FIG Commission 7 Annual Meeting

FIG Commission 7 Annual Meeting

15-20 May, 1995, Delft, The Netherlands

Detailed Report
List of Participants
Country Reports

Executive Report

The Chairperson of FIG Commission 7, Professor Ian Williamson (Australia) welcomed 60 delegates, correspondents and observers from 32 countries to the 1995 FIG Commission 7 annual meeting, held at the International Institute for Aerospace and Earth Studies (ITC), in Delft, The Netherlands. Professor Williamson was especially pleased to welcome participants from Africa and Latin America who were supported to attend the meeting by Commission 7 delegates from The Netherlands and Switzerland. It was also noted that a key feature of the 1995 meeting was to honour Professor Jo Henssen (The Netherlands) upon his retirement. Participants attended a 1-day seminar on "Modern Cadastres and Cadastral Innovations", held at the Faculty of Geodesy, Technical University of Delft, with the seminar being part of the workplan for the Commission 7 working party examining the cadastral vision for the year 2014. It was open to other interested persons and a total of 100 registrants attended the event. Delegates to the meeting also received reports of cadastral and land management activities for countries which were not represented at the 1994 annual meeting in Fredericton, Canada, and technical tours were conducted to the Water Board of Delftland, the Dutch Cadastral Office, two rural land development and land consolidation projects, and the "Delta Works" civil engineering project in Zeeland.

Business Arising from the Meeting

- The "Statement on the Cadastre" was presented to participants and it is intended that it be formally adopted at the PC Meeting in Berlin following the Commission 7 meeting.

- As established at the XX FIG Congress in Melbourne in 1994, the three Commission 7 working groups met several times during the annual meeting and their reports are attached. A sub-group of WG 7.1 consisting of Professor Don Grant (Australia) and Mr Bill Robertson (New Zealand) was formed to work with Mr Jurg Kaufmann (Switzerland), to investigate the different international options for the privatisation of cadastral activities.

- Following a discussion of International Trends in Cadastral Data Pricing Policies, it was resolved that this topic be the subject of a half-day session consisting of country reports at the 1996 annual meeting of Commission 7, with Jurg Kaufmann (Switzerland), Don Grant (Australia) and Bill Robertson (New Zealand) delegated to develop guidelines on how the session is to be arranged.

- It was resolved unanimously that Professor Henssen be invited to become a corresponding member to Commission 7. It was also resolved that the Chairperson be given the right to remove the names of corresponding members who are no longer active in the Commission, with each case being treated on its merits.

- Participants were reminded that the FIG newsletter is now jointly sponsored by Commissions 3 and 7 and edited by Mr Bill Robertson (New Zealand). The chairperson strongly supported the newsletter and noted that all contributions from delegates will be welcomed.

- Professor Williamson repeated the Commission's policy, as established at the 1994 annual meeting, that wherever possible support should be sought by delegates from developed countries to ensure attendance at Commission 7 annual meetings by participants from developing countries. This process has already commenced with attendance at this meeting by participants from Latin America and Namibia sponsored by the Dutch and Swiss governments respectively. For 1996, Dr Winfried Hawerk (Germany) has already indicated that support has been obtained for a participant from Nepal to attend the annual meeting.

Future Events

1995 62nd FIG PC Meeting, Berlin, 22-26 May 1996. Several Commission 7 delegates will present papers at a symposium on the contribution of land regulation and economics in moving from centrally planned to market economies.

A Workshop on Cadastre in Developing Countries, will be held in Gavle, Sweden, following the Berlin meeting and is being supported by Commission 7.

The 1995 Australasian Cadastral Conference will be held in Wellington, New Zealand, from 14-16 June 1996, and supported by Commission 7. For further contact: Mr Bill Robertson (New Zealand).

Cambridge Conference for National Mapping Organisations to be held in Cambridge (UK) from 25 July to 1 August 1995. Commission 7 is supporting a special half-day session on cadastre and land management.

Several Commission 7 delegates will attend and present papers at an urban cadastral workshop at the XVII UN Cartographic Conference to be held in Brazil from 30 July to 4 August 1995.

Commission 7 will be represented by Dr Paul Munro-Faure at the FIG/CASLE Conference on Sustainable Development to be held in Harare, Zimbabwe, from 13-17 August 1995.

1996 Commission 7 Annual Meeting. Mr Andras Ossko (Hungary) presented details of the meeting which will be held from 16-20 June 1996 in Budapest following the GIS/LIS `96 Conference. The annual meeting also follows the HABITAT II conference in Istanbul the week before.

A proposal has been received by Professor John Badekas (Greece) for a Technical Tour of the Greek Cadastral System following the 1996 Commission 7 Annual Meeting in Hungary. Further details are to be obtained from Professor Badekas confirming and clarifying the arrangements.

A Symposium on Cadastre and Land Management is to be held in conjunction with the 1996 FIG PC Meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to be held from 15-19 April 1996, and fifteen abstracts of papers have been selected for presentation at the symposium.

1997 The Annual Meeting of Commission 7 is proposed to be held in Malaysia in the week before the FIG PC meeting in Singapore which will be held from 11-16 August 1997. The meeting will feature a symposium on cadastral systems in developing countries as part of the workplan for Working Group 7.2.

1998 XXI FIG Congress and Commission 7 Annual Meeting, Brighton (UK), 19-25 July 1998.

FIG Commission 7 Annual Meeting

15-20 May, 1995, Delft, The Netherlands

Detailed Report

Monday 15 May 1995

Welcome

Professor Williamson explained the role, objectives and operation of the Commission and noted that a key feature of the 1995 meeting was to honour Professor Jo Henssen (The Netherlands) upon his retirement. The meeting was officially opened by Professor Dick Groot (Deputy Rector, ITC), who gave an excellent presentation on the importance of finding a balance between technology and community requirements when implementing cadastral systems and reforms. Finally, the organiser for the meeting, Mr Jan Sonnenberg (The Netherlands) welcomed participants.

Chairperson's Report

Professor Williamson reported on the highlights, major decisions and future events arising from the 1994 Commission 7 Annual meeting held in Fredericton, Canada. With regard to future events, Professor Badekas (Greece) noted that the Comite Europeen des Responsables de la Cartographie Officielle (CERCO) has a working party on cadastre and would be an appropriate organisation for Commission 7 to liaise with to coordinate the timing of conferences and seminars of common interest. The "Statement on the Cadastre" was presented to participants and it is intended that it be formally adopted at the PC Meeting in Berlin following the Commission 7 meeting. Professor Williamson thanked the people who contributed to this excellent document. Already, translations of the Statement have been made into English, French, German, Polish, Spanish, Russian, and Latvian, and it is proposed that a Chinese version also be produced. Copies of the statement in each language will be forwarded to the FIG Bureau for future distribution.

Working Groups

As established at the XX FIG Congress in Melbourne in 1994, there are three working groups operating within Commission 7: WG 7.1 Modern Cadastres (Jurg Kaufmann), WG 7.2 Cadastral Systems in Developing Countries (Tommy Osterberg) and WG 7.3 Land Management (Paul Munro-Faure). The working groups met several times during the annual meeting and their reports are attached. A sub-group of WG 7.1 consisting of Professor Don Grant (Australia) and Mr Bill Robertson (New Zealand) was formed to work with Mr Jurg Kaufmann (Switzerland), to investigate the different international options for the privatisation of cadastral activities.

Technical and Accompanying Person Tours

Delegates attended a technical presentation at the Water Board of Delftland which has a history extending back to the 15th century. The business operations and functions which are especially important to life in The Netherlands were discussed, and participants toured the building that has served as headquarters of the Water Board for almost 400 years. During the day, accompanying persons toured the historic township of Delft which is over 700 years old, and visited a factory producing the world renowned Delft ceramic products. The day finished with a reception for participants hosted by the Mayor of Delft in the Town Hall.

Tuesday 16 May 1995

1-Day Seminar on Modern Cadastres and Cadastral Innovations

Participants in the annual meeting attended a 1-day seminar on "Modern Cadastres and Cadastral Innovations", held at the Faculty of Geodesy, Technical University of Delft. The seminar is part of the workplan for the Commission 7 working party examining the cadastral vision for the year 2014, and was open to other interested persons with a total of 100 registrants attending the event. The seminar was formally opened by Professor Theo Bogaerts (Faculty of Geodesy, TU Delft) with the introductory address given by Professor Williamson. The remainder of the program involved presentations from Professor Jo Henssen (basic principles of cadastres), Dr Winfried Hawerk (cadastral systems in Germany, Austria and Switzerland), Professor Don Grant and Mr Bill Robertson (cadastral progress in Australia and New Zealand), Mrs Agneta Ericsson (Swedish cadastral system), Mr Paul van der Molen (Napoleonic systems in France, Belgium and The Netherlands) and Mr Jurg Kaufmann (key points for the "Vision Cadastre 2014"). A highlight of the day was a series of on-line demonstrations to the cadastral systems of The Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and Finland.

Wednesday 17 May 1995

Delegates visited the Aalsmeer Flower Auction in the morning and observed the operation of an organisation involving over 1800 people involved in local and international flower sales and distribution. In the afternoon, a tour was conducted of the Utrecht office of the Dutch Cadastral Office. Participants received presentations on the organisation of the Cadastral Office, the Dutch cadastral system, and demonstrations of the automated registers, the land consolidation process, and the cadastral GIS. Accompanying persons toured a music museum in the afternoon and a dinner was hosted in the evening by the Dutch Cadastral Office.

Thursday 18 May 1995

In the morning, delegates received reports of cadastral and land management activities for countries which were not represented at the 1994 annual meeting in Fredericton, Canada. These reports detailing current reforms, problems and issues to be resolved, are attached in addition to update reports for several other countries represented at Fredericton. In the afternoon, participants travelled to Utrecht to study rural land development in The Netherlands and a local land consolidation project. To close the day's activities, a dinner was hosted by the Netherlands Association of Geodesy at which Professor Jo Henssen was honoured upon his retirement. Presentations were made by Mr Paul van der Molen, on behalf of the Association, and Professor Ian Williamson, on behalf of Commission 7, thanking Professor Henssen for his contribution over many years. In addition, the Commission now has a `song book' and its own Commission 7 song, thanks to Jurg Kaufmann (Switzerland).

Friday 19 May 1995

The final working session of the annual meeting commenced with a discussion of international trends in cadastral data pricing policies. It was noted that while low pricing policies are employed in some countries to promote economic development, in other countries this approach is causing problems since sufficient funds are not being obtained to ensure proper maintenance of the systems. Agencies in some countries are applying much higher prices since they have been instructed to recover their costs according to government policy, however this can have the effect of forcing user agencies to collect their own data which leads to duplication of datasets and associated inefficiencies.

Since the sale of descriptive data (for example, land registry information) in many cadastral systems raises greater funds that the spatial or cadastral survey data, one option discussed is to place a levy on the sale of descriptive data which helps fund maintenance of the map and coordinate base. The argument for this approach is that the integrity of descriptive data relies upon the associated spatial data and that therefore a component benefit is derived from each sale of descriptive data which should be attributed to the cadastral survey. Finally, it was resolved that this topic be the subject of a half-day session consisting of country reports at the 1996 annual meeting of Commission 7, with Jurg Kaufmann (Switzerland), Don Grant (Australia) and Bill Robertson (New Zealand) delegated to develop guidelines on how the session is to be arranged.

Corresponding Members

Firstly, it was resolved unanimously that Professor Henssen be invited to become a corresponding member to Commission 7. Professor Williamson then spoke of the fact that Commission 7 now has a long list of corresponding members, some of whom have not attended annual meetings or corresponded with the Commission for many years, which adds considerably to the cost of operating the Commission. Since corresponding members are invited to participate in the Commission at the discretion of the Chairperson and delegates, it was resolved that the Chairperson be given the right to remove the names of corresponding members who are no longer active in the Commission, with each case being treated on its merits. It should be noted that this procedure will not apply to delegates, who are nominated to the Commission by their member societies.

FIG Commissions 3 and 7 Newsletter

Professor Williamson reminded participants that the newsletter is now jointly sponsored by Commissions 3 and 7 and edited by Mr Bill Robertson (New Zealand). The chairperson strongly supported the newsletter and noted that all contributions from delegates will be welcomed. These may be short reports and need not be long technical papers.

Support for Participation at Annual Meetings

Professor Williamson repeated the Commission's policy, as established at the 1994 annual meeting, that wherever possible support should be sought by delegates from developed countries to ensure attendance at Commission 7 annual meetings by participants from developing countries. This process has already commenced with attendance at this meeting by participants from Latin America and Namibia sponsored by the Dutch and Swiss governments respectively. For 1996, Dr Winfried Hawerk (Germany) has already indicated that support has been obtained for a participant from Nepal to attend the annual meeting.

Future Events

A Workshop on Cadastre in Developing Countries, will be held in Gavle, Sweden, following the Berlin meeting and is being supported by Commission 7.

The 1995 Australasian Cadastral Conference will be held in Wellington, New Zealand, from 14-16 June 1996, and supported by Commission 7. For further contact: Mr Bill Robertson (New Zealand).

Several Commission 7 delegates will attend and present papers at an urban cadastral workshop at the XVII UN Cartographic Conference to be held in Brazil from 30 July to 4 August 1995.

Commission 7 will be represented by Dr Paul Munro-Faure at the FIG/CASLE Conference on Sustainable Development to be held in Harare, Zimbabwe, from 13-17 August 1995.

The proposed program includes a 1-day seminar in connection with Working Group 7.3 on "The Transformation of Cadastre and Land Management Administration in Former Socialist Countries" and "Necessary Changes in the Legal Environment of Cadastre and Connected Problems in Countries of Eastern and Central Europe". Technical presentations will include tours of the Hungarian cadastral system and the Budapest Land Office. A one-day workshop will be held on the Tuesday to draw greater attendance from delegates participating in the GIS/LIS 96 conference held the previous week. Suggestions are sought from delegates for examples of appropriate land management software packages which might be demonstrated at the one-day seminar. Suggestions should be sent to Dr Paul Munro-Faure.

1997 The Annual Meeting of Commission 7 is proposed to be held in Malaysia in the week before the FIG PC meeting in Singapore which will be held from 11-16 August 1997. As the delegate from Malaysia was unable to attend the Delft meeting to present that country's proposal, Professor Williamson is to contact Malaysia to confirm meeting details. The meeting will feature a symposium on cadastral systems in developing countries as part of the workplan for Working Group 7.2.

1998 XXI FIG Congress and Commission 7 Annual Meeting, Brighton (UK), 19-25 July 1998.

Close of Meeting and Final technical Tour

At the close of the meeting, Professor Ian Williamson thanked participants for their attendance, and Mr Jan Sonnenberg (The Netherlands) and his colleagues from the Dutch Cadastral Office for their sponsorship and organisation of the meeting. Professor Williamson also thanked Dr Gary Hunter (Secretary, Commission 7) for his assistance. Delegates then attended the final technical tour of the meeting with a visit to the "Delta Works" civil engineering project in Zeeland which protects the land against the sea.

I.P. Williamson

Chairperson, FIG Commission 7

FIG Commission 7 Annual Meeting

14-20 May, 1995, Delft, The Netherlands

List of Participants
Note: (*) Delegate, (-) Correspondent

Australia

Austria

Bolivia

Canada

Costa Rica

Czech Republic

Denmark

El Salvador

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Guatemala

Hong Kong

Hungary

Indonesia

Korea

Latvia

Luxembourg

Netherlands

New Zealand

Norway

Poland

Slovakian Republic

Slovenia

Sweden

Switzerland

Turkey

United Kingdom

Yugoslavia

Apologies

Austria

- Mr Ernst Hoflinger

Belgium

* Professor De Leeuw

Japan

1995 FIG Commission 7 Annual Meeting

Delft, The Netherlands

Country Reports

Australia (D. Grant) - Update Report

Continued reform of government surveying and mapping organisations resulting in renewed focus on core activities, downsizing, restructuring, contracting-out, greater accountability and requirements for increased levels of self-funding.
Continued growth of private sector through contracting out of activities by government surveying and mapping organisations, public/private sector collaboration and increasing investment in the spatial information industry. Private sector growth impeded by slow economic recovery in some jurisdictions.
Moves to deregulate the surveying profession are gaining momentum. Evidenced through accreditation of data collectors, adoption of quality assurance, blurring of boundaries between professional groups and a review of the role of the Institution of Surveyors, Australia.
Legislative reforms to incorporate advances in survey methods, data communications and computing technology, deregulation trends and quality assurance principles. The main provisions are for electronic lodgement of cadastral surveys, automation of tenurial processes, accreditation of surveyors and data collectors, and reduction of survey plan examinations.
Data quality and access policies are being formulated, leading to better data integration.
Creation of survey accurate databases with the aim of introducing a legal coordinated cadastre in the future.
First draft of a National Spatial Data Infrastructure due for completion by October 1995. Already great demand for customised products in the digital environment.
Increasing application of GIS technology. Establishment of differential GPS Service supported by a widely spread network of GPS reference stations throughout Australia and South East Asia.

Austria (G. Schennach)

Area 84,000 sq km, population 8 million, 2.8 million property units giving 11 million parcels.
System consists of the cadastral and land registers.
Formerly in books, conversion of cadastral register to digital format completed in 1984, creation of land register database finished in 1991.
The two completed databases are unified and national access is possible.
Updating is performed by public district offices which belong to the Federal Office for Surveying.
The coordinate database conversion was completed in 1992, with connections being established to the other two databases.
Digitising of the cadastral map started in 1992, and will be finished by 1999. It is 30% complete in 1995.
Public offices are contracting out their digitising to the private sector.
Privatisation of public offices is being considered but the final form is not certain.
The trend is towards the creation of a multi-purpose cadastre which can meet the needs of many agencies
As a member of the European Community, an agricultural landuse database is being established and will be updated through information obtained from farmers.
Buildings in the cadastral map are 80% complete and will be finalised when the other projects are completed.

Bolivia (E. Mendoza)

Area 1,100,000 sq km, population 6.4 million, 650,000 parcels in urban areas and 400,000 parcels in rural areas.
1887 first cadastral law, 1939 introduction of land tax, 1985 local government took on the cadastral role, 1986 cadastral updating begins, 1991 new system of cadastral regulation, 1994 far reaching legal changes introduced (including greater participation of local government in urban areas)
Agencies involved: military institute tasked with national mapping, and a national cadastral office.
Cadastral system at present mainly relates to urban areas.
Central government is responsible for the cadastre in rural areas.
Bolivia has chosen a system of legal declaration by owners.
National government and private enterprise are working together to modernise the cadastre
New technologies being used include GPS, GIS, digital cartography.
Modernisation is costing about US$30 per urban parcel and US$4 per hectare in rural areas.
Still many problems to be solved: including the relationship between the registration administration and the cadastral organisation (each uses a different system).
Laws are being prepared to ensure that only one system is used.
The law will also serve as the basis for forming a common system

Costa Rica (J. Avendano Machado)

A small country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua and Panama.
Area 159,000 sq km, population 3 million, Spanish speaking, capital San Jose.
Has three levels of government.
Cadastral administration is organised under the Ministry of Justice with a national register containing the public register and national cadastral registers.
The cadastre is the official register of parcels and buildings in a State in which all parcels are described with graphical and textual data. It shows the de facto status of properties with their extent and part of the surface to which they extend.
The cadastre is parcel-based, uses a transverse Mercator coordinate system, formal boundaries defined by cadastral survey, unique identifiers.
The cadastral office has 4 technical departments: cadastral services, geodetic and topographic, surveying section and GIS.
There is a duplex system of land registration. The cadastre is based on civil law, under a Land Surveying and Public Cadastre Act, a National Cadastral Office, and contains the official description of all parcels.
The public register is also based on civil law under a Land Registration Act, is maintained by a public register office, and shows the legal status of all real property.
Both system are constantly kept up to date by data exchange.
Land registration is deeds based, a negative system of registration, optional registration, the process of giving title to all lands is based on an adjudication process, and the State is not legally responsible for errors in registration.
Working on a multi-purpose cadastral project over 150,000 sq km for the purpose of legal, fiscal, facilities management, value assessment and land use planning.
Cartographic component is based on photogrammetry by not in digital format.
More educated personnel are needed.
The project is based on technical aid from the Dutch Government

El Salvador (J. Silverio Enriquez)

Smallest country in Latin America, population 5.7 million, area 20,000 sq km, about 1.8 million parcels.
Cadastral organisation dates back to 1862, and until 1994 consisted of a Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Public Works. The first is responsible for parcels registration while the second looks after mapping.
In late 1994 a new organisation commenced which was separated from the central government and financially independent. The new organisation will combine the two systems.
The existing parcel register is contained in book form, but since 1992 a database has been under construction
There has been a project since 1987 to bring the register and parcel maps together but there have been difficulties due to the civil war.
The current situation is that the legal register and cadastral map are not integrated.
The cadastral mapping is not up to date, again due to the civil war.
Ownership registers do not always agree with land occupation.
Legal reform is to occur which includes: unique identification of each plot, an obligation that all land transactions are registered, updating of cadastral and registry information, education and training of personnel.
Th project will ensure an integrated database including digital mapping for cadastral and facility management purposes, plus descriptions of proprietors, buildings, land quality, parcel history.
In 1995, a pilot project will start and put 150,000 parcels into the database.
The national project will extend from 1996 - 2000 and cost US$68 million funded by the World Bank

Finland (M. Uimonen) - Update Report

2.5 million parcels, 337,000 sq km, 5 million population.
Title registration based on a positive system.
National Land Survey has to recover ~ 50% of its costs (includes topographical mapping).
New Land Law accepted for 1997, featuring certificates of title that can be given to land that is not yet defined as a cadastral unit, and the State is to be responsible for errors in the registers.
In 1997 there will also be a new Cadastral Survey and Land Rearrangement Act.
Automation of records:
New cadastral information system being developed featuring:
Land register (titles and mortgages) will be completed by 1995.

Guatemala (R. Gonzalez Diaz-Duran)

Lies in Central America next to Mexico, population 10 million , 2 million parcels, area 109,000 sq km.
The capital, Guatemala City, has a population of 3 million, 400,000 parcels, and area of 300 sq km. The city has 30% of the national population and 20% of land parcels.
Guatemala has a negative system of land registration and the central government is main private land owner.
Cadastral activities commenced in 1928 in the traditional way: field identification, measurement and creation of a register.
According to a decentralisation policy, as from 1995 the central government has delegated responsibility for land taxation to the 22 regional governments. This also gives local government responsibility for updating the cadastral system.
There is a lack of immediate funding resources to initiate the change needed to modernise the system.
Financing is difficult to get because of bureaucratic procedures within the country and the common delay of 4-5 years in obtaining funding from international financial institutions.
More knowledge is needed of the ways to build the cadastre.
The private sector within the country is convinced that cadastral improvement is necessary, and that sector's experience and assistance (though joint ventures) will be important in modernising the cadastre.

Hong Kong (C. Tang)

Population 6 million pop, area 1000 sq km, over 50% of Hong Kong reserved for parkland.
100% coverage in large scale maps (scale 1:1,000) and all were digitised by 1995.
Hong Kong has a negative deeds registration system.
Land registration transaction costs are 3% of the property value (Government fee) and 3% (legal fee).
All property deeds and memorials exist as computer image files.
Inland Revenue department also has detailed real estate computer records of property leases (which means there is duplication of the land title information)
There is a proposal for a new Land Tile Act which will see the entire system converted to land titles.
Cadastral surveying is Government controlled, and there are only 20 officially recognised private practising land surveyors.
There is a fixed boundary system in urban and rural areas, with an accuracy of 0.20 m.
Boundary records are confidential and only open to the 20 private land surveyors.
Survey fee for set out of a house of 65 m sq is about US$1300.
A Land Survey Act is also proposed which will see subdivision performed by licensed surveyors.

Indonesia (D. Walijatun)

Indonesia is an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, area 1.9 million sq km, >180 million pop, 46 million parcels unregistered, 13 million registered (as at 1994), by the year 2019 an estimated 78 million parcels will be registered.
Land administration includes land use planning, land reform, land titling and granting, land registration.
Problems include: low percentage of registered parcels, lack of cadastral map coverage, absence of document of ownership for customary tenure land, uncertainty of boundaries in many rural areas, uncertainty of land status.
The country is now in the first 5-year project of a 25 year program started in November 1994 with the major target to register 78 million parcels in 25 years
The program's objectives are to foster efficient and more equitable land markets, to alleviate social conflicts over land, to improve the institutional framework for land administration, and to support efforts to develop land management policy.
Related objectives for accelerated land registration are to support poverty alleviation and to provide incentives for long-term investment and sustainable land use.
The target of 1.2 million parcels registered in the first five years is due to the need to use resources to prepare human resource development, priority of locations (systematic approach), revision of existing regulations, new approach to adjudication, pilot projects to gain experience, and participation of the private sector
The target in the second period is 5 million parcels increasing to 9 million in the third 5-year period.
The project is jointly financed by the World Bank, (59% or about US$80 million), Government (30%) and Australian Government (11%).
This doesn't include projects financed by local or central government, cross sectoral projects, or local communities, which add up to 700-800,000 parcels registered per year.

Korea (J-H Kim)

Area 99,000 sq km, population 43 million, 33 million parcels
The National Land Surveying Project was conducted between 1910-1918 and the National Forest Survey Project conducted between 1916-1924.
Cadastral administration consists of the central government (Ministry of Home Affairs), 15 provincial government offices and 286 municipalities.
An on-line cadastral information system network was established between 1982-84 which contains 31 million parcels.
The Central Information Center was established in 1985 and is operated by the Ministry of Home Affairs (Bureau of Local Tax, Cadastral Division).
Education and training is conducted by the Cadastral Training Institute, 2 universities and 6 colleges (within their Departments of Cadastre).
Cadastral records are organised into land and forest books, and land and forest maps.
Cadastral information includes land characteristics (location, parcel number, land category, area, boundary coordinates).
Ownership information includes name, address, civic number, date of acquisition, reason for acquisition.
Improvements to the cadastral system include construction of a graphic database, integration of land related organisations, implementation of cadastral resurveying project.
The Korean Cadastral Day is 7th May.

Latvia - Update Report

64,000 sq km, 2.6 million population, 500,000 parcels expected after finalising land reforms.
Land reform is taking place throughout the country for the 4th time since 1800.
The cadastral registration system established consists of the Cadastre (Property) Register (covers 8% after the first year of registration) and Land (Juridical) Register (covers 5% after one year); both registers have a complete structure.

Main Problems:

Uncompleted cadastral legislation.
Slow registration due to separated cadastre and land registers.
Slow de-nationalisation of real property due to lack of budget funds.
Lack of highly skilled specialists in legislation, mapping and computerisation.
Economic situation does not facilitate formation of real properties.

Main Lessons:

Cadastre has to be established as a State operated system.
It is important to create a new cadastral system with unified registration of property and property rights.
Cadastral mapping has to be based on a unified coordinate grid for the whole country.
Cadastral information has to be standardised and unified for rural and urban areas.
Training of cadastral specialists has to be started before development of the cadastral system.

Namibia (W. Werner)

Population 1.5 million, area 824,000 sq km, 120,000 parcels held in "commercial" land (45% of country and 30% of the population), while communal land makes up 40% by area (67% population). The remaining 15% of land is owned by the State (desert and reserved land).
Namibian cadastre is maintained in two parts: cartographic component maintained by the Division of Survey and Mapping (DSM), and the descriptive component maintained by the Division of Deeds (DD).
Namibian cadastre is based on the South African cadastral system, but elements from the German system are obvious.

Problems include:

An incomplete cadastral system
No single uniform land rights system and over half the country is held in non marketable customary land.
Inability to meet the demand for surveyed land (35,000 new land parcels to be surveyed within the next 1-2 years)
Outdated procedures and structures in the Division of Survey and Mapping and Division of Deeds.
Formal requirements for approval and registration at the DSM and DD are of such high standard that only a few professionals in Namibia can meet them, and there are only 6 full-time surveyors and 10 conveyancers in the country.

New projects include:

Pilot projects for a parallel upgradeable, interchangeable property registration system (that is, the introduction of a lesser title that can be upgraded).
Pilot studies for the maintenance of an unambiguous property registration system and the possibility for a local authority or community organisation to issue tenure documents based on locally held registry maps.
Education and training for cadastral surveyors.
Extension of the geodetic network into the communal lands
Investigation of the need for land tribunals or similar institutions to solve land disputes quickly and cheaply.

Slovak Republic (M. Dzur-Gjedos)

Area 49,000 sq km, population 5.4 million, 4.9 million parcels, 4.4 million land owners.
In 1989 the political system in Slovakia changed. The new constitution established equality of all types of property and strict protection of property is assured by law.
New cadastral legistration introduced in 1993 featuring unified land cadastre and land records administered by surveying authorities.
The cadastre is open to the public and information is held in four parts: municipalities, houses, condominiums, and real property rights.
Organisation structure: a central office dealing with geodesy, cartography and cadastre (at the ministerial level), and 3 regional offices with bureaus in each district.
Map coverage is 55% paper (scales 1:1,440, 1:2,880, 1:1,000 and 1:2,000), 45% digital (scales 1:1,000, 1:2,000, 1:5,000)
Basic cadastral data is computerised, but complex legal data is still in written form with conversion to occur over the next 6 years.
There is a high demand for cadastral information from the public mainly as a basis for restitution of old property rights and illegal land occupation
Project CLASSIC now underway as part of the PHARE project dealing with the computerisation of the cadastre.
Issues include: the need to complete hardware and software acquisition, education and training of more staff, conversion of graphical maps to digital form, cadastre as a base for a GIS.

Switzerland (J. Kauffman) - Update Report

The mental change of public attitudes is now underway (see Fredericton report).
The first tenders for cadastral services have brought a cost reduction of 25-30% against official estimation.
Photogrammetry is being introduced more and more as a method in cadastral surveying.
Several Cantons are thinking about mixed-economy companies being responsible for the total cadastral survey work, including supervision and also distribution and marketing of the data.

United Kingdom (M. Griffiths) - Update Report

Domesday 2000 project will see a National Land Information System in place by year 2000, consisting of ownership, valuation, utility, land use and other data.
The Ordnance Survey has specific cost recovery targets and is responsible for digitising the mapping. The digitisation of map data was 100% completed in April 1995, ahead of schedule.
The Land Registry is a profit making government agency.
Common agricultural policy founded on area-based financial report will see the requirement for significant amounts of environmental data.
Momentum is beginning to grow for non-food cropping e.g. biomass used for energy and fibres for textiles.
Environmental Protection Act 1990 gives increasing environmental responsibility to owners and occupiers of land.
The design of new settlements are challenging the conventional views on settlement development.
Surveyors are examining their profession more closely due to competition from other sectors, analysing their markets and developing new skills.
Legislation will come into effect 1st September 1995 allowing freedom of contract for leasing and renting of agricultural land.
Legislation has been passed allowing electronic registration of data.

Yugoslavia (M. Gostovic)

Population 10 million, 23 million parcels, area 88,000 sq km.
90% of land is owned by the private sector, 10% of land is owned by the State
In 1930 a unified system of property registration, similar to Austria and Germany, was introduced.
The system consists of the cadastral register and the land register (belonging to the municipal courts).
The greater part of the survey work was conducted in the last 50 years and has been mostly performed by numerical methods and partly by photogrammetry.
The most difficult task has been data maintenance due to the large number of mutations, especially in urban areas.
In 1992, a new cadastral base came into force. The two registers have been bought together resulting in the "Cadastre of Real Estate", with the cadastral office now responsible for the combined register.
The descriptive component of the cadastre is completely automated, but not the land register.
The first steps have been made in automating the cadastral maps and this is the main task for the future.
The cadastre is financed by the State budget and users, with cost recovery of the system to be introduced.

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Last Modified: September 1996.