scale
Vilasrao Deshmukh, Minister
of Science & Technology and
Earth Sciences, Government
of India (GOI), released two
innovative products of Survey
of India (SOI), the first map of
the country at 1:10,000 scale
and the Web Map Service
(WMS). The map of Jadcherla
Mandal, Mahabubnagar Dis-
trict in Andhra Pradesh, has
been prepared under an ambi-
tious plan of mapping the entire country at 1:10,000 scale. "This mam-
moth task of mapping over 3 million square kilometres at 1:10,000 scale is
going to be the biggest surveying and mapping operation in the world,"
informed Deshmukh. Another product, the launch of Web Map Service
(WMS), will make accessible map data of 1:50,000 scale to users.
9
Map release by Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh
region (the sensitive Siachen Glacier-
Aksai Chin-Ladakh-Kargil sector)
due to bad weather. However, the
Indian helicopter along with the crew
was allowed to return by Pakistan.
The Nemu, Leh-based 14 Corps is
responsible for defence of Kargil-
Leh, Siachen Glacier and Line of
Actual Control (LAC) with Tibet.
GIS powers fight
against Naxals
The Central Reserve Police Force
(CRPF) purchased 65 GIS mobile
workstations with an aim to use them
in the fight against Naxals. In addi-
tion, the force also procured 13 high-
end workstations. The GIS data has
been provided by the Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO). "The
workstations have turned out to be
quite useful in ensuring familiarisa-
tion about the terrain," said CRPF
Director General K Vijay Kumar.
According to a CRPF spokesperson,
"These work-stations contain the
complete mapping of the states
of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and
Orissa."
PHI LI PPI NES
NAMRIA proposes
GIS to Senate
The Office of Civil Defence (OCD) and
the National Mapping and Resource
Information Authority (NAMRIA)
urged the Senate to fund PHP 8-bil-
lion (PHP: Philippine Peso) to estab-
lish GIS and a spatial data infrastruc-
ture that can make disaster simula-
tions possible. Mapping agency chief
Peter Tiangco informed that the
maps currently available were based
on cartography surveys done
50 years ago. Civil Defence Under-
secretary Benito Ramos added that
topographic features in the national
cartography have been updated
using GPS but such an update was
inadequate to predict geologic
behaviours that may occur during
natural disasters.
UAE
Dubai Masterplan 2020 gets the nod
The 2020 Masterplan for the
city of Dubai has been
approved by the Executive
Council. It demarcates usage
of land in the emirate, accord-
ing to Director-General of
Dubai Municipality Hussain
Nasser Lootah. The new mas-
terplan will define the land
usage, which prohibits build-
ing of residential hi-rises on
land that has been allocated
for some other use. "This
masterplan has taken all the
aspects - residential, industri-
al, commercial, schools, hos-
pital and even infrastructure -
into consideration. We have
taken it to the Executive Coun-
cil and they approved it," said Lootah.
UPC receives top GeoMaturity rating
The Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council (UPC) has received one of the
highest possible ratings in the "2010 Abu Dhabi Stakeholder GeoMaturity
Assessment" programme for its success in implementing the latest,
state-of-the-art GIS in all of its urban planning processes. The Abu Dhabi
Systems and Information Centre's (ADSIC) GeoMaturity assessment was
conducted among all relevant entities within the Abu Dhabi Emirate with
the aim of determining how the high-tech capabilities of Geospatial Infor-
mation, Technology and Services (GITS) are being leveraged by various
entities to enhance their central business activities.
Dubai Towers
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Geospatial World I November 2011 11
JAPAN
Cloud to help disaster
management
Shizuoka Prefecture region in the
country embraced a cloud-based dis-
aster management system run by
Salesforce.com. The system com-
bines GIS data with XML sent from
Japan's Meteorological Agency. Users
can also send email updates from the
field using their mobile phones, with
GPS coordinates and pictures
attached. "It would have cost a lot
more to run our own servers and
network, and if a disaster happened
managing something like that would
be very difficult, especially if the
prefecture office was damaged,"
said Keisuke Uchiyama, a Shizuoka
official who works with the system.
The system was implemented with a
budget of about 200 million yen (USD
2.6 million).
UAE
Negotiations on for
military satellite
The United Arab Emirates reopened
negotiations with France for a mili-
tary surveillance satellite, underlining
the Persian Gulf State's concerns
about Iran's expansionist policies.
The move, however, could also be
linked to the protracted negotiations
to buy 60 Dassault Aviation Rafale
multi-role fighter jets, a deal which
could be worth up to USD 10 billion.
The satellite project was first mooted
in 2008, shortly after the six-nation
Gulf Cooperation Council, consisting
of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait,
Qatar, Oman and Bahrain, scrapped
its HudHud programme.
CHI NA
RS tech unearths
ancient agro activity
Archeologists from the Institute of
Geology and Geophysics under the
Chinese Academy of Sciences found
evidence indicating that the mysteri-
ous ancient city of Loulan (Kroraina)
once had highly-developed agricul-
tural systems. They used remote
sensing technology during their
study. Qin Xiaoguang, a member of
the research team, said that they also
found canal, measuring 10 to 20
metres wide and 1.6 metres deep in
the Loulan relics. The ancient city
was a pivotal stop along the famous
Silk Road, but mysteriously disap-
peared around the third century AD.
HONG KONG
RICS appoints
Director for ASEAN
The Royal Institution of Chartered
Surveyors (RICS) appointed Bill Jones
as RICS ASEAN Director. He will be
responsible for developing and deliv-
ering the ASEAN Business Plan
together with the Local Members
Boards / Committees. This includes
actively promoting adoption of RICS
standards and qualifications across
ASEAN, the achievement of member-
ship growth and retention targets.
TURKEY
RASAT begins image transmission
RASAT, the first Turkish
remote sensing satellite, sent
its first photos to the Scientif-
ic and Technological Research
Council of Turkey's (TBiTAK)
land station located in Ankara.
The satellite has been built by
TBiTAK with the sponsorship
of the State Planning Organi-
zation (DPT). TBiTAK offi-
cials said that RASAT will be a
cornerstone for Turkish space projects in the future. Universities and
research centres will be able to use RASAT's data to carry out scientific
research. RASAT will publish photos and data with updates on its website
at rasat.uzay.tubitak.gov.tr.
Istanbul Hali
RUSSIA
First RS satellite
launch in 2012
The country's first remote sensing
(RS) satellite, Kondor, may be
launched in January 2012, according
to Deputy Head of the Russian space
agency (Roscosmos) Anatoly Shilov.
"We are developing Kondor and
Arkon satellites. Arkon is a distant
future but Kondor will hopefully fly in
January," said Shilov. The Kondor
weighs 800 kg and is designed to pro-
vide high-resolution radar imagery
and terrain mapping in real time. It
will be launched as part of the Arkti-
ka earth observation satellite group-
ing. Shilov also said that the country
is planning to launch two earth opti-
cal observation satellites in 2012 that
will provide precision monitoring of
natural and man-made disasters.
UK
SSTL builds low cost
SAR satellite
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd.
(SSTL) announced its new, low-cost
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)
satellite, NovaSAR-S. It can image
earth in all conditions, seeing
through cloud cover, both during the
day and night. The 400 kilogram
satellite combines SSTL's SSTL-300
platform with an innovative S-band
SAR payload, developed in collabora-
tion with Astrium Ltd. NovaSAR-S
acquires medium resolution radar
imagery of 6-30 m ground sample
distance, depending on the viewing
mode being employed. Its four view-
ing modes are optimised for numer-
ous applications, including flood
monitoring, agricultural crop assess-
ment, forest monitoring, land cover
classification, disaster management
and maritime applications.
GIS market to grow
at 9.5 pc
TechNavio, a market research firm,
predicted that the GIS market in
Europe would grow at a CAGR of 9.5
percent over the period 2010-2014.
The report observed that the initiative
to create a borderless Europe is one
of the key factors contributing to this
growth. The market has also been
witnessing an increasing utilisation of
the technology for transportation
management. However, GIS vendors
are finding it difficult to adhere to the
legal limitations of each country,
which could pose a challenge to this
growth.
Surveyors emphasise
on sustainability
Findings from the 2010 Global Green
Gauge Survey showed that sustain-
ability remains high on the agenda of
Royal Institution of Chartered Survey-
ors' (RICS) members, despite eco-
nomic recession. About 75 percent of
people surveyed suggested that sus-
tainability is "highly relevant" to their
work and 60 percent suggested it
was more important than a year ago.
65 percent had received instructions
from clients relating to sustainability
advice.
According to the survey, many sur-
veying firms which practise interna-
tionally accept that land and build-
ings should be managed to promote
sustainable development. This is
important as land and property is a
key asset in many global businesses.
OS uses twitter for
live updates
Ordnance Survey (OS) staff across the
country started using Twitter to pro-
vide live updates as they map the
changing landscape of the country.
From surveyors, who map the outer
reaches of Scotland and inner city
London, to a member of OS's Flying
Unit, each will be tweeting about the
work to provide an insight into mod-
ern map making. OS makes around
5,000 changes to the national master
map every day. All OS tweeters' loca-
tion enabled tweets can also be
viewed on a special interactive map
built using the mapping agency's
Web mapping API, OS OpenSpace.
Copyright 2011 Esri. All rights reserved.
Empowering the
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G46816_P_MobileGIS_L0311.indd 1 3/9/11 9:42 AM
SWEDEN
EC strict with land
parcel rules
The European Commission (EC) fined
Sweden EUR 76.6 million for break-
ing the land parcel identification
rules. Out of the total fines amount-
ing to EUR 214 million handed down
by the commission, almost EUR
100 million were in relation to the
Land Parcel Identification System --
Geographical Information System
(LPIS-GIS). LPIS-GIS is better known
to farmers as the controversial 'digi-
tisation' process that has caused sig-
nificant delays in payments over the
past 12 months. Sweden fell foul of
the EC's land parcel identification
rules and was fined for weaknesses
in the LPIS-GIS. The other big offend-
ers included Italy (EUR 70.9m) and
Denmark (EUR 22.3m).
GIS to measure solar
incidence levels
Researchers at Gothenburg
University developed a GIS-based
tool that can determine solar
incidence levels. Together with
consultancy WSP, the scientists have
developed a GIS that can calculate
the suitability of a roof to house
solar panels.
The system is called SEES (Solar
Energy from Existing Structures) and
will be freely available to companies
and municipalities. The sun in the
model illuminates the 3D built envi-
ronment and simulates how sur-
rounding objects throw shadows.
The shadow effect can be calculated
for each month or year.
It is thus possible to calculate
the total solar radiation on each
part of a roof structure within a
given area.
'LBS market to touch
EUR 300 mn'
Global location-based services (LBS)
market is projected to grow from
about EUR 150 million in 2010 to
EUR 300 million in 2016, according to
Berg Insight, a telecom research
firm. Ericsson (now in Sony group)
will remain the leading vendor in
terms of number of contracts for
location platforms, ahead of Nokia
Siemens Networks and TeleCommu-
nication Systems.
The research firm observed that
governments and telecom regulators
in many parts of the world are intro-
ducing stricter emergency call and
lawful intercept mandates that
require network operators to invest in
location platforms.
FRANCE
G-tech to certify
organic crops
Organic agriculture provides
healthy food and protects the
environment by practicing methods
that avoid the use of chemicals. As
part of a new ESA Earth Observation
Market Development project, Keyobs,
VISTA and Belgium's University of
Lige under the guidance of Ecocert,
have developed a method that uses
satellite images to certify organic
crops.
According to Dr Pierre Ott from
Ecocert, the trial results were beyond
what had been envisioned initially.
"Accuracy rates of 80 to 100 percent
are a performance in itself. It seems
very promising as far as the potential
of future developments is
concerned," he said.
THE NETHERLANDS
Govt to release geodata
The Ministry for Economic
Affairs, Agriculture and Innova-
tion, announced the creation of
a national database for satellite
images that will be available to
the public and entrepreneurs.
The ministry has allocated 4
million Euros to create this
database. On the other hand,
the Ministry for Infrastructure
and Environment also
announced that it would con-
tribute to the satellite database.
Minister Schultz van Haegen
will provide full access for free
to the government's 'base registry' of topographic data starting January
1st, 2012. At the moment access to the full database costs 50,000 Euros.
The Netherlands The Netherlands
Geography vital in
medicine
The history of where you have lived
and worked is as vital in healthcare
diagnoses as your genetics and
lifestyle, according to Ann Bossard,
Esri Global Hospital and Health
Specialist. Speaking at the Health-
care Information and Management
System Society AsiaPac11 conference
in Melbourne, Bossard warned of the
risks of ignoring 'place' in medicine.
"Medical practitioners have tradition-
ally relied on patient information
gathered through direct observation
and diagnostic testing, parental
health histories and prior treat-
ments," Bossard said. "However, this
information has limited use unless it
is combined with an understanding of
the environmental hazards a patient
has been exposed to throughout
his/her life."
Flood mapping data
not for insurers
Queensland government released an
interim mapping product and devel-
opment controls toolkit called "Plan-
ning for stronger, more resilient
floodplains". Queensland councils
welcomed this new approach to flood
mapping, but warned insurers not to
use the data to ramp up their premi-
ums. The toolkit and maps have been
developed in consultation with more
than 10 councils. Premier Anna Bligh
said that the new flood mapping
approach was developed on a whole-
of-catchment view, rather than coun-
cil by council.
Perth airport adopts
enterprise GIS
Perth airport partnered with Esri
Australia to introduce an enterprise-
wide GIS. Esri Australia's Business
Manager Tom Gardner said that the
centralised GIS would play a crucial
role in Westralia Airports Corpora-
tion's (WAC) plans to develop the air-
port into a major commercial and
industrial centre. "The airport estate
covers around 2100 hectares, which
includes areas used in the airport's
operation and others set aside for the
future development of infrastructure
and services," Gardner said. "Under-
standing the properties of any areas
slated for development is critical and
GIS technology is an essential com-
ponent of that."
NEW ZEALAND
Educational GIS portal for children
The New Zealand Geospatial Office launched a new website called the
Educational GIS web portal. It aims to educate children studying in the
country's high schools about the tremendous importance of GIS. "Through
the Educational GIS Web Portal we're looking to present teachers with a
Web-based GIS application that makes use of the government's broadband
initiative and brings pre-packaged lessons using GIS to the classroom to
allow students to meet the requirements of the new Spatial Analysis
Achievement Standards," said Kathryn Salm, Geospatial capability leader
at the New Zealand Geospatial Office.
NIWA designs climate
change atlas
The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research
(NIWA) designed the world's first climate change ocean
atlas. It maps out the country's resources within the
Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), highlights climate
change related issues and shows how plants and
animals in the area may respond to the
changes. The atlas is a first look at what will
eventually become an interactive Web-
based tool. Over time, it will inform
policy makers about what is need-
ed to reduce uncertainties on the
future of the marine life in the EEZ.
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APPLI CATI ONS
'Atmosphere losing
heat quickly'
A new NASA satellite research from
years 2000 to 2011 has shown that
earth's atmosphere has allowed "far
more heat to be released into space"
than computer models had earlier
predicted. A study conducted by Dr.
Roy Spencer of the University of
Alabama in Huntsville, indicated that
there will be "far less global warming
in the coming decades than the Unit-
ed Nations computer models have
predicted." This study supports prior
research which suggested that
"increase in atmosphere carbon-
dioxide actually traps far less heat
than alarmists have claimed since
the early 1980s."
Climate hotspots to
be mapped
Researchers are combining demo-
graphic data such as population size,
birth and death rates, with geograph-
ic and spatial data to identify areas
where climate change might hit the
hardest. According to an article in the
Nature Climate Change journal,
developing countries are facing a
"double whammy" of growing popula-
tion and an increase in climate
change impacts. But local-level
information about who the most
vulnerable are and where they live is
either lacking or lying unanalysed.
Mark Montgomery, an economics
professor at the State University of
New York said that having reliable
data on where people are at risk
might help populations adapt and
speed up disaster relief efforts.
BUSI NESS
GeoEye, Google sign
enterprise agreement
GeoEye signed a multi-year enter-
prise agreement with Google. Under
this agreement, GeoEye will be
allowed to access Google Earth
Builder, Google's cloud-based map
publishing platform. The company is
making this investment as part of its
strategy to increase online access to
its high-resolution colour imagery.
Tony Frazier, GeoEye's senior vice
president of marketing said, "This
new offering will augment the
imagery that we currently make
available via Google Earth and Google
Maps with premium access to our
most recent collections and our
broader archive that contains over
500 million square kilometres of
imagery."
'Insurers need
tailored GIS solutions'
The insurance industry has had to
deal with a variety of natural and
man-made disasters this year. In this
context, report titled "Location Intelli-
gence Solutions for Insurance: A
Solution Spectrum," observed that
enterprise-class GIS solutions must
Updated topo map of earth released
NASA, in coopera-
tion with Japan-
ese researchers,
developed an
improved version
of the digital topo-
graphic map of
earth. Known as
the global digital
elevation model,
the map was created from images collected by the Japanese Advanced
Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer, or ASTER,
instrument aboard Terra aircraft. The first version of the map was released
in June 2009. The improved version adds 260,000 additional stereo-pair
images for superior coverage. It features enhanced spatial resolution,
increased accuracy and the ability to identify lakes as small as 0.6 miles
(1 kilometre) in diameter. The map is available online to users at no cost.
be tailored to the specialised needs
of insurance companies. The report
noted that employing GIS may help
insurers better handle upcoming
regulatory changes, such as the
Solvency II requirements in the
European Union. Due to come into
force in 2012, Solvency II will require
insurance companies to model and
hold sufficient liquid assets to cover
the largest losses that could arise in
any area.
DigitalGlobe bags
GEOINT contract
The National Geospatial-Intelligence
Agency (NGA), under its new
Enhanced GEOINT Delivery (EGD)
programme, awarded a one-year
contract, worth USD 37.9 million
to DigitalGlobe. EGD expands the
EnhancedView contract to meet the
government's evolving requirements
for ortho-rectified products in large
quantities.
The new EGD product deliverables
will include three elements: a nearly
cloud-free wide-area mapping layer;
continuous delivery of daily images
via the web within 24 hours of collec-
tion; and quick-turnaround images of
NGA-designated high-priority geo-
graphic locations.
MI SCELLANEOUS
LiDAR tech guides
driverless car
Google, in association with Toyota,
introduced a driverless car that is
guided by LiDAR technology. The car,
worth USD 75,000, provides passen-
gers with a 360 degree and 3D view
of the surroundings. The company
claimed that it performs well on all
congested roads, traffic signals as
well as in all weather conditions. It
has been designed specially for those
with mobility issues.
G-tech testing the
Fourth Amendment!
Geospatial technology is posing a
challenge to the Fourth Amendment
of the US Constitution that protects
against "unreasonable searches and
seizures". The issue of technological
searches inside homes is currently a
hotly debated topic in the US. Courts
have consistently ruled that the use
of a GPS device to track people out-
side their home is not a "search"
under the Fourth Amendment.
However, in 2001, the Supreme
Court said that the use of a thermal
imaging device that detected large
amounts of heat radiating from a
garage constituted a Fourth Amend-
ment search.
GEOI NT
Symposium focuses on integrated
intelligence
The GEOINT 2011 Sym-
posium, held in San
Antonio, Texas, brought
forth the importance of
geospatial technology
for the defence industry.
Letitia A. Long, Director,
National Geospatial-
Intelligence Agency
offered a progress
report on the agency's
past year performance and demonstrated some of the apps being
developed while US Air Force General C. Robert Kehler, Commander of
US Strategic Command, called for a single authority to help intelligence
processing capacity. In a joint keynote, US Congressmen Mike Rogers and
C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger predicted more intelligence budget cuts in
future. LTG Paul E. Menoher was named as the recipient of the 2011 Arthur
C. Lundahl Lifetime Achievement Award.
T
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CADASTRE I Bryn Fosburgh
Secure rights to own and use real property are a cornerstone of wealth in developed
nations. Research has shown that developing nations can obtain positive results by
implementing land information and titling systems
A
round the world, billions of people reside on land
they do not own or have legal rights to occupy. In
some cases, they may have permission of the state
or landowner to use the land, but do not have a long-term
guarantee of the right to use the property. As a result,
these residents have little incentive to invest in property
improvements. In rural areas, a farmer who has no
tenure or assurance of access to land is unlikely to install
irrigation or other systems. In urban areas of developing
countries, the absence of defined property rights is a
common factor in slums and barrios, where residents
invest little or nothing in land improvements.
In many of these situations, it is nearly impossible to
gain secure title to land or real property. The reason for
this lies in the lack of mechanisms that can reliably
describe land and its ownership. For example, the bound-
ary of a parcel may be poorly defined (if it is defined at all)
and known only by general reference to natural features.
Within families or clans, ownership of the land may be
assigned and transferred with little documentation and is
often subject to dispute. In some areas, people may have
so-called usufructuary rights to occupy real property
owned by others. But frequently, these rights carry no
secure or transferable financial benefits and the rights
often disappear once the grantee dies or moves away.
Clearly, if the risk of being pushed off the land is high,
then there is no incentive to invest or improve.
CADASTRE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
In the 2000 book "The Mystery of Capital," Hernando de
Soto presented the theory that a unified legal system of
property rights is the catalyst that releases the capital
value of land. By comparing the experience of western
nations with that of developing countries in South Ameri-
ca, de Soto demonstrates that secure title and valuation
of land and property are fundamental drivers to econom-
ic stability and growth. The success of the west comes in
part from centuries-old systems for gathering, managing
and sharing information about real property.
There is strong empirical support for de Soto's theo-
ry. In its International Property Rights Index 2009 Report,
the Property Rights Alliance provides an analysis based
on the quality of a country's land definition and ownership
systems together with the system of legal protection that
reinforces the ownership. The report's lead author, Anne
Chandima Dedigama, illustrates the positive relationship
between land titling and a country's economic strength or
gross domestic production (GDP). The report reveals that
even small countries that have strong land titling and
information systems tend to have greater wealth than
larger countries where these systems are lacking.
In a separate study, Sebastian Galiani and Ernesto
Shargrodsky researched the effect of property titling and
ownership within the San Francisco Solano barrio near
Buenos Aires, Argentina. Their data showed how poor
households with full property rights differ from nearby
homes that have only usufructuary land rights. The study
found that full property rights resulted in substantially
increased investment and improved living conditions. It
also found that families with property rights were small-
er and relied less on the presence of extended family
members. Education for the children in these families
tended to be higher. The study concluded, "In sum, enti-
tling the poor increases their investment, both in the
house and in the human capital of their children, which
will contribute to reduce poverty of the next generation."
Dedigama agrees: "When a property has value, it
affords the owner an opportunity to participate in the eco-
nomic process through successful entrepreneurial
and/or agricultural activities. Property changes into an
incentive for the owner to engage in work which
enhances and contributes to the economy. With the
recognition of property rights and due process which
affords it marketability, an individual will become a par-
ticipant in the production cycle that creates profit and/or
loss, which in return contributes to the economic growth
and raises the standard of living. This kind of economic
empowerment spreads beyond a nation to link countries
at a common ground, i.e. the international market."
Releasing the value of property provides benefits to
more than just the individual property owners. In sub-
Saharan Africa, municipal and metropolitan authorities
face debilitating challenges, often due to lack of money.
The lax, or even nonexistent tax base can be attributed to
the lack of functional cadastres. When the land is
described and titled, its value is not just released to the
owner. The land can also be assessed and taxed to pro-
Cadastre gathers, manages and
shares information that defines and
reinforces property rights. In turn, the
property rights translate directly into
economic development, social stability
and physical well-being
vide funds for local growth and investment. Thus, the fun-
damental role of the cadastre in economic development is
clear: The cadastre gathers, manages and shares info
that defines and reinforces property rights. In turn, the
property rights translate into economic development,
social stability and physical well-being.
TECHNOLOGY AND THE CADASTRE
A large percentage of land information is based on spatial
data, with maps and diagrams playing the key role.
Although some form of cadastre exists in many develop-
ing regions, the information has evolved and coalesced
from multiple, often haphazard systems. Paper records,
often incomplete and poorly organised, make up a large
percentage of the cadastral database in many regions.
Information cannot be verified, shared or compared
against other systems and thus does not satisfy require-
ments of financial institutions to release the capital value
of the land. Cadastres may be fragmented as well, with
bits of related information held by different agencies in
different locations. This introduces cost and complexity in
gaining rights to property, which hits hardest on the poor.
De Soto describes how it required 728 steps for a poor
person to obtain a title for property near Lima, Peru.
In contrast, a wealthy person has the means to
navigate the regulatory maze, bypass
delays and avoid high fees.
Modern cadastral systems can
replace the old methods in a sustain-
able, cost-effective manner, and dig-
ital information is quickly replacing
paper maps and records. In digital
format, records are more easily
protected against fire or destruc-
tion and can be indexed for
access by search engines and
land information databases.
This can help to detect own-
ership conflicts and track
usage agreements
attached to parcels. A
central or regional data-
base based on a geo-
graphic information
system (GIS) is a
common, highly
effective platform
for managing cadastral information. Within a GIS, a series
of layers can be customised to handle cadastral informa-
tion. These layers provide accurate, secure records of the
description, ownership and usage rights for parcels. A
parcel's chain of title can be traced and managed, which
eliminates a source of risk for financial investors and
makes it easier to release the property's capital value.
The land information system can link cadastral data to
other attributes as well. For example, spatial and numer-
ical information on topography, environmental conditions,
land use and natural resources can be linked to the
graphical depictions of real property.
In many countries, land rights were tied to informal,
paralegal processes that evolved over time and did not
provide secure ownership. Cadastral information must be
accurate and based on local conditions. Consider the les-
sons learned from the 1962 Ghana Land Registry Act. In a
paper at the XXIII FIG Congress in 2006, Rebecca Sittie
said that many challenges in Ghana's deed registration
system arose from weaknesses in land descriptions.
"Most plans attached to the deeds were more descriptive
in nature because lands were not properly surveyed and
demarcated. These inaccurate plans or maps often creat-
ed conflicts among landowners. Because registration was
based on the deed and not on the land it led to multiple
registrations for the same piece of land. There was no
system to detect multiple registrations."
The accurate spatial information needed for a suc-
cessful cadastre comes mainly from field data. In order
Benin map showing GNSS reference stations
20
for property descriptions to be consistent, the information
gathered by surveyors and mappers needs to have a com-
mon geographic reference frame to prevent gaps and
overlaps between parcels. A typical mature cadastre
includes defined practices for relating parcels to the ref-
erence frame. Common approaches include standardised
wording and description of cadastral points and lines,
relationships to adjoining parcels and accuracy and preci-
sion of positions. In developed countries, the reference
frame is provided by a system of defined geodetic coordi-
nates as manifested by physical monuments.
The requirements for physical positioning in a cadas-
tre create unique opportunities in developing countries. In
many regions, existing systems of geodetic control are
incomplete or outdated. The effort to update or re-estab-
lish the framework introduces costs, delays and inaccu-
racy into efforts to create a modern cadastre. To solve
this, a country or region can establish a geographic refer-
ence framework by installing a number of Global Naviga-
tion Satellite System (GNSS) receivers to serve as geodet-
ic reference stations. The location of each continuously
operating reference station (CORS) can be precisely
determined and the resulting network provides a single,
consistent basis for positioning across the country.
Because of the speed, accuracy and cost effectiveness
of GNSS reference stations, they have emerged as the
enabling technology for new or greatly improved cadas-
tral information systems. Surveyors and mappers can use
the information from the GNSS stations to capture posi-
tions on cadastral markers, natural features, local monu-
ments and other objects that define
property boundaries. This approach works well across an
array of property types. Work in urban or other high-value
regions may call for position precision of a few centime-
tres. In agricultural or rural areas, precision at the
decimetre level may be sufficient. And for environmental
and natural resource studies, metre-level positioning is
common. Because all the positions are tied to the GNSS
reference stations, independent field observations can be
traced and verified.
UPDATING INDIA' S CADASTRE
India has a legacy of well-organised land records and
administration that originated during British rule. This
foundation has put the country ahead of other developing
regions with little or no cadastral background and there is
little resistance to the concept of a cadastre in India. But
after India gained independence from Great Britain in
1947, responsibility for land administration transferred
from the national level to the state governments.
In a 2001 report, McKinsey & Company stated that
most land parcels in India are subject to some degree of
dispute. Uncertain ownership creates difficulties to pur-
chase and transfer land. The problems also create
ambiguous and inefficient tax bases. Because municipal-
ities have no clear idea of the ownership and value of real
property, they lack the ability to finance new infrastruc-
ture and to recover the costs of existing facilities. Accord-
ing to McKinsey, cadastral ineffi-
ciency restricts growth of the
country's GDP by an estimat-
ed 1.3 percent each year.
The problem is not lost on
financial and political leaders. In a
2007 review of India's land
policies, the World Bank reported: "As land administra-
tion - through the revenue department - was the core of
the colonial structures and continues to be a key pillar of
local government today, issues relating to land have long
been the subject of an animated policy debate. There is
consensus among policy makers that land administration
- which fell into neglect as officers had to attend to other
duties - is in urgent need of improvement to effectively
fulfil its functions in the 21st century." The World Bank
identified the need for across-the-board improvements
and called for replacement of paper records with comput-
erised systems as well as improved methods for the spa-
tial components.
India is responding. In 2008, the Union Cabinet decid-
ed to implement a system for land registration and titling.
It gave instructions to the Department of Land Resources
to define the model for a titling law that could be applied
throughout the country. Modernising the cadastral system
for a country of more than one billion is not easy. Although
the resistance may be low, difficulty lies in overcoming the
inertia of the old system and securing the financial
resources needed to modernise the cadastre. Fortunately,
existing geospatial technology is well suited to the task.
In a paper at the 2007 International Federation of Sur-
veyors (FIG) Working Week, Nirmalendu Kumar cited the
poor quality of India's existing maps as a key contributor
to the current inefficiencies. Kumar proposed creating
updated orthophotos and maps using aerial and satellite
imaging supplemented by ground surveys. These docu-
ments, in digital form, would become the background for
a GIS at state or national levels. Land records can then be
digitised into the GIS. This work relies on accurate spatial
references tied to a geodetic coordinate system.
Some of the control work is already underway. The
Survey of India has taken steps to update the country's
geodetic reference frame, moving from the historic Ever-
est Ellipsoid to a system based on the WGS84 datum. This
includes defining the parameters for the transformation
and development of a new physical reference framework
of ground control points. The work is a significant step
towards improving the accuracy of the positional and
topological components of the Indian cadastre.
At the local level, the state of Gujarat has conducted
detailed cost analyses that has shown the economic ben-
efits of using modern geospatial technologies including
GNSS, total stations and satellite imagery. Gujarat has
developed specifications and requirements for cadastral
updates to achieve three objectives: Creating updated
cadastral databases via re-surveys and title verification;
creating integrated textual and graphical land records;
and replacing manual records with digital records. This
approach is serving as a model for the cadastral update
efforts in other states.
Maharashtra is also undertaking efforts to update its
cadastre. The Land Records Department is using total
stations and electronic data collectors to conduct field
surveys. The electronic survey data is the basis for digital
mapping and computerised land records. Punjab and
Himachal Pradesh are among other states that are imple-
menting geospatial tools. But the task is enormous; even
the well-organised national and local efforts may not be
enough. To meet the goals of the 2008 decision, the public
agencies can work with private sector organisations to
develop the needed resources and skills.
Because of India's large size and strong geodetic
foundation, the country is in a good position to utilise
GNSS. Important gains can be made with the implemen-
tation of CORS and real-time GNSS networks to provide
fast registration of boundary marks. GNSS networks also
provide the basis for aerial and land-based photography
and LiDAR. In addition to these, GNSS networks will pro-
vide long-term benefits in private, commercial and infra-
structure development in India.
CADASTRAL DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA
Because of the importance of land and tenure security in
reducing poverty and creating sustainable livelihoods,
land tenure issues remain firmly on the development
agenda of most African countries. While a number of
African countries have embarked on land reform
projects to enhance security of tenure, many are ham-
pered by the lack of a functional cadastral system.
To ensure the success of these efforts, countries need
to create modern cadastres that are supported by
nationwide reference systems for positioning. Among the
countries pursuing land reforms, four have begun imple-
India has a legacy of well-organised
land records that originated during
British rule. This foundation has put the
country ahead of other developing
regions with little or no cadastral
background and there is little resistance
to the concept of a cadastre in India
mentation of national reference systems using GNSS.
In Ghana, the Land Administration Project Phase 1
modernised the geodetic reference system by installing
five CORS stations and additional densification of the net-
work is planned to make positioning accessible. In Nige-
ria, the late President, His Excellency Umaru Yaradua
launched a five-point agenda that included land reform to
facilitate productive use of land for economic develop-
ment. As part of the efforts, the Office of the Surveyor
General of the Federation installed seven CORS stations
to modernise the geodetic infrastructure. Burkina Faso is
also currently pursuing modernisation of its geodetic
infrastructure to support a rural land governance project
to provide titles for lands owned by the rural poor. Using
funding from the Millennium Challenge Corporation
(MCC), the country is installing nine CORS stations.
In Benin, MCC set aside USD 307 million in 2007 to
facilitate economic growth, including the creation of for-
mally documented land titles in the country's urban and
rural areas. The MCC funding also supported improve-
ments in land registration and documentation systems.
When the MCC work is complete, roughly 30,000 urban
occupancy permits will convert to titled land and more
than 80 thousand rural households will receive titles.
The GNSS infrastructure in Benin has enabled the
country to skip over earlier positioning technologies
based on conventional markers and techniques. A GIS-
based land information system can make a similar jump.
For example, developed countries such as Germany went
through several generations of record-keeping technolo-
gies including paper, microfilm, CAD and GIS before arriv-
ing at dedicated systems such as the ALKIS. Developing
countries can create new records directly in the GIS-
based cadastres and bypass the intermediate steps.
Beyond the cadastral uses, the Benin GNSS network
will provide benefits over long term with uses in agricul-
ture, construction and resource management. GNSS ref-
erence stations can play a broader role across sub-Saha-
ran Africa, with more countries implementing positioning
frameworks tied to the African Geodetic Reference
Frame. Information combining ground data with remote
sensing can be used in resource management.
People within the positioning and land information
disciplines understand the value of GNSS as a basis for
cadastral development. Broader communities are
understanding its importance as the enabler for property
rights. In 2010, Ghana Supreme Court Justice S. Gbadegbe
described the need for modern positioning systems in
developing nations: "The preparation of maps of cities and
towns is a necessary requirement and a catalyst to deci-
sion making and it is obvious that the potential of GNSS
can be exploited for national development and poverty
alleviation, especially with the improved services of GPS."
The results of research and cadastral work in Africa,
Asia and South America are encouraging. Developing
nations can bypass the years of paper-based documenta-
tion and move directly to modern, low-cost cadastral sys-
tems, underpinned by modern spatial reference systems
provided by GNSS and CORS. The return on the invest-
ment will be rapid and will carry large, long-lasting social
and economic benefits.
Bryn A Fosburgh, Vice President, Trimble
Briefly describe the mandate and activities of Kadaster.
Kadaster is mainly responsible for the cadastral mapping
and cadastral system of the Netherlands. However, during
the last 10-15 years, our organisation has broadened its
scope drastically to include the topographic service of the
country in its mandate. We are nowadays responsible for
many more registrations in the country, so the Dutch
Kadaster is becoming more and more a kind of centre for
geoinformation in the Netherlands.
How do you provide data to government organisations,
private organisations or to the general publiuc? Is there
some kind of licensing required to use this data?
We have all kinds of systems where people can find infor-
mation, such as when they are buying or selling a house,
they can have the required information from the Kadaster.
Our data is all public and is easily accessible to the citi-
zens, professionals and government organisations.
Everybody can enter the cadastral data or have access
to the data of Kadaster. An excellent development that has
taken place over the years is that while ten years ago peo-
ple had to come to a regional office to collect the data,
now the same information can be accessed using the
internet from your home, on the mobile phone or the PDA.
It is worth mentioning here that while our data is
public, there is a nominal cost involved if someone wants
to use that data.
Is the criterion of providing data the same for the public
and the user organisations?
It is a bit different with user organisations because our
main focus in that case is to become a part of their busi-
ness processes. The Dutch Government is now trying to
connect all the different agencies under a system called
the 'national system of key registries'. For example, con-
necting the municipality system, which is responsible for
registering the persons, with our system of registering the
properties. As a policy in the Netherlands, every data of
the citizens can be collected only once, which means that
if you have given your data to the Municipality or Kadaster,
no other government organisation should come and ask
the same information again because once you have given
it to the government, it should be registered centrally and
used by all organisations. It is an ambitious project but we
are getting really far in connecting all these databases.
At what scales is the data available?
The Netherlands is one of the most data intensive coun-
tries in the world. We are a small country and have data
available at a very precise scale. At Kadaster, we have the
cadastral map which is available in the range of 1:500 to
1:1000. Our topographical mapping is from a
scale of 1:10,000 to 1:1 million. All of the
Netherlands, including the rural
areas, is available at a scale of
1:10,000. Besides, there is
also a large scale map of
1:500, which, at the
moment, is the responsi-
bility of the municipalities.
What is also interesting
about the Netherlands is
that our rate of updating the
data is getting smaller and
smaller. While we used to
update our topographic maps
every four years in the past, it
has now come down to two
years and will be probably even
less in the future.
At the most fundamental level,
cadastres drive the
economic growth
of a country.
How are
cadastres
contribut-
INTERVIEW I Kees de Zeeuw
Cadastre defines value
of life in the Netherlands
Kees de Zeeuw
Director
Kadaster International
25
ing to the growth of a country like the Netherlands?
There are two forms of cadastral systems around the
world, which include the ones run by governments and the
informal systems run by different groups in society. The
Netherlands system is created around the formal system
with almost no informal system in existence. Kadaster is a
very important part of this national organised setup. A
Dutch person would not believe if I send him a letter
saying that there is a mistake in the official records and
the property he lives on does not actually belong to him.
People would not believe that the government could be so
unreliable. However, in many other countries, it is never
clear what your actual property is. In the Netherlands, the
value of life is defined by the cadastral system.
What is Kadaster's contribution to the Dutch SDI?
Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) comprises of five ele-
ments which include data, standards, people, institutions
and technology. Geonovum is a Dutch governmental
organisation that is specifically responsible for the nation-
al geoinformation standards. Geonovum is an important
party with respect to the standards, while Kadaster is an
important player in both technology and data. We are a
national data provider with a lot of data available and thus
become an important part of our NSDI.
Let us now talk about Kadaster Internationals mandate.
Kadaster International is a consultancy service that we
provide the world over. Our focus is on government to gov-
ernment advisory. We started by showing other people the
working of our system and the tremendous benefits that it
can offer. However, over the years we have learnt that it is
not just about projecting our system to other countries but
also to advice people on how to setup their own systems.
Of course, it can be either formal or informal, depending
on the situation in a country. In that sense, we have devel-
oped ourselves a lot and
have become
consultants in
taking
account for
other
require-
ments and
systems.
We are at
present
involved in setting up the Social Tenure Domain Model,
which is designed to help other countries to not only put
together the formal rights of land and ownership but also
the informal rights. We can also help in using this system
in countries that have a majority of slums by helping them
in setting up the value of land, ownership of land and the
use of land. So, we are more in land use and land admin-
istration now rather than in cadastral mapping.
Does Kadaster International provides these consultancy
services at a price or free of cost?
Kadaster International is allowed to do these activities but
not with profit motive, rather it should be based on a cost
recovery model. While we do ask for a tariff or price for
these services, in practice it means that most of the time
we have to look for a financing organisation like the World
Bank or the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We use the
funds of these financing organisations to fill in the
demands of different countries around the world.
Land administratioin is something that varies a lot
between regions and also has a lot of legacy systems?
How do you adapt to local conditions in such a situation?
While in the Netherlands, we use tablet PCs, GPS and oth-
er such modern devices to map to centimetre accuracy, it
is extremely difficult to do so in a country like Rwanda. In
Rwanda, we went into the field and saw that the rural peo-
ple can identify their own fields very well in an orthophoto
of their area. They could indicate their area with a pen. So
we suggested the use of digital pen, which turned out to
be a very quick way to collect data. It is a beautiful exam-
ple of a system that is very well adapted to the local level
of knowledge and technology.
Creating awareness is the first step towards realising the
potential of land. What is Kadaster International's initia-
tive in creating awareness in developing countries?
Kadaster, together with ITC - Twente, has setup the United
Nations School for Land Administration, which is involved
in organising courses in the region. We have a course here
in the Netherlands where people can come over and be at
ITC for several weeks or months. As far as awareness and
knowledge sharing is concerned, this school is a very
important form of doing it for us. We use it in our promo-
tion and also to get people connected to land administra-
tion. Besides, we do a lot of projects and courses abroad
and participate in conferences to spread awareness.
26
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L
and is an essential resource upon which the very
existence of our society depends. Therefore, it
becomes imperative to optimise this valuable
asset for better economic development and social sta-
bility, especially considering the fact that unlike most
other resources, land cannot grow in size. All these
aspects make it necessary for governments across the
globe to develop effective land administration systems.
In African countries, especially, the tremendous impor-
tance of land is not only reflected in its economic value but
also its spiritual significance. Land is the key for overall
growth and development of the African economy with
most countries relying heavily on agriculture for a signifi-
cant share of their gross domestic product.
Signifying the importance of land for African people,
Aida Opoku-Mensah, Director-ICT & S&T Division (ISTD),
UN Economic Commission for Africa says, "Land is very
critical for the African people. It was the basis of our
struggle for independence and continues to be the key for
our future transformation and development. Today, land
reform is very high on the political agenda in Africa. The
transformation and reform of the land sector will have
immense economic opportunities for us."
According to experts, Africa's reliance on land will
continue in the near future and thus the need for
improved land policies becomes even more significant.
CADASTRAL SYSTEM IN AFRICA
The existing cadastral systems in a majority of African
nations had been introduced by colonial powers, which
were primarily looking to satisfy their own interests with-
out paying much attention to the customary land tenure
laws. Although there have been several attempts to
transform the prevalent cadastral systems into traditional
practices, most of these have been unsuccessful because
of various issues such as lack of skilled manpower,
insufficient funds, scarcity of technical know-how and
lack of political will.
In the past few years, land tenure systems have gen-
erated a renewed interest amongst experts, owing to the
advancements taking place in the field and new technolo-
gies that have revolutionised cadastral systems. The
table on the next page gives an overview of the prevailing
land tenure systems in some of the African nations:
CADASTRE IN AFRICA I Vaibhav Arora
32
A LEAP TOWARDS
MODERNISATION
33 GeospatialWorld I November 2011
Uganda
Uganda has four types of land tenure systems,
including customary, mailo, freehold and leasehold.
Customary is the most dominant system where
land is owned and disposed of according to cus-
tomary regulations with rules varying according to
ethnic groups and regions. Mailo was introduced
as a result of the Buganda Agreement and entitle
the registered proprietor to prompt all transac-
tions. Ownership in freehold is also in perpetuity
with the only difference being that the issuing
authority prompts all transactions. Transactions in
this system are managed by the central govern-
ment. Land in leasehold is held on the basis of an
agreement between the lessor and the lessee.
Ethiopia
The country depends heavily on agriculture
as a driver of economic growth and thus
needs to strengthen the land administration
system. The present system is based on the
federal government constitution, which exclusively
bestows the right to ownership of rural and urban
land upon the state and people of Ethiopia. The
constitution gives land use rights to individuals
and also the freedom to transfer the rights upon
application. Land use rights in the country can be
inherited, donated, leased and rented, but not
mortgaged. Further, peasants and pastoralists
have been given the right to obtain land without
payment.
Kenya
Land in the country is administered by the Ministry
of Lands under four key departments, which
include lands (responsible for land administration
and management), physical planning (planning
and development control), survey and adjudication
(survey and mapping) and settlement (determining
existing land rights). Most local authorities are also
involved in the process of land administration in
their respective zones. Cadastral process is usually
carried out for new grants on government land,
land allocation in settlement schemes and subdivi-
sions on privately owned parcels.
Zambia
While Zambia currently has no land policy, a draft
document has been submitted to the government
that, if approved, will assist in land administration.
At present, land administration functions are car-
ried out by different sectors of government such
as Ministry of Local Government and Housing,
Ministry of Lands, Zambia Revenue Authority and
other agencies. All land is vested in the President,
who holds it in perpetuity on behalf of the citizens.
Malawi
Cadastral system in the country was introduced
by British colonists mainly to avoid conflict
between the settlers and local people. While
Malawi largely has fixed boundary cadastral
system, the general boundary system is also
prevalent in regions where the adjudication of title
has been affected. At present, Malawi has three
categories of controlling land, which include public,
private and customary land. Public land comprises
of all land occupied by the government whereas
private land is owned under a leasehold title.
Customary land, which is by far the most
common form of tenure in the country, refers to
all land under customary law. The customary
system follows the traditional concept of
considering land in a village as belonging to
the community.
Mauritius
The Ministry of Lands in Mauritius has the
role of keeping a record of all state lands whether
committed or otherwise and thus help the decision
makers. Land being a scarce resource in the
country, improved land recording and management
becomes a critical issue. The current system of
land tenure in Mauritius has been pretty success-
ful in recording ownership rights and providing a
description of land boundaries. However, it is
unable to keep up with the pace of development,
especially when it comes to recording the changes
in ownership and boundaries. In order to overcome
these difficulties, government has recently come
up with the Land Administration, Valuation and
Information Management System (LAVIMS).
The project to implement the system
is expected to go live by the end of the year.
South Africa
Land tenure system in the country works under
four different systems, namely grant rights, lease-
hold rights, real rights and freehold ownership.
Until a decade and a half ago, black people in
South Africa were not allowed ownership rights.
The current land reform process aims to reverse
the inequality of the past by introducing the redis-
tribution, restitution and tenure reforms. Restitu-
tion aims to return land that was lost because of
discriminatory policies while redistribution allows
the poor to purchase land through land acquisition
grant. Tenure reform is the process of bringing all
land holders under a unified landholding system.
More recently, the government has implemented a
new law that seeks to limit land ownership by the
country's citizens. Under the system, the govern-
ment hopes to transfer a third of all farmland to
the country's blacks by 2014.
Nigeria
The country's cadastral system is still mostly
analogue with files being stored and retrieved by
manual tracing for cadastre related activities.
However, a few states including Lagos, Kano and
the Federal Capital Territory have computerised
their records. Most of the regions in the country
are poorly mapped and have outdated base maps.
A number of regions were mapped based on local
origins owing to the absence of control points and
thus are not easy to be merged flawlessly.
Botswana
Land in Botswana is divided into three
categories, which include tribal land, state land
and freehold land. Tribal land in the country hosts
most of the population. Some of the common land
administration systems prevalent in the country
include BLIS (Botswana Land Integrated System),
which has been developed primarily to help the
lands department improve land allocation
management. SLIMS (State Land Information
Management System) was introduced to help in
the allocation of plots and assist in the manage-
ment of state land.
TLIMS (Tribal Land Information Management
System) aims to enable the Land Boards to
process applications and be able to manage
tribal land electronically. The system was also
intended to facilitate data sharing between
various land boards and other government
departments. CIS (Cadastral Information System)
was developed to secure and make the internal
cadastral workflow inside the Department of
Surveys and Mapping more efficient by using
modern technology with suitable applications.
LAPCAS (Land Administration, Procedures and
Capacity Building System) is a joint venture
between Botswana government and the Swedish
International Development Agency. The purpose of
the project is to improve land administration and to
build capacity in the management of this scarce
resource.
Existing Cadastral Sytems
in Africa
MODERNISATION EFFORTS
Cadastral systems in most of the African countries have
been inherited from the colonial regime and require dras-
tic changes to suit current requirements. While the
process of land reform has been going on in Africa since
the past few years, a lot of shakeups are still required to
ensure flawless systems. Some of the modernisation
efforts in the field of cadastres in Africa include:
South Africa has implemented the Integrated Spatial
Information System (ISIS), which aims to create a web-
based system for seamless dissemination of information.
The primary objectives of ISIS is to assimilate the existing
property systems into a unified cadastre that consists of
both spatial and non-spatial data. The system also seeks
to equip the service providers with the latest land data in
order to improve service. In addition, the country is also
using remote sensing technology for land reform process.
The Government of Uganda has recently employed the
STDM (Social Tenure Domain Model) project that focuses
on developing tools capable of registering a wide range of
land rights including public, private and customary rights.
The project is an important step towards poverty allevia-
tion by providing land rights for people living in informal
settlements. The country has also undertaken the Sys-
tematic Surveys project in which all land parcels within a
particular area are surveyed and subsequently registered.
The system reduces costs and stems off bureaucracy.
Various regions in Ethiopia have prepared their own
land laws and have also set up institutions to promote
effective land administration. The Ethiopian Mapping
Agency has the role of modernisation of cadastres
through various means such as establishment of ground
control points to help in the survey process, preparing
base maps and contributing to the process of capacity
building. The Sustainable Land Management project
intends to address the issue of land degradation in the
country and improve the yield of smallholder farmers.
In Kenya, the process of computerisation of land
records has already started with emphasis on training the
staff, acquiring new-age survey devices and purchasing
computer hardware and software. A local area network,
which will be connected to the office of commissioner of
lands, has been established. Other initiatives include the
creation of a national parcel numbering system. The
Kenya Agricultural Productivity and Sustainable Land
Management project aims to encourage the farmers to
adopt environment friendly practices. The country is also
working on implementing the national spatial data infra-
structure that will create a repository of information and
thus help various agencies in making informed decisions.
In 2002, Malawi implemented the National Land Poli-
cy, which aimed at ensuring security of tenure and pro-
moting overall development through optimum use of
land. The policy intended to register all land managed by
traditional authorities, decentralise title registration to
avoid delays and promote gender neutral land access.
With the help of modern techniques like GPS, Electronic
Distance Measurement and Total Stations, it has become
possible to collect data in the field and download it into
the computer, which facilitates planning.
Traditional cadastral system in Rwanda entailed
marking of the boundaries using objects like trees,
stones etc. Rwanda plans to implement the International
Terrestrial Reference Frame in the near future and is
currently establishing an extensive network of permanent
reference stations. Modernisation efforts in the country
include the implementation of terrestrial based tech-
niques such as GPS, theodolite and total stations and
Manual cadastre information storage in Zambia (Source: Zambia Survey Department)
Lack of Political Will
Challenges
Facing
Modernisation
of Cadastres in
Africa
Limited Coverage
Unorganised Sytems
Challenges facing modernisation of cadastres in Africa
Exodus of Skilled Staff
Lack of Infrastructure
Capacity Building
GeospatialWorld I November 2011 35
spatial techniques such as aerial photography and satel-
lite imagery for creating a cadastral database. In 2002,
the city of Kigali implemented a cadastral database for
the purpose of tax collection. Efforts are on to develop a
multipurpose national database that would help in land
use monitoring, tax collection, mortgage, registration etc.
Tanzania is working on a project called the Sustain-
able Management of Land Environment, which intends to
help in land management and the production of cadastral
maps. The process of digitising analogue data is currently
underway. The country has signed a Memorandum of
Understanding with the Government of Finland under
which the Finnish government will keep it updated with
latest technology to promote effective land management.
CHALLENGES AND WAY AHEAD
Land tenure systems in Africa are faced with umpteen
challenges that need to be resolved in order to ensure
better and efficient land use. Some of the primary chal-
lenges that require urgent attention include:
Capacity Building: Capacity building includes both human
resource development and the procurement of equipment
that can support modernisation. Capacity building can
address various issues by filling gaps in terms of office
and logistics of land-related institutions. Besides, it can
also help in the establishment of uniform cadastral sys-
tems in urban as well as rural areas. Highlighting the
importance of using new technologies, Hussein Farah,
Director General, Regional Centre for Mapping of
Resources for Development says, "We need to modernise
the way we do mapping, surveying and introduce the use
of devices like GPS to collect data and the use of satellite
imagery." The severe lack of skilled manpower is ham-
pering the growth of several countries. "There are very
few people who are trained professionals in land man-
agement. We have to pick up people from the elementary
level and train them." says Mohammed J. Omar, Acting
Director, Department of Surveys and Mapping, Zanzibar.
Digitisation of Records: Land records should be digitised
and have to be easily accessible through the internet for
decision makers. New ways of standardising land tenure
systems will also have to be evolved. There is need for
computers that can store every type of information found
on paper and can also help in searching and analysing
land parcels and their attributes. "Digitising the cadastral
database will improve the administration of land and
make information easier to access. Land transactions will
become less expensive and quicker." says Hussein Farah.
Enhanced Coverage: A prominent feature of the current
state of cadastres in Africa is that very small areas in
most countries have the required ownership information.
A lot of work needs to be done to address this issue.
"Coverage is an issue that needs to be addressed. Only
small parts of the countries have cadastral maps and
ownership registration," says Hussein Farah.
Better Organised Systems: Unstructured cadastral sys-
tems give rise to numerous problems. Besides, there is
inadequate availability of maps at appropriate scales and
over-reliance on old topographic maps. Underlining the
ill-effects of having numerous systems in his country,
M.N. Kajumbula, Commissioner Surveys & Mapping-
Uganda says, "Having four land tenure systems is cum-
bersome as each of these is a difficult system, so there is
need for research on these systems to come up with a
new system which can address all issues."
Other issues include large amount of analogue data,
inadequate sharing of geo-information, lack of infrastruc-
ture and exodus of skilled staff to the private sector.
Although governments in Africa realise the impor-
tance of land reforms and have implemented a number of
legislations to develop land tenure systems, not all of
these have produced the desired results. Innovative
approaches are underway but the need of the hour is to
change the mindset of the people to implement drastic
changes that can effectively work to modernise the
redundant, decade old systems currently in existence.
Vaibhav Arora, Assistant Editor, Geospatial World, [email protected]
The use of satellite imagery for cadastre
G
overnance is the management of stakeholder
relationships as they impact their current and
possible future social, economic, political and
physical environments through the dictates of value
systems. Value systems are frameworks that provide a
shared consciousness of the distribution of rights,
responsibilities and restrictions that impact stakehold-
ers' relationships with one another. The acceptable use
of any space, in any jurisdiction, is determined by value
systems (translated into laws, policies, customs etc.).
From this perspective, governance is the control of
human behaviours and implicated in the control of
behaviours, and often expressed explicitly, are bound-
aries. Boundaries (including limits and extents)
encompass spaces of inclusionary and exclusionary
rights that dictate socioeconomically acceptable
behaviours in the use of those spaces. The manage-
ment of boundaries and the administration of rights,
MARI NE CADASTRE MARI NE CADASTRE I I Dr Dr. Michael Sutherland . Michael Sutherland
36
Implementing
a potential DSS
BOUNDARY MANAGEMENT IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE OF DEFINED
SPACES IN ANY SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONSTRUCT. HOWEVER, SINCE BOUNDARIES DO NOT END WHERE LAND ENDS,
MARINE CADASTRES BECOME IMPORTANT AS POTENTIAL DECISION SUPPORT TOOLS. HERE'S A LOOK AT SOME
ISSUES RELATED TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF MARINE CADASTRE
responsibilities and restrictions
associated with those boundaries
(and the spatial extents that are
included or excluded thereby) are
therefore important parts of the
management (or governance) of
defined spaces in any socioeco-
nomic construct. Therefore, marine
cadastres become important as
potential decision support tools.
Implementing marine cadastres,
however, requires the navigation of
hurdles relating to technical, stake-
holder and legal issues.
TECHNICAL ISSUES
Spatial Framework and Data: When
developing a marine cadastre or
marine information system, consid-
eration ought to be given to:
A reference framework consisting of
a geodetic network;
A series of large scale base maps
including the procedures and stan-
dards for the production of base maps;
A series of registers that record inter-
ests in land parcels;
A cadastral overlay that allows unique
identification of delineated cadastral
parcels.
If the intention of the cadastre's
design is to address more than juridi-
cal boundaries and rights, then a
multipurpose design approach is
required. Figure 1 demonstrates this
approach.
Depending upon the jurisdiction,
coastal and marine rights may be
managed and administered together.
In those cases it will be important,
from a spatial framework point of
view, to manage rights that straddle
the land-water interface. Differences
in vertical datums applied discretely
to land and marine spatial data pro-
duce some difficulties in the integra-
tion of land and marine datasets.
Spatial data accuracy and preci-
sion: Depending upon the intended
uses of the datasets in a marine
cadastre (or other marine informa-
tion sysytem), degrees of data accu-
racy and precision will be desirable.
In some instances of decision mak-
ing, topology may be more important
than precision of boundary place-
ment but possession of precise and
accurate datasets will always be
appreciated. Datasets representing
coastlines are especially desired to
be accurately and, to certain degrees,
precisely represented because many
important public and private rights,
landwards and seawards, are
impacted by coastal boundaries. In
many (not all) instances, accurate or
precise representations of bound-
aries are part of the solutions to
socioeconomic problems, while the
converse is often the cause of socioe-
conomic disputes.
The need for base data: Marine
resource interests and rights to
marine spaces are related to the
physical space or location of the
resources themselves. There is
therefore a need to develop common
bases of marine resource data. Tech-
nologies such as multibeam and
sidescan sonar, used for ocean and
coastal mapping, help to map private
rights and interests (such as shell-
and finfish aquaculture) and assist in
understanding the impacts of these
activities upon the physical environ-
ment. They also assist in the deter-
mination of the limits of national and
international rights such those
defined under the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea
(UNCLOS).
37 GeospatialWorld I November 2011
Figure 1: Peter Dale and John McLaughlin's Multipurpose Cadastre Concept
If the intention of the
cadastre's design is to
address more than
juridical boundaries and
rights, then a multipur-
pose design approach
is required. Depending
upon the jurisdiction,
coastal and marine rights
may be managed and
administered together
Integration of data from diverse
sources: In many jurisdictions, infor-
mation relating to interests, rights
and responsibilities in marine spaces
is scattered among a number of pri-
vate and/or public agencies. Integrat-
ing data from a variety of sources, as
may impact upon a marine cadastre,
is often necessary to support more
efficient and holistic decision making.
The scattered information is often in
a variety of forms and formats, and
collected at varieties of scales for as
many varieties of purposes. The vari-
ous datasets will have varying
degrees of precision and accuracies
that affect composite datasets.
Depending upon the intended uses of
the datasets, the mentioned factors
may or may not be important.
Regardless, when integrating spatial
datasets, these and other factors will
have to be considered.
In recognition of the need to inte-
grate data from a variety of sources to
support holistic decision making,
some jurisdictions are either imple-
menting, or considering the imle-
mentation of spatial data infrastruc-
tures (SDI). The concept of a marine
cadastre is enhanced by SDI because
in most jurisdictions there are many
stakeholders with interests in marine
and coastal spaces. Implicit in these
endeavours are data and metadata
standards to improve the ease of data
integration from technical, legal and
institutional perspectives.
Visualisation of 4-dimensional
rights and interests: Legal rights and
interests in marine spaces, as with
traditional mapping of land-based
rights and interests, are normally
visualised in two dimensions. Tradi-
tional paper-based mapping evolved
into digital versions of 2-dimensional
representations on computer screens
and represents a
continuation of
that type of mod-
eling. However,
all types of
tenure, by law
and nature, com-
prise of the
dimension of
time, attached to
space that is 3-
dimensional at
any moment of
the recognition of
tenure. Rights
and interests
overlap on land
and this overlap-
ping of tenure is even more obvious in
marine spaces where rights and
interests may be explicitly attached to
the surface of any body of water, the
water column, the bed, or to the sub-
soil beneath the bed supporting a
column of water. Visualisations in two
dimension are limiting, as demon-
strated in Figure 2. In such a
scenario,it becomes difficult to
observe supporting analyses to
determine which portion of marine
space the particular overlapping
boundaries relate to. 3-dimensional
visualisations of 4-dimensional rights
and interests would be an improve-
ment upon current 2-dimensional
modelling of the phenomena. A
change of mindsets from 2D visuali-
sations of spatial data is imperative in
collecting marine cadastre data in
3D-4D, and obviously developing 4D
models of data, including 4D data-
bases (Figure 3).
STAKEHOLDER ISSUES
Stakeholder identification and
engagement: Stakeholders with
interests in marine and coastal
spaces have to be identified to effec-
tively administer and manage those
spaces. These stakeholders include
private entities such as residential,
recreational and commercial entities,
and public agencies that do not
always collaborate, cooperate or
integrate as they pursue mandated
objectives. Not only do stakeholders
have to be identified, but they also
have to be effectively engaged. How-
ever, neglecting to manage informal
rights and interests can lead to
socioeconomic disruptions. Having
identified stakeholders, their input
into identifying the spatial extents to
which all formal and informal rights
refer must also be dealt with.
Figure 2: Visualisation of marine and coastal rights, St. Margarets Bay
marine cadastre concept
The concept of a marine
cadastre is enhanced by
SDI because in most
jurisdictions there are
many stakeholders with
interests in marine and
coastal spaces
LEGAL ISSUES
Legal complexities of marine inter-
ests: There are a number of gover-
nance functions that impact rights in
marine and coastal spaces. These
include:
Allocation of resource ownership,
control, stewardship and use within
society;
Regulation of resources and resource
use;
Monitoring and enforcement of vari-
ous interests;
Adjudication of disputes, including
inclusive processes;
Management of spatial and other
types of information to support all of
the above functions.
The legal rights and interests
implicated in the above lists are parts
of often overlapping international,
regional, national and local frame-
works. Some examples of interna-
tional and regional frameworks are
UNCLOS and Northwest Atlantic
Fisheries Organization (NAFO) man-
dates. National and local frameworks
are encapsulated in terminologies
such as property rights, sovereignty,
legislative jurisdiction, administrative
authority, title and ownership and use
rights. To perform the governance
functions listed above, stakeholders
have to be aware of a plethora of legal
rights and interests, and incorporate
applicable data into marine informa-
tion mangement systems, such as
marine cadastres, in order to make
appropriate and effective decisions
with regard to the use of marine and
coastal spaces.
Specific legal nature of marine
interests: The legal complexities
occuring in coastal and marine
spaces are linked to a numer of
issues. Some of them include:
The fact that the following issues
emanate from the expansion of legal
frameworks to cover coastal marine
spaces:
- The seaward expansion of national
territories under UNCLOS;
- The need to clarify intergovern-
mental title, jurisdiction and
administration within the expanded
territories;
- The rapid development of relatively
new marine resource uses or
increasing intensity of existing uses,
including for example, petroleum and
mineral exploitation and transporta-
tion, coastal development, recreation
and tourism, aquaculture and sea
ranching, renewable energy produc-
tion;
- The emergence of new issues such
as conservation and environmental
risk reduction from threats such as
sea level rise;
- The increasing recognition of the
rights of indigenous and other
groups with recognized rights to
coastal and marine resources.
The fact that rights and interests in
marine spaces may relate to various
discrete portions of the surface waters,
water column, seabed, or sub-seafloor;
The fact that public, private and cus-
tomary rights overlap in marine spaces,
in space as well as in time, resulting in
increases in the number of stakehold-
ers that must be considered and in the
existence of numerous overlapping
jurisdictional, administrative, owner-
ship and use-rights boundaries to be
managed.
The fact that coastal and marine
boundaries are ambulatory (in many
jurisdictions), generally not well delim-
ited, and often refer to physical features
that often are difficult to clearly define
or locate (e.g., high water, the shore-
line, the "normal baseline").
SUMMARY
Jurisdictions worldwide manage
rights and interests under different
legal and institutional frameworks.
Regardless, if they are adjacent to
marine spaces they are faced with
managing and administering rights
and interests in those spaces. Key to
effective and efficient management
and administration of the rights is
access to quality legal and spatial
information that might best be man-
aged in a marine information man-
agement system such as a marine
cadastre. However, in developing
such systems, care must be taken not
only to deal with implied and obvious
technical issues; but also stakehold-
er and legal issues. Information sys-
tems do not occur in legal and insti-
tutional vacuums.
Dr. Michael Sutherland
Chair, Commission 4 (Hydrography), FIG
Department of Geomatics Engineering
and Land Management
University of the West Indies,
St. Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago
[email protected]
Figure 3: 4D Database Design by Sam Ng'ang'a, Michael Sutherland, Sara Cockburn and Sue Nichols
The World Bank has been supporting the imple-
mentation of land administration and management
projects throughout the world. How critical is the
need for land administration reform?
Of all the development sectors supported by the World
Bank, land is amongst the most challenging, political,
controversial and complex. Land issues are deeply rooted
in countries' histories and cultures. At its most extreme,
land issues have been identified as cause of civil and
international wars and even genocide. Furthermore, land
issues are often highly politically sensitive, implying that
attempts to address them need to be solidly grounded in
empirical research, often building on carefully evaluated
pilots. The risk matrix for all land-related interventions is
indeed high and such risks run far more deeply than repu-
tational risks to donor institutions, as the lives and the
livelihoods of individuals is very much affected. The con-
tinuing legacy of major natural disasters has emphasised
the critical importance of land and property rights in
reconstruction and rehabilitation. In my view, land can be
directly or indirectly linked to the achievement of each of
the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDG).
The World Bank has been directly engaged in support-
ing the land sector for more than thirty years. Over the
past twenty years, the Bank has supported 76 dedicated
land administration projects in 48 countries totaling an
investment of around USD 3.6 billion, and in addition, a
further 228 projects (in 78 countries) had a secondary
focus in land. Currently, the World Bank is providing fund-
ing of around USD 1.5 billion for around forty-six projects
which are classified as land administration and manage-
ment projects.
What are the key components in achieving sustain-
able land administration? What are the complexi-
ties involved?
Sustainability is absolute vital. For investment in a land
administration project to be considered successful, it
should be expected that the developments by way of donor
engagement are sustainable. Sustainability has many ele-
ments including: capacity; budget; good governance,
transparency and accountability; security of land records
from loss, destruction and fraud and reliable and consis-
tent delivery of services which are accessible, government
commitment and public confidence, to name but a few.
There should be sufficient capacity in the public sector
INTERVIEW I Keith Clifford Bell
'Sustainability is key to
land administration'
Keith Clifford Bell
Sustainable Development Department
Social, Environment & Rural Development
East Asia Pacific Region
The World Bank
and hopefully also private sector.
Land administration agencies should
have sufficient recurrent budget to
maintain their operations and have
access to additional investment
budgets to undertake the necessary
developments and improvements to
maintain their efficiency and effec-
tiveness.
World Bank has been recently
involved in projects investing in
the development of national
spatial data infrastructures. How
can NSDI act as an enabler of
reform?
Strengthening land administra-
tion systems through building NSDI
may support improving tenure, pro-
moting social stability and reducing
conflict, stimulating agricultural and
rural productivity, encouraging land
improvement and more sustainable
resource management. A better
cadastre, underpinning the NSDI pro-
vides a more complete and reliable
basis for taxation collection and bet-
ter managing state assets. Through
better access to land information,
transparency may be increased and
there may be enhanced public disclo-
sure of land-related matters such as
land use plans and development pro-
posals. However, let me stress -
"may" - as in all of these benefits, it
all depends on whether good gover-
nance prevails with laws being
appropriately enforced and civil ser-
vants acting ethically and in the pub-
lic good.
NSDI, which encompasses not
only the data, but the official desig-
nation of custodians, and the official
protocols for data sharing will
improve the overall efficiency of data
collection and maintenance and
enable government decision-making
to be more consistent drawing on the
authoritative data sets, with advice
from the designated responsible
agency.
Land-related agencies should be
adopting whole-of-government
approaches to NSDI and not seeking
to build silos to enshrine weak land
administration systems and poor
governance.
World Bank has stressed on the
importance of ICT including
geospatial technology. What is
the role and benefits of geospa-
tial technology in land adminis-
tration?
Over the past thirty years, consid-
erable progress has been made since
the initial work on first registration
land programmes using largely ana-
logue methods of data capture, pres-
entation and records management.
The early adoption of total stations
and electronic data recording by land
surveyors, the post processing using
computer-aided drafting and GIS, as
well as data storage in relational
database management systems, all
have been highly successful. Efforts
towards building land information
systems, or multipurpose cadastres,
of key national datasets for NSDI
have been focused on maturing the
core building blocks of appropriate
institutional frameworks, technical
standards, identifying fundamental
national datasets, building the
enabling ICT infrastructure and
enhancing the available skills base
through training and education pro-
grammes. As technology has so rap-
idly improved, it has also converged
with communications, positioning,
measuring, processing, presentation,
analysis and storage technologies
which are now interconnected or
even merged. Technology costs have
markedly reduced in real terms and
computing power and storage are
now such that they not limiting
factors.
What are the emerging trends in
geospatial technology vis--vis
land administration?
Overall I see three very profound
trends:
Emergence of neo-geography and
the geospatial Web is leading to
many more bottom-up approaches to
adoption and application of geospa-
tial technology. Trends in this space
are: user generated maps, editable
public maps, online map versioning,
user feedback (statistics, ratings,
tags and comments), portable con-
tent, geospatial content discoverable
by search engines, more informal
bottom-up spatial data infrastruc-
tures and automatic meta-data
creation.
Mobile geospatial applications
and the growth in location based
services, incorporating citizen-based
data inputs from mobile phones and
social media. Move to operational
earth observation services by means
Land-related agencies
should be adopting
whole-of-government
approaches to NSDI and
not seeking to build silos
to enshrine weak land
administration systems
and poor governance
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of: standard satellite sensors; con-
stellations of satellites for regular
delivery of products; and creation of
large institutional markets for these
products to drive down costs.
Let me elaborate. We see an ever
growing dialogue and advocacy for
investing in "spatially enabled socie-
ty," the evolving concept where loca-
tion, place and geospatial information
provide the primary means for gov-
ernments, business, communities,
families and individuals to conduct
their affairs and lead their lives.
At the same time, we note that
spatial enablement is not just about
developing and using geospatial
technology and other related ICT, but
is a concept whereby the government
and society draw upon the land
administration system and spatial
data infrastructure.
Advanced economies have contin-
ued to exploit the convergence of a
range of geospatial and ICT for serv-
ice delivery, commerce, transporta-
tion (road, rail, maritime and air),
agriculture, natural resources, ener-
gy, national security, policing and
public safety, climate change and dis-
aster risk reduction and response. On
the other hand, developing countries,
with international support, have been
more focused on investing in the
basic systems for land and property
rights and planning, which over time,
will evolve into more sophisticated
systems including spatial data infra-
structures.
Over the past decade or so, cloud
computing investments, especially
from major players in the ICT indus-
try, have driven many of the geospa-
tial developments and user demand
to become more enabled by geospa-
tial technology. Cloud computinghas
been fundamental to the growth of
geospatial systems development,
especially with the availability of
cloud geospatial data such as Google
Earth. As access to geospatial tech-
nologies such as GPS-enabled cell-
phones, web-based communications
and the cloud grows, increasingly
non-traditional data providers have
emerged and are contributing to
geospatial data.
Even as you highlight emerging
importance of geospatial technol-
ogy and "spatially-enabled socie-
ty", you have also talked about
the flip side of overdependence
on the technology. In your view,
what can be done to ensure prag-
matic investment in geospatial
technology?
For land-related professionals,
especially surveyors and spatial infor-
mation scientists, it is essential that
their engagement in land administra-
tion and governance reform, is based
on prudent and balanced application
of new technologies and appropriate
levels of spatial accuracies. These
professionals must also recognise the
broader social, cultural, political,
economic and financial factors that
shape the cadastres and NSDIs. The
focus of thinking and investment
should be on good governance and
completeness, reliability, fitness-for-
use and cost-effectiveness of
land-related data rather than spatial
accuracy.
All too often we see some eminent
and distinguished experts advocating
top-end solutions which are well
beyond the needs of these countries
and would never be able to be sus-
tained once donors have left the
scene. To use an old adage, it is
important that the dog wags the tail,
and not the tail wagging the dog. Too
often, the gee-whiz factor of spatial
systems gets too much air time and
funding support, and the business
processes and systems, such as land
administration, get insufficient atten-
tion. Investment in modern informa-
tion communications technologies is
very important for improving land
administration systems, but it is the
key issues of policy and governance
that should be driving the reform
agenda, not technology.
ICT, and specifically geospatial
information technologies, will
increasingly be critical to the support
provided by the World Bank. The
importance of the cadastre, in its
broadest sense, and its governance,
remains paramount in almost all
development interventions. It there-
fore follows that investment in land
administration systems should
explicitly see the development of
NSDI and spatial enablement of the
government as part of overall reform.
However, such investments need to
be calibrated for the specific country
requirements, including capacity and
sustainability.
45
CASE STUDY I Aerial mapping
eace Map is a
professional survey-
ing and aerial map-
ping company, founded in
2006. Peace Map provides
aerial photography, space and
aerial data processing, and pro-
fessional surveying services to
public and private-sector
organisations in China. It has
mapped more than 50 percent
of the terrain in the country for
both government and private
sector customers.
Business needs
When Peace Map was estab-
lished as a subsidiary of China
Siwei Surveying and Mapping
Company, it used analogue film
for its aerial mapping projects.
However, the company faced
issues with analogue film,
especially at a time when many
companies were turning to dig-
ital image capture. Specifically,
the analogue film was costly
and time-consuming to
process. The costs for film and
the chemicals required to
develop the film were rising.
Plus, Peace Map had to
account for film-processing
time when working on projects
for customers.
Not only did Peace Map strug-
gle with the inefficiencies of
film, it also wanted to avoid
the grainy, lower-quality images
that often result from using
analogue film. The company
found that its customers want-
ed higher-quality images, par-
ticularly with digital cameras
gaining popularity. In addition,
Peace Map realised that deliv-
ering superior images was a
key differentiating factor that
would contribute to its long-
term success. The company
wanted to switch from film to a
digital format to gain the effi-
ciencies and image quality that
it aimed to achieve. After
deciding to switch to a digital
camera, however, the company
still had to choose the best
camera for its needs.
Solution
Peace Map evaluated
several digital aerial
cameras. After compar-
ing camera features,
including image foot-
print, Peace Map chose
the UltraCamD large-
format digital aerial cam-
era from Microsoft Vex-
cel Imaging. After pur-
chasing its first Ultra-
CamD camera in 2006,
Peace Map acquired two
UltraCamXp cameras,
which have even larger
footprints than Ultra-
CamD. The UltraCamXp
has one of the largest
PAN image footprints
with 17,310 megapixels
across the flight strip (196
megapixels in total), making it
a suitable digital aerial camera
for larger jobs.
For instance, in 2008, Peace
Map captured high-resolution
images of an area affected by
an 8.0 earthquake in
Wenchuan County, China. The
county used these images to
accurately assess the damage
caused by the earthquake and
to help with reconstruction
planning efforts. Peace Map
was honoured by the Chinese
government.
In January 2011, the pho-
togrammetric services compa-
ny purchased three Ultra-
CamLp digital aerial cameras. It
has an image footprint of
11,704 megapixels across the
flight strip (92 megapixels
total), making it suitable for
smaller projects and for the
smaller aircraft that Peace Map
has. In total, Peace Map has six
Microsoft Vexcel Imaging Ultra-
Cam cameras that it mounts in
its various aircraft, which
include Cessna 208 and
Harbin Y-12 and Y-5 airplanes.
Peace Map also uses the
UltraMap workflow software
system for image management.
The workflow software works
with all of the UltraCam cam-
eras, so Peace Map has a com-
mon platform for image pro-
cessing. By using UltraMap, the
company can process a large
number of images in a short
time frame and with minimal
manual intervention. Peace
Map works with Imagemaps, a
reseller in the Asia Pacific
region, in addition to another
local reseller for camera sup-
port. The company plans to fur-
ther expand its digital aerial
camera fleet and purchase the
latest in the UltraCam series,
the UltraCam Eagle.
Benefits
By using UltraCam, Peace Map
can capture high-quality digital
images with fewer flight lines
and without the headaches of
processing film. In addition, the
company can easily capture
images in low light, in low con-
trast, or in weather conditions
that would produce lower-qual-
ity images with traditional film.
Peace Map also avoids the
costly development process for
film and can begin processing
images in-flight. Since the
company switched to Ultra-
Cam, Peace Map has been
able to deliver the superior
images that customers want.
With the regular innovation that
Microsoft delivers, Peace Map
plans to use UltraCam for
years to come.
P
CONFERENCE REPORT I UN - GGIM
T
he first high level forum on
Global Geospatial Information
Management (GGIM), held in
Seoul, South Korea from 24 to 26
October 2011, brought together 350
participants from 90 countries, 22
United Nations representatives and 37
representatives from international
organisations and the private sector.
Organised by the United Nations,
the forum offered an ideal platform
for the participants to discuss some
of the key challenges facing the
world and the role of geospatial
information technology in effectively
tackling those problems.
The forum opened with a minis-
terial segment where ministers
from eight countries (Korea, Chile,
Finland, India, Malaysia, Mongolia,
Namibia and Niger) exchanged
views on the role of geospatial infor-
mation in national development. The
segment was followed by thematic
sessions on "Challenges in Geospa-
tial Policy Formulation and Institu-
tional Arrangement", "Developing
Common Frameworks and Method-
ologies", "International Coordination
and Cooperation in Meeting Global
Needs" and "Capacity Building and
Knowledge Transfer".
The speakers noted that the
importance of geospatial informa-
tion (GI) was not fully understood
because it was 'all over the place';
with many different ministries
being responsible in different
countries and in many cases lacking
coordination.
Addressing the gathering during
the inagural, Prime Minister Kim
Hwang-Sik of the Republic of Korea
stressed that geospatial information
is the most fundamental and essen-
tial tool to support the planet's joint
efforts in resolving global issues. By
interconnecting information on
Geo-information to
address global challenges
natural disasters, poverty and the
environment through location data,
global issues such as sustainable
development and poverty eradication
can be systematically and effectively
managed.
Subsequently, the session on
challenges in policy formulations
stressed that the challenges varied
according to the conditions in
individual countries but common
themes were coping with the speed
of technical progress, ranging from
transition from analogue to digital in
some countries to using the cloud in
others; satisfying the needs of an
increasingly knowledgeable market;
the global economic market and,
above all, making decision makers
aware of the power and importance
of geospatial data.
The second day started with the
theme of Developing Common
Frameworks and Methodologies.
The keynote on PC-GIAP (Perma-
nent Committee on GIS Infrastruc-
ture for Asia and the Pacific) set out
three frameworks: geodetic, techni-
cal and institutional and noted that
there is a need to keep these
up-to-date as out-of-date regula-
tions could hinder the effective
operation of NMOs. Discussions
during the day emphasised the need
for data sharing, particularly as an
aid for developing countries and as a
means to level the differences
between less developed and devel-
oped nations.
The final theme of the high level
conference stressed on the need for
capacity building and knowledge
transfer. The keynote concentrated
on processes for capacity building in
Africa, but other speakers discussed
general concepts of capacity build-
ing and leadership with examples of
their own countries. The discussion
followed up on the schools theme
where participants suggested
competitions for school children
making use of geospatial data.
Two important messages from the
session were the need for a top
down approach to capacity building
and some mechanism for a
coordinated approach to ensure
sustainability.
The closing session summarised
the discussion and outcomes and
the participants approved the Seoul
Declaration which resolved to
support the UN initiative and take
actions to strengthen national
cooperation, develop processes
and share experiences to promote
global geospatial information
management.
The meeting concluded with the
formal meeting of the UN Commit-
tee of Experts on Global Geospatial
Information Management which
endorsed the findings of the Forum
and planned the programme of work
of the Committee.
Geospatial information is the
most fundamental tool to support
the planets joint efforts in
resolving global issues. By
interconnecting information on
natural disasters, poverty and the
environment through location data,
global issues such as sustainable
development and poverty
eradication can be effectively
managed

asdfsasa
W
e, the participants of the First High Level
Forum on Global Geospatial Information
Management held in Seoul, Korea, on Octo-
ber 24 to 26, 2011, having met in the context of United
Nations initiatives to enhance global cooperation in
the field of geospatial information management in
order to help overcome global challenges, hereby
issue this Seoul Declaration on Global Geospatial
Information Management (GGIM).
Recalling Resolution 2011/24 of the United
Nations Economic and Social Council, which recog-
nized the need to promote international cooperation
in the field of global geospatial information;
Recalling further the United Nations Secretary-
General's Report E/2011/89, which encouraged the
strengthening of cooperation among Member
States and International Organizations and empha-
sized the urgency in establishing concrete actions
for the further development of global geospatial
information in order to adequately respond to global
challenges;
Recognizing the need for full interoperability of
multi-dimensional geospatial information and inte-
gration with other data sources at national, region-
al, and global level, in order to provide an effective
information base for the resolution of global and
local issues, and the need for establishing national,
regional and global mechanisms for effective man-
agement and utilization of such information;
Sharing a global vision and conviction that reli-
able and timely geospatial information is an impor-
tant basis for policy decision making, especially in
the context of humanitarian assistance and sustain-
able development;
We, therefore resolve,
ll to express our support for the initiative of the
United Nations to foster geospatial information
management among UN Member States,
international organizations, and the private
sector; and in this regard:
ll to take actions to foster and strengthen
national, regional and global cooperation
with the aim of developing an interconnected
global community of practice on geospatial
information under the umbrella of the United
Nations;
ll to devise effective processes for jointly and col-
laboratively promoting common frameworks
and standards, as well as harmonized defini-
tions and methods for the treatment of nation-
al geospatial data in order to enhance geospa-
tial information management at the national,
regional and global level;
ll to share experiences in policy-making,
supporting legislation, and funding strategies,
to encourage and develop best practices in
geospatial information management (i.e.
collection, storage, maintenance and dissemi-
nation) at all levels, including integration of
spatial data with thematic data from other
sources, and to facilitate and promote capacity
development in the developing countries.
Issued on 26 Oct 2011
Seoul Declaration
on
Global Geospatial Information Management (GGIM)
CONFERENCE REPORT I Asia Geospatial Forum 2011
sia Geospatial Forum, organised
by Geospatial Media & Commu-
nications, was successfully held
in Jakarta, Indonesia on 17-19 October
2011. This year's edition marked a decade
of the conference, previously known as
Map Asia.
In his welcome address, Dr. Asep Karsidi,
Head of BAKOSURTANAL announced
the launch of Indonesia geoportal (INA-
SDI) and soft-launch of their new name
"Badan Informasi Geospatial - BIG"
(Geospatial Information Agency). Accord-
ing to him, geospatial technology has
important role to play in the country in
addressing regional inequalities, utilisation
of natural resources and climate change.
In his inaugural address, Drs.Suharna
Surapranata, M.T., State Minister of
Research and Technology stressed on
strengthening national innovation system.
As it adopts geospatial solutions offered
by various companies from across the
world, it also needs to come up with its
own technology for addressing various
issues. Drs.Surapranata was represented
by Dr.Idwan Suardi, Deputy Minister for
Science & Technology Utilisation, Indone-
sia. Dr.Suryo Adiwibowo, Special Deputy
Head of National Land Agency, speaking
on behalf of Dr. Joyo Winoto, Head of
National Land Agency, informed that the
present mandate of the Agency (since
2006) is fostering the realisation of land
for justice and prosperity.
Dr. Bambang Susantono, Vice Minister,
Ministry of Transportation, Indonesia
informed the audience about the national
development programme MP3EI (Master-
plan for Acceleration and Expansion of
Indonesia Economic Development) that is
estimated to see investments of USD 400
billion over the next four years and
includes the development of six economic
corridors in different parts of Indonesia,
and expressed that its success will
depend on transport connectivity.
In the keynote address, John Graham,
President - Security, Government and
Infrastructure, Intergraph Corp., dwelled
upon the importance of integrated
geospatial solutions in various applica-
tions, including smart governance, smart
grid, safe cities, and safeguarding the
nation. In the other keynote address,
Lawrie Jordan, Director of Imagery, Esri,
observed that intelligent web maps are the
new medium for integrated services.
Plenary sessions
The plenary sessions on the inaugural day
dwelled upon the role of geospatial tech-
nology in nation building and various other
applications. Eminent speakers from the
Government of Indonesia highlighted the
importance of public participation in moni-
toring development programmes and the
role of geospatial technologies in the
process; the necessity of detailed geospa-
tial data and information in ensuring sus-
tainability of the six economic
corridors that are being devel-
oped across Indonesia; the role
of geospatial data in supporting
transport services and the use
of spatial knowledge in forestry
management in the country.
Speakers from other countries
in the region too shared
geospatial initiatives in their
respective countries. The audi-
ence got enlightened about
developments in space technol-
ogy in Thailand, investments by the
Government of the Philippines towards
agrarian reforms; development of a 3D
cadastre in Singapore and initiatives taken
in Malaysia towards spatial enablement of
the nation.
Speakers from the industry stressed upon
the need for surveyors to move from being
data centric to process and industry cen-
tric as industries vertically integrate, bene-
fits of cloud free imagery and elevation
data and how 3D models of cities can be
used to demonstrate the impact that a
new piece of infrastructure will have on its
surrounding environment. The academia
was of the view that where the IT and GIS
pyramid is concerned, all levels (from data
collection to adding value) should have
equal money making opportunities and
business should be created out of it.
a
CONFERENCE REPORT I Geospatial T Geospatial Technology Caravan echnology Caravan
E-Governance: Talking about National
e-Governance Programme (NeGP),
Dr Subir Roy, Principal Consultant and
Head, Government of West Bengal, said,
"NeGP comprises 27 mission mode
projects (MMPs), which are to be
implemented at the central, state and
local government level. NeGP also aims to
set up State Data Centre (SDC),
State Wide Area Network (WBSWAN),
State Portal - Banglarmukh, State Service
Delivery Gateway (SSDG) and Common
Service Centres."
Challenges: Dr Nivedita P. Haran, Addl.
Chief Secretary, Revenue & Disaster Man-
agement, Kerala, India, spoke about hin-
drances for the growth of geospatial
industry in India. "Lack of awareness
about technology among government offi-
cials is one major cause. Then there are
vested interests and/or lack of open-mind-
edness regarding adoption of the technolo-
gy," she explained.
Data sharing: Talking about the need for
agencies to share data among them, Dr
Santhosh Babu, Secretary, Department of
IT, Tamil Nadu said, "There is a need for an
agency which can take care of coordinat-
ing activities between various departments
working in silos at present." Similar view
was expressed by Anurag Srivastava, OSD,
Additional Secretary, DIT, Madhya Pradesh,
who spoke about DIT's collaboration with
various departments in the State to devel-
op a centralised platform. "
Forest management: Tamil Nadu Forest
Department has successfully incorporated
GIS in almost all activities of its organisa-
tion - be it database creation, coastal zone
vegetation or vegetation change detection/
analysis or identifying forest fire risk zones.
Madhya Pradesh too had its own success
story to share.
Urban planning: "GIS has become an
inseparable component of urban planning
and sooner or later all organisations will
have to adapt the technology for better and
more efficient functioning," noted H.S.
Sancheti, Director (Town Planning), Jaipur
Development Authority. He said that all
184 towns in the State of Rajasthan will
soon have master plans.
Disaster management: "It is high time
that we get serious about disaster
preparedness," observed Anil Kumar
Sinha, Vice Chairman, Bihar State Disaster
Management Authority. Citing Japan's
example, he said that Japan has developed
state-of-the-art disaster management
system using geospatial technology.
Student woes: Dr Smita Sengupta,
Research Scientist, IIT Mumbai, talked
about the relationship between computer
science engineering and GIS. Highlighting
students' problems, she said that dealing
with geospatial database is one of the
toughest tasks for computer science stu-
dents. Anjana Vyas, Professor and Dean,
CEPT University, raised the issue of stu-
dents not being employed as per their
qualifications.
Technology presentations
The Caravan offered an excellent opportu-
nity for the participating companies to dis-
play their offerings before the gathering.
The presentation by Intergraph showed
how GIS can be used in various fields such
as town planning, communications, public
safety, transport, natural disaster manage-
ment and better governance. DigitalGlobe
showed how the company's high-resolution
satellite imagery can help organisations in
meeting the demands of better gover-
nance. Pitney Bowes displayed its GIS
capabilities and informed the gathering
about its huge product line, like Mapinfo
Exponare, Mapinfo Discover Suite for
natural resource management and Mapinfo
Crime Profiler. HP talked about large
format printers and cloud-based initiatives
which enable users to send their docu-
ments through email to HP printers based
on the cloud and get print outs.
A novel concept introduced and organised by Geospatial Media &
Communications in association with the Department of Information
Technology (DIT), the 10-city Geospatial Technology Caravan was
held in India recently. The Caravan began its journey in Guwahati on
September 19 and travelled to Kolkata, Gandhinagar, Chandigarh,
Patna, Chennai, Mumbai, Bhopal, Jaipur and finally reached Thiru-
vananthapuram on October 21. Here is a snapshot of the topics dis-
cussed during the Caravan.
Kailash Viajyvarjiya
Minister of IT, Science &
Technology, Madhya Pradesh
Ashok Kumar Malik
Director
NATMO
Vinod M Bothale
Director, Maharashtra Remote
Sensing Application Centre
Participants at the Caravan
NOVEMBER 2011
November 10
Geoweb Summit Fall 2011
New York, US
http://geowebsummit.com
November 14 - 17
PECORA 18
Herndon, US
http://asprs.org/pecora18
November 15 - 16
Esri Asia Pacific User
Conference
Seol, Korea
http://www.esri.com/events/asia-
pacific/index.html
November 15 - 17
spatial@gov
Canberra, Australia
http://goo.gl/fgPxe
November 16 - 18
2nd International
Workshop on 3D Cadastres
Delft, The Netherlands
http://3dcadastres2011.nl
November 16-18
Esri Southwest User
Conference
Mesa, US
http://goo.gl/9A7T0
November 17
GeoDATA 2011
Belfast, Northern Ireland
http://goo.gl/2Pt7i
November 21
AutoCAD - CAD Manager
Essentials
Mentor, US
http://ccadinc.com/autocad-
cadmanager.html
November 21 - 25
Surveying and Spatial
Sciences Conference
Wellington, New Zealand
http://sssc2011.org
November 23 - 25
International conference
"Founding territorial
sciences"
Meudon, France
http://www.gis-cist.fr/index.php?cID=97
November 28 - Dec 01
European Navigation
Conference 2011
London, UK
http://www.enc2011.org
November 28 - 30
4th Conference Next
Generation Connected
Navigation
Stuttgart, Germany
http://goo.gl/JIuMZ
November 29 - 30
European Lidar Mapping
Forum
Salzburg, Austria
http://www.lidarmap.org/ELMF
November 29 - Dec 1
5th International
Conference Earth
From Space
Moscow, Russia
http://www.conference.scanex.ru/index.ph
p/en.html
CDN World Forum
Conference Asia
Hong Kong
http://www.cdnconference.com/asia
7th International gvSIG
Conference
Valencia, Spain
http://jornadas.gvsig.org/home
DECEMBER 2011
December 01
GEOINDO 2011
Khon Kaen, Thailand
http://home.kku.ac.th/geoindo2011/
about.html
December 01
Mapping Showcase 2011
London, UK
http://goo.gl/96fb6
December 5 - 9
Ecobuild America
Washington, DC, US
http://goo.gl/Co2fA
December 06 - 07
Geospatial Geocoding
Conference
Redlands, USA
http://www.geocodingconference.com
December 06-07
Esri Mid-Atlantic User
Conference
Hunt Valley, US
http://goo.gl/wEJk5
December 18 - 19
Intercarto InterGIS 17
Bali, Indonesia
http://www.intercarto17-bali.net
JANUARY 2012
January 5 - 6
Geodesign Summit
New York, USA
http://www.geodesignsummit.com
January 17 - 19
Esri Partner Conference
Middle-East Africa
Dubai, UAE
http://www.esri.com/events/meapc/
index.html
January 22 - 26
MAPPS 2012 Winter
Conference
Phoenix, USA
http://www.mapps.org/events/conference-
winter2012.cfm
January 23 - 25
GIS Ostrava 2012
Ostrava, Czech Republic
http://gis.vsb.cz/gisostrava
January 23-25
International LiDAR
Mapping Forum
Denver, US
http://www.lidarmap.org/conference/
January 23 - 26
DGI Europe
Westminister, UK
http://www.geodesignsummit.com
January 23 - Feb 06
GIS in Mining & Explo-
ration Online Summit
USA
http://goo.gl/QWggS
January 28 - Feb 03
Israel Space 2012
Jerusalem, Israel
http://israel-space.org
FEBRUARY 2012
February 07 - 09
India Geospatial
Forum 2012
Gurgaon, India
http://www.indiageospatialforum.org
February 09- 10
FlexiCadastre User
Conference
Cape Town, South Africa
http://goo.gl/w1z31
February 24-28
AAG Annual Meeting
New York, US
http://goo.gl/vt2Wo
February 26- March 1
National States Geographic
Information Council
Mid-Year Meeting
Annapolis, US
http://goo.gl/0ElBq
February 27 - 29
Inspire 2012
Denver, US
http://goo.gl/FSnbq
Geospatial World I November 2011 51 51
We Get the Point
Together with Leica Geosystems, we offer the
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GHOLYHULQJ/HDUQPRUHDERXWSRLQWFORXGVLQ
ERDAS IMAGINE
, LPS, ERDAS APOLLO and

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at www.erdas.com/lidar.

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