The Comprehensive Cadastre

By Jürg Kaufmann

Development of cadastres
The first cadasters date back to roman times to recover state owned lands that had been appropriated by private individuals, and thereby recover income from such holdings. With the fall of Rome the use of cadastral maps effectively discontinued. Medieval practice used written descriptions of the extent of land rather than using more precise surveys. In the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries did the use of cadastral maps resume, beginning in the Netherlands. Napoléon, after taking the power about 1800, commanded to survey the parcels and to install cadastral systems for the land taxation wherever he invaded. Since then the official cadastre systems were spreading over the world and they served for the documentation of land rights and for land taxation.

These purposes remained unchanged for a long time until the issues of overcrowding and environment protection became obvious mainly after World War II. Emission cadasters, pipeline cadasters and multi-purpose cadastre arose, in many cases as parallel facilities to the property cadastre.



In view of the developments taking place in the field of cadastre, FIG Commission 7 launched in 1994 a working group with the following terms of reference:

‘Study cadastral reform procedures as applied in developed countries, take into consideration automation of the cadastre and the role of the cadastre as part of a larger land information system, evaluate trends in this field and produce a vision of where cadastral systems will be in the next 20 years, show the means by which these changes will be achieved and describe the technology to be used in implementing these changes’.

The result of the work was published 1998 under the title CADASTRE 2014 – A Vision for a Future Cadastre System by the chair Jürg Kaufmann and the secretary Daniel Steudler with the Working Group 1 of FIG Commission 7.

CADASTRE 2014 after the publication was translated in about 30 languages (www.fig.net publications) and infl uenced the thinking about cadastral systems.

The brochure Cadastre 2014 launched six statements showing the developments expected in the next 20 years (Figure 2).



Statement 1 describes the idea of a Comprehensive Cadastre being a further development of the traditional cadastre to an infrastructure documenting not only the land property rights but also all the rights restrictions and responsibilities imposed on land by official or traditional whether written or unwritten regulations.

The Comprehensive Cadastre must cover a wider field than the traditional cadastre has since its introduction. The circumstances of the resource land have changed significantly since its inception.

During the development of the legal systems, the private laws were dominant. The constitutions of most countries defined the rights of the citizens, one of which is the guarantee to own property. Civil codes have reinforced this guarantee and defined clear procedures and institutions to protect the rights of citizens against alienation.

The growing world population and the development of new technologies lead to an intensified use of natural resources including land. To protect the natural resources from being totally consumed, damaged, or destroyed, the absolute right to use the natural resources was restricted in the name of the social necessity.



Especially after World War II, the number of new public laws grew significantly. Public law regulation of land use planning, environment protection, noise protection, construction laws, protection against danger caused by natural phenomena, etc. arose.

While these definitions under public law have an impact on the property rights of the landowner, they are not part of the official register. Despite the boundary definition process of the rights and restrictions defined under public law follows democratic legal rules, there is no boundary verification, no title verification, and no registration of the right in an official legal register.

Aside from land objects from private and public law, we can find a third category of legal land objects, namely areas where traditional rights, e.g. tribal land use rights exist. They can overlap other legal land objects, such as private property rights and public rights and restrictions, and concessions for the exploitation of natural resources. A feasible documentation of these traditional, customary rights, creating legal security, is often absent.

The Comprehensive Cadastre must correct this situation, which is becoming more and more precarious. It must document, in a safe manner, all legal aspects of land.

Structure of the comprehensive cadastre
The structure of the Comprehensive Cadastre is to follow the principle of legal independence stipulated by CADASTRE 2014.

The principle stipulates that:

• legal land objects, being subject to the same law and underlying a unique adjudication procedure, have to be arranged in one individual data layer; and

• for every adjudicative process defined by a certain law, a special data layer for the legal land objects underlying this process has to be created.

The Comprehensive Cadastre is therefore based on a data model, organized according to the legislation for the different legal land objects in a particular country or district.

While the traditional cadastre consists in general of one information layer representing the information about boundaries between different properties, in the Comprehensive Cadastre are added information layers representing the boundaries between land objects defined by different legal topics, which exist in a jurisdiction.

Daniel Steudler and Abbas Rajabifard designate this principle in the FIG Publication No 58 Spatially Enabled Society (Spatially Enabled Society FIG Publication Nr. 58) as institutional independence. With this term, they indicate that this structure is suitable to assign the responsibility for the data layers to the authority charged with the enforcement of a certain Act.

Precondition for the comprehensive cadastre
A further principle stipulated in Cadastre 2014:

To make sure that legally independent organized land objects can be combined, compared, and brought into relation to each other, it is necessary that they will be localized in a common reference system. The combination and comparison of the thus located land objects can be realized by the method of polygon overlaying. This method was published in already in 1973 by Kaufmann and Bigler [1973] (Kaufmann & Bigler: New Techniques in Land Consolidation).

The Comprehensive Cadastre will only function in an efficient manner when the relations between land objects can be derived from their location. This avoids links between land objects in different information layers. According to experience in many cases, traditional and distorted maps are anyway to be replaced by data sets located in a common reference system in order to enable modern geographic information systems be able to render the expected services.

Steps to implement a comprehensive cadastre successfully
Introduce the possibility for the Comprehensive Cadastre in your legal framework
It is wise to fix the principle of a Comprehensive Cadastre before starting with the setup. Switzerland decided to introduce the cadastre of Public Law restrictions on Landownership, which can be considered as a first step of the Comprehensive Cadastre. A short article was introduced in Switzerland’s Federal Act of 5 October 2007 on Geoinformation (Geoinformation Act) http://www. admin.ch/ch/e/rs/c510_62.html:

Cadastre of Public-law Restrictions on landownership
Art. 16 Subject matter and form

1. The Cadastre of public-law restrictions shall contain public-law restrictions on landownership rights which, in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Code are not part of the Land Register.

2. The Federal Council determines which official geodata under federal legislation are entered in the Cadastre of publiclaw restrictions.

3. The cantons may define additional official geodata of proprietary nature that must be recorded in the Cadastre of public-law restrictions.

4. The Cadastre of publiclaw restrictions shall be made available in electronic form either online or by any other method.

5. The Federal Council shall determine the minimum requirements with regard to the organization, management, data harmonization, methods and processes for the Cadastre of public-law restrictions.

In the Principality of Liechtenstein the legal base was laid in the Law on the official surveying as follows:

Documentation of the public-law restriction of the landownership
Art. 57 Basic principle

1) The public-law restrictions with geometric characteristic as, in particular land use and development plans, protection zones or building lines, are represented in specific information layers.

2) The government determines the spheres, were information layers are defined.

Develop an enactment on the Comprehensive Cadastre
Because the rules for the Comprehensive Cadastre are the same as those for the traditional cadastre a regulation can be kept short. In Switzerland we developed an Ordinance on the Cadastre of Public-law Restrictions on Landownership (PLR-Cadastre) with 33 articles regulating the details.



Introduce data and representation modeling as mandatory
One important aspect for the successful implementation is the provision to use data modelling for the description of all data topics of the Comprehensive Cadastre and representation models to define how these data are to be represented on maps or other documents.

Switzerland regulated this in the framework of the Federal Act of 5 October 2007 on Geoinformation. As modeling standard we use INTERLIS 2. Please consult www.interlis.ch for details.

Determine a responsible authority for the Comprehensive Cadastre
In every country a responsible authority must be designated to organize the Comprehensive Cadastre. To allocate this task to the authority already taking care of the traditional property cadaster seems to be appropriate and advantageous.

Scan your legal framework including traditional rules
A first task of the responsible authority is the scanning of the existing legal framework and also all existing unwritten traditional legal arrangements. As soon as a law or a regulation contains arrangements concerning maps, sketches, schemes, boundaries, building lines, etc., it is to be supposed that the respective land objects are candidates for inclusion in the Comprehensive Cadastre.



Identify the stakeholders
A further result of this scan shows the institutions responsible for the enforcement of the law. These institutions are the stakeholders to be involved in the implementation of the Comprehensive Cadastre. The further steps will be undertaken together with these stakeholders.

Create data models for all legal topics included into the Comprehensive
Cadastre It is important to describe all data of the Comprehensive Cadastre in a precise and easy to interpret manner in cooperation with the respective stakeholders. The modeling paradigm was launched by statement 3 of Cadastre 2014.

A tool for data modeling is determined in the ISO/TC211 – Geographic information/ Geomatics Standards. The ISO 19152 standard published in 2012 deals with the Land Administration Domain Model (LADM). The standard describes the data model with Entity-Relationship-Diagrams but does not offer automatic model and data checking possibilities.

Switzerland uses since 1993 the standardized data description language INTERLIS, which allows computer-assisted model and data checking. Recently the developers of the LADM from The Netherlands and Swiss data modelling specialists undertook an initiative to combine these modeling approaches by description of the LADM in INTERLIS 2 to profit from automatic checking facilities. Switzerland has developed data models for all data topics to be included in the Swiss PLR-Cadastre. The models are public and can be found on http://models.geo.admin.ch/

Identify the procedures for the definition of legal arrangements
Similar to the traditional cadastre the effective procedures are to be learned and pursued by to make sure the Comprehensive Cadastre works correctly. Sometimes these procedures are complicated and in many cases not handled correctly. It is worthwhile to analyze the procedures carefully and to take the opportunity to simplify them, if this is possible.

Develop a feasible IT-Infrastructure
A Comprehensive Cadastre is unthinkable without the help of IT. In a modern environment it makes sense to base the Comprehensive Cadastre on internet-technology.

In Switzerland’s PLR-Cadastre a modern solution GeoApp replacing WebGIS by Web-Application was chosen to realize an integration platform organizing the access to the different information systems of the stakeholders by governing the directories, controlling the access rights, integrate data from different sources, and managing the rules to be applied. Figure 10 shows the possible webapplication GeoApp used for the Swiss PLR-Cadastre. Further information can be found under www.fig.net/pub/fig2014/ papers/ss31/SS31_luethy_7031.pdf .

Wisdom of the ages to master the challenges of the modern world
The Comprehensive Cadastre is the tool containing the wisdom of the ages to master the challenges of the modern world. Based on the cadastral principles valid for thousands of years it helps to master the challenges of the modern world.



Base for the economic development
A sustainable economy is only possible on the base of a functioning land market. The traditional cadastre was for a long time the guarantor for the functioning land market. Meanwhile the traditional cadastre, neglecting publiclaw arrangements affecting the property right, tells only part of the truth. The Comprehensive Cadastre is a precondition for a sustainable economic development.

Regularization of informal legal conditions
Many countries suffer from informal conditions emerged in a time when the authorities have lost the control about developments. A reliable documentation of the existing unpleasant situation by a Comprehensive Cadastre is indispensable to master this challenge.

Poverty reduction
Sustainable poverty reduction can be achieved only when the citizen’s ownership rights are protected by a reliable infrastructure. The Comprehensive Cadastre is the tool to guarantee ownership taking into consideration the complete legal situation of land.

Prevention from land grabbing
Prevention from land grabbing implies a sound knowledge on the rights and restrictions concerning land. The tool for this is the Comprehensive Cadastre.

Implementation of Spatially Enabled Societies (SES)
To enable societies to deal with spatial information is a prerequisite for mastering the future challenges. The Comprehensive Cadastre is the base for the provision of reliable spatial information.

Land consolidation
Improvement of the efficient land use and the effective production of food and fibre needs complete and precise knowledge about the situation and the potential of resources. The existence of a Comprehensive Cadastre creates optimal starting conditions for land management measures.

Better planning
A Comprehensive Cadastre helps to improve and accelerate the planning processes.

References
Kaufmann J. Steudler Daniel (1998) Cadastre 2014 – A Vision for a Future Cadastral System. International Federation of Surveyors

Steudler D. Rajabifard, Editors (2012) Spatially Enabled Society. International Federation of Surveyors

ISO (2012) ISO19152:2012. Geographic Information – Land Administration Domain Model

Kaufmann J. Bigler H. (1970). New Techniques in Land Consolidation

Lüthy J. (2014) Geocentraleapps – an Integration Platform for a Spatially Enabled Society

The paper was presented at FIG Working Week, Sofia, Bulgaria, 17-21 May 2015.

Source: Coordinates

State of our countryside: Land use map of United Kingdom reveals large-scale changes in environment

This is the CORINE land cover map 2012 for the UK.Credit: University of Leicester


Large-scale changes to the environment of the United Kingdom, including an apparent loss of habitats and agricultural land, have been revealed through an updated national map of land cover launched by researchers at the University of Leicester together with consultancy company Specto Natura on 1 July.


The land cover map, which examines data from 2006 and 2012, is based upon a standardised classification system of 44 land cover and land use classes which are structured in a three tier system that shows how much of the UK is made up of artificial surfaces, agricultural areas, forest and semi-natural areas, wetlands and water bodies.

The 'Coordination of Information on the Environment' (CORINE) Land Cover (CLC) map forms the central part of the European Land Monitoring Service under the Copernicus Programme. It is a European-wide project gathering together information relating to the Environment within the European Union.

Professor Heiko Balzter, director of the Centre for Landscape and Climate Research at the University of Leicester and leader of the study, said: "Environmental information from satellites is hugely important to keep a check on the quality of life in the UK. The European land monitoring service turns satellite data into policy-relevant information. The CORINE map is the only consistent European information on land cover change that allows a comparison with our neighbours."

The land cover map depicts areas larger than 25 hectares (0.25 km2) and with a width of 100m. In addition, a land cover change map between 2006 and 2012, which detects changed areas larger than 5 hectares, has been produced.

Professor Balzter added: "For the reference year of 2012, this is the only land cover information available for the UK. At the scale of change mapping of 5 hectares or larger, there appears to be a loss of semi-natural habitats and agricultural land. The apparent decline in wetlands is particularly concerning.

"The maps show the need for a more detailed study of the state of our countryside, because of the technical limitations of the CORINE mapping approach at a coarse spatial scale."

Key findings from the 2006-2012 land cover map are:

• An area of 225,200 hectares (over 2,250 km2) or 1% of the total area of the UK showed a change in land cover / use from 2006 to 2012. Altogether, 167 different types of change were seen from the satellite images.
• The changes are dominated by forest management, therefore their concentration is higher in Scotland and Wales, following the distribution of managed forest.
• Forestry: The dominant change was clear-cutting of coniferous forest (over 100,000 hectares). Almost 50,000 hectares were regrowing or being replanted with coniferous forest. Clear cutting far exceeded replanting of coniferous forest, however the slow regrowth of forest is more difficult to map consistently.
• Forest loss: Nearly 3,000 hectares of coniferous forests were cleared for industrial development. Conversion of coniferous forest to industrial and mineral extraction sites largely relates to the erection of wind turbines in upland areas, mainly in Scotland. Wind farms fall into the industrial land cover class in the European system. The rate of conversion of land to sport and leisure facilities, mainly golf courses at this scale, continues to decline. Clear cutting of mixed forests accounted for another ca. 3,000 hectares.
• Urban expansion: Changes of a range of other cover types to artificial surfaces indicate urbanisation. Over 7,000 hectares were converted from forest to artificial surfaces, and over 14,000 hectares changed from agricultural areas to artificial surfaces. Over 1,000 hectares were converted from wetlands to artificial surfaces. Completion of construction sites in urban areas made up nearly 3,000 hectares and completed new industrial and commercial developments just over 1,000 hectares.
• Loss of arable land: Over 3,000 hectares of arable land and 2,000 hectares of pastures were converted to mineral extraction sites. Over 2,000 hectares of arable land and 2,000 hectares of pasture land were converted to construction sites, but nearly 2,000 hectares of mineral extraction sites were converted back to pasture land. Pasture land converted to arable land made up over 1,000 hectares. Some agricultural land was planted with forest and some changed to wetlands.
• The most dominant land cover type in the UK in 2012 remains agricultural land, followed by forest and semi-natural vegetation. Artificial surfaces represent 8% of the country with the majority being urban settlements.

In addition to the new land cover map, the previous 2006 land cover map has also been corrected by the team and updated to make sure the change results more closely reflect reality.

The 2006 revision and 2006-2012 change maps were produced by visual interpretation of optical and near-infrared satellite images provided by the European Space Agency with a spatial resolution of 20m, supplemented with higher spatial resolution images with 5m pixels. The 2012 map was produced in a GIS operation adding the revised database and the change database.

Dr Beth Cole, postdoctoral researcher from the University of Leicester's Department of Geography in charge of the map production, said: "The production of the 2012 CLC map and the detection of land cover change between 2006 and 2012 shows a continuing trend in the UK landscape of the rotation of clear-cutting and regrowth associated with forest management and a growth in artificial surfaces associated with urban expansion.

"Monitoring like this at a National and European scale is key to allow us to identify these broad landscape scale changes. With a significant improvement on the previous version of the 2006 map, as well as the 2012 update, this study provides data for a large number of users and can be fed into a wide range of research topics and applications."

The interpretation of satellite images took two years and was carried out with funding by the European Union, supported by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the European Environment Agency (EEA).

Initiated in 1985, the 2012-based land cover map is the 4th generation of the CORINE map, providing consistent geographical information across Europe.

Previous maps were produced for the years 1990, 2000 and 2006.

Dr Geoff Smith, director at Specto Natura Ltd., added: "We have been involved in the CORINE at UK and European levels since the 2000 iteration. Although not always relevant at the local scale, CORINE is an important initiative demonstrating continental-wide environmental monitoring and placing the UK in a broad European context.

"The European Sentinel satellites and harmonisation activities such as the EAGLE Group will drive and improve the future CORINE and high-resolution layer iterations producing a paradigm shift in the information that will be available freely and repeatedly to practitioners and policy makers responsible for environmental monitoring."

The CORINE land cover maps have many real-world applications. As a freely available dataset they can be used in any agency or business.

Examples of previous uses include land management, insurance companies, planning regulations, population disaggregation, forest mapping, green infrastructure, land fragmentation assessment, studies of the urban heat island effect and flood risk mapping.

The maps have informed environmental policy in the fields of climate change, nature conservation and biodiversity, natural resources, environmental health and quality of life.

They have also found uses in research of biodiversity, crop yield monitoring, ecosystem services, the water cycle, urban sprawl and wildfire management.

A new set of products for this iteration are the high-resolution layers (HRLs) on land cover characteristics. These provide maps at 100m spatial resolution of impervious surfaces (roads, buildings and others sealed surfaces), tree cover density, forest type, permanent grassland, wetlands and permanent water bodies.

These are produced by commercial service providers and have been checked by the University team as part of verification and enhancement processes.

The HRLs are currently being revised by the EEA and the service providers and will be officially launched in October 2015 during the "New horizons for European and Global land monitoring" event be organised by the European Environment Agency and the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, supported by DG GROW.

The event will cover the whole range of products, from the local, pan-European and global components and also the in-situ component.

Chris Steenmans, Head of ICT and data management at the EAA added: "The EEA is very pleased to have the collaboration of countries in a European project that already reached its fourth edition and which provides very valuable information to support its regular assessments and reports."

Further information: http://www.eea.europa.eu/soer


Story Source:
The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of Leicester. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Article source: Science Daily