Search Results (46)

In Brazil, approximately 16.4 million people (8.1% of the population) live in informal settlements (favelas), with Rio de Janeiro among the most heavily affected. This situation results from rapid rural–urban migration and unplanned urbanization, leading to persistent land tenure conflicts, exemplified by the decades-long struggle in the Santa Luzia favela. This study demonstrates how participatory geospatial methodologies can support land regularization while preventing displacement. Unlike conventional participatory mapping studies that often prioritize community empowerment over technical precision or, conversely, state-led cadastres that prioritize accuracy over local participation, this study integrates two complementary frameworks: counter-cartographies (to redress power asymmetries) and fit-for-purpose land administration (to ensure minimal technical standards for tenure security). Through a university–community collaboration, a low-cost cadastral survey of Santa Luzia was conducted using remotely piloted aircraft photogrammetry to generate high-resolution orthoimagery (2 cm ground sample distance), GIS vectorization integrated with resident interviews and local knowledge, and spatial analysis compliant with local technical standards. The findings demonstrate three specific innovations: (1) methodological: volunteer students and community residents co-produced cartography achieving 2 cm precision, meeting legal requirements for land regularization without expensive professional surveys; (2) participatory: unlike purely community-led mapping that may lack legal enforceability or top-down systems that exclude local knowledge, this model embeds participatory data collection within Brazil’s Social Interest Regularization (REURB-S) framework, ensuring both grassroots legitimacy and state recognition; and (3) policy-making: the project operationalizes counter-cartographies not as symbolic resistance but as a legally compliant pathway to tenure security, offering a transferable model for democratizing land administration in informal settlements while challenging exclusionary urban planning. Full article

Positional accuracy in cadastral data is fundamental for secure land tenure and efficient land administration. However, many land administration systems (LASs) experience difficulties to meet accuracy standards, particularly when data come from various sources or historical maps, leading to disruptions in land transactions. This study investigates the use of unsupervised clustering algorithms to identify and characterize systematic spatial error patterns in cadastral maps. We compare Fuzzy c-means (FCM), Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (DBSCAN), and Gaussian Mixture Models (GMMs) in clustering error vectors using two different case studies from Greece, each with different error origins. The analysis revealed distinctly different error structures: a systematic rotational pattern surrounding a central random-error zone in the first, versus localized gross errors alongside regions of different discrepancies in the second. Algorithm performance was context-dependent: GMMs excelled, providing the most interpretable partitioning of multiple error levels, including gross errors; DBSCAN succeeded at isolating the dominant systematic error from noise. However, FCM struggled to capture the complex spatial nature of errors in both cases. Through the automated identification of problematic regions with different error characteristics, the proposed approach provides actionable insights for targeted, cost-effective cadastral renewal. This aligns with fit-for-purpose land administration principles, supporting progressive improvements towards more reliable cadastral data and offering a novel methodology applicable to other LASs facing similar challenges. Full article

This article presents social research, conducted through interviews with experts involved in land administration in Colombia, on the possibility of using the Fit-For-Purpose methodology, combined with indirect methods, to accelerate the capture of cadastral data. The experts were asked about the design of a data capture system, using a mobile application, to acquire data on properties and their approximate coordinates, as well as the data of their owners, where the owners themselves are the ones who declare these data. A functional prototype has also been developed and tested in Spain. Results: The design is well received, understood as a declaration by owners, especially in rural areas; further processing of the information by technicians of the competent authority is necessary; involving the population has a positive impact on the perception that owners have regarding cadastral processes; some technical and training challenges must be taken into account, to ensure consistency and quality in the data collected; and the prototype tests demonstrate, due to the low GPS accuracy of mobile phones, that the identification of boundaries over a base map is possible in properties of one hectare or more. Full article

Today, population growth, high urbanization rates, and global agenda issues have led to the intensive use of land and air and water spaces, and cadastral systems that manage the people–land relationship have evolved into a multi-purpose form that supports various land-based activities. This situation has necessitated the modernization of traditional land administration and cadastral systems to manage the people–land relationship effectively. This study conducts a literature review on current cadastral trends emerging from the perspective of modern land administration systems (LASs). A total of 367 studies published in the Web of Science (WoS) database in the last decade on 3D cadastre, technical infrastructure cadastre, maritime cadastre, public law restriction (PLR) cadastre, fit-for-purpose land management, and disaster-sensitive cadastral trends are analyzed. The study aims to analyze the interest of the land administration community in current cadastral trends and present the results. The analysis results show that the most researched trend is 3D cadastre, and the least researched trends are PLRs cadastre and disaster-responsive cadastre. LADM stands out as a widely used framework across the studies. Full article

In developing nations, such as Ekiti State, Nigeria, the utilization of remotely sensed data, particularly satellite and UAV imagery, remains significantly underexploited in land administration. This limits multi-resolution imagery’s potential in land governance and socio-economic development. This study examines factors influencing UAV adoption for land administration in Nigeria, mapping seven rural, peri-urban, and urban sites with orthomosaics (2.2 cm to 3.39 cm resolution). Boundaries were manually delineated, and parcel areas were calculated. Using the 0.05 m orthomosaic as a reference, the Horizontal Radial Root Mean Square Error (RMSEr) and Normalized Parcel Area Error (NPAE) were computed. Results showed a consistent increase in error with increasing resolution (0.1 m to 1 m), with RMSEr ranging from 0.053 m (formal peri-urban) to 2.572 m (informal rural settlement). Formal settlements with physical demarcations exhibited more consistent values. A comparison with GNSS data revealed that RMSEr values conformed to the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) Class II and III standards. The research demonstrates physical demarcations’ role in facilitating cadastral mapping, with formal settlements showing the highest suitability. This study recommends context-specific imagery resolution to enhance land governance. Key implications include promoting settlement typology awareness and addressing UAV regulatory challenges. NPAE values can serve as a metric for assessing imagery resolution fitness for cadastral mapping. Full article

Cybersecurity risk management in land administration systems is crucial for maintaining the integrity of spatial cadastral data, which faces increasing threats owing to the digital transformation of LAS. This research validates the findings of this preliminary step in the form of a cyber risk management methodology that combines BPMN 2.0 with model business processes implemented by a compliance-based approach using EBIOS Risk Manager. A practical case of land parcel subdivision in Indonesia is analysed to serve as a proof of concept for our proposed methodology. Vulnerabilities are identified and are characterised by a concentration of manual tasks and the absence of systematic controls, resulting in significant risks to data integrity. These findings underscore the urgent need for a proactive approach to strengthen the cyber resilience of LAS. This study attempts to develop a fit-for-purpose reference methodology for cyber risk management specifically tailored to LAS to identify and treat vulnerabilities, threats, risks, and impacts. Full article

Millions of formal and informal land rights are still undocumented worldwide and there is a need for scalable techniques to facilitate that documentation. In this context, sketch mapping based on printed high-resolution satellite or aerial imagery is being promoted as a fit-for-purpose land administration method and can be seen as a promising way to collect cadastral and land use information with the community in a rapid and cost-effective manner. The main disadvantage of paper-based mapping is the need for digitization to facilitate the integration with existing land administration information systems and the sustainable use of the data. Currently, this digitization is mostly done manually, which is time-consuming and error-prone. This article presents the SmartLandMaps approach to land rights mapping and digitization to address this gap. The recording involves the use of sketches during participatory mapping activities to delineate parcel boundaries, and the use of mobile phones to collect attribute information about spatial units and land rights holders. The digitization involves the use of photogrammetric techniques to derive a digital representation from the annotated paper maps, and the use of computer vision techniques to automate the extraction of parcel boundaries and stickers from raster maps. The approach was deployed in four scenarios across Africa, revealing its simplicity, versatility, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. It can be regarded as a scalable alternative to traditional paper-based participatory land rights mapping. Full article

Fit-for-purpose land administration (FFPLA) seeks to simplify cadastral mapping via lowering the costs and time associated with conventional surveying methods. This approach can be applied to both the initial establishment and on-going maintenance of the system. In Ethiopia, cadastral maintenance remains an on-going challenge, especially in rapidly urbanizing peri-urban areas, where farmers’ land rights and tenure security are often jeopardized. Automatic Feature Extraction (AFE) is an emerging FFPLA approach, proposed as an alternative for mapping and updating cadastral boundaries. This study explores the role of the AFE approach for updating cadastral boundaries in the vibrant peri-urban areas of Addis Ababa. Open-source software solutions were utilized to assess the (semi-) automatic extraction of cadastral boundaries from orthophotos (segmentation), designation of “boundary” and “non-boundary” outlines (classification), and delimitation of cadastral boundaries (interactive delineation). Both qualitative and quantitative assessments of the achieved results (validation) were undertaken. A high-resolution orthophoto of the study area and a reference cadastral boundary shape file were used, respectively, for extracting the parcel boundaries and validating the interactive delineation results. Qualitative (visual) assessment verified the completed extraction of newly constructed cadastral boundaries in the study area, although non-boundary outlines such as footpaths and artifacts were also retrieved. For the buffer overlay analysis, the interactively delineated boundary lines and the reference cadastre were buffered within the spatial accuracy limits for urban and rural cadastres. As a result, the quantitative assessment delivered 52% correctness and 32% completeness for a buffer width of 0.4 m and 0.6 m, respectively, for the interactively delineated and reference boundaries. The study proposed publicly available software solutions and outlined a workflow to (semi-) automatically extract cadastral boundaries from aerial/satellite images. It further demonstrated the potentially significant role AFE could play in delivering fast, affordable, and reliable cadastral mapping. Further investigation, based on user input and expertise evaluation, could help to improve the approach and apply it to a real-world setting. Full article

Despite the significant and explicit focus on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), much of the world’s land rights remain unrecorded and outside formal government systems. Blame is often placed on land administration processes that are considered slow, expensive, and expertise-dependent. Fit-For-Purpose Land Administration (FFPLA) has been suggested as an alternative, time and cost-effective approach. Likewise, the UN endorsed Framework for Effective Land Administration (FELA) demands attention to worldwide tenure insecurity by directly linking it to responsible land administration. Implementation of FFPLA and FELA is country-context dependent, and there are now many lessons of execution from various jurisdictions. Undertaken in 2022, this study synthesizes a review of experiences to provide a further update on the best global FFPLA implementation practices and inform approaches for future FFPLA projects. A systematic review is adopted as the research methodology, and contemporary articles from the internationally recognized land administration discourse are examined. The studies focus on FFPLA implementation practices and innovative approaches for delivering land tenure security. A checklist is developed, based on the FELA strategic pathways and the FFPLA fundamental framework principles and characteristic elements, to identify best implementation practices. Success stories across the globe show that the FFPLA characteristic elements and the FELA pathway goals are achieved through effective execution of the FFPLA framework key principles. As a result, the study identified successful FFPLA implementation practices in Asia and Africa, which can be synthesized and extended to realize tenure security in rapidly urbanizing areas. However, further study is necessary to determine the efficacy, practicability, innovativeness, and transferability of the best practices to other land administration scenarios. Full article

Secure land and natural resource rights are key ingredients for rural transformation, social inclusion, and the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals. In many cases, these rights are not formally recorded, and statutory land administration systems are inaccessible to rural communities. The rapid development of geospatial technologies and systems, combined with participatory methods for social empowerment, have contributed significantly to addressing these challenges and in developing fit-for-purpose land administration/land recordation systems that promote land tenure security, but with the plethora of options currently available, it is challenging to know which technologies are appropriate for what circumstances and purposes. This paper reports on the findings from a joint FAO/IFAD project that addresses this problem. Thirteen one-hour interviews were conducted with knowledgeable experts to showcase which technologies are being used for what purposes and by whom, the associated benefits and challenges, and what the future may hold. We conclude that technologies are best used in partnership with communities and as integrated solutions, that successful implementations must incorporate maintenance plans, and that the real challenge is not the technology–it is the social, legal, and political context. These findings are useful for governments, NGOs, academia, donors, and others involved in land-related projects aimed at benefitting small-scale farmers. Full article

The National Program of Systematic Land Registration aims to register all land property in Romania by 2023. The goal has proven difficult to achieve, as by June 2022 only 4% of the localities in the country were completed. The aim of this research is to find the similarities and differences between the fit for purpose principles of land administration for the spatial framework and the practices in The Romanian National Program of Systematic Land Registration. This is the first study that analyzes the Romanian land registration program through the lens of the fit for purpose concept. The research shows that there are similarities with the fit for purpose spatial framework principles for the use of aerial images and the participatory nature of the process. However, The National Program of Systematic Land Registration uses almost exclusively fixed boundaries and does not have different standards of accuracy and procedures for incremental improvement. Registering the parcels earlier in the process, flexibility for accuracy, and technical standards and regulations for incremental improvement of the system can speed up the registration in a fit for purpose manner. Full article

Remotely sensed data is increasingly applied across many domains, including fit-for-purpose land administration (FFPLA), where the focus is on fast, affordable, and accurate property information collection. Property valuation, as one of the main functions of land administration systems, is influenced by locational, physical, legal, and economic factors. Despite the importance of property valuation to economic development, there are often no standardized rules or strict data requirements for property valuation for taxation in developing contexts, such as Rwanda. This study aims at assessing different remote sensing data in support of developing a new approach for property valuation for taxation in Rwanda; one that aligns with the FFPLA philosophy. Three different remote sensing technologies, (i) aerial images acquired with a digital camera, (ii) WorldView2 satellite images, and (iii) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) images obtained with a DJI Phantom 2 Vision Plus quadcopter, are compared and analyzed in terms of their fitness to fulfil the requirements for valuation for taxation purposes. Quantitative and qualitative methods are applied for the comparative analysis. Prior to the field visit, the fundamental concepts of property valuation for taxation and remote sensing were reviewed. In the field, reference data using high precision GNSS (Leica) was collected and used for quantitative assessment. Primary data was further collected via semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. The results show that UAVs have the highest potential for collecting data to support property valuation for taxation. The main reasons are the prime need for accurate-enough and up-to-date information. The comparison of the different remote sensing techniques and the provided new approach can support land valuers and professionals in the field in bottom-up activities following the FFPLA principles and maintaining the temporal quality of data needed for fair taxation. Full article

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) may facilitate the implementation of fit-for-purpose land administration (FFPLA); however, the approach can be compromised when funding for land registration is insufficient or donor projects end. This paper aims to introduce a new form of PPP to the literature on FFPLA, further extending the discourse and options available on PPPs for FFPLA. A background review finds that whilst PPPs have had long standing application in land administration, there is room to explore approaches that seek increased involvement of non-conventional land sector actors. A case study methodology is applied to analyse recent developments of FFPLA in Côte d’Ivoire that includes a partnership between the government and a consortium of private sector companies. Results describe the novelty, challenges, opportunities, and success factors for the approach, when compared to existing forms of PPPs. It is found that the innovative partnership approach may create novel avenues for financing FFPLA in developing countries and for more active forms of participation of the private sector in improved land tenure governance. The model potentially creates sustainable buy-in from private sector corporations, who whilst not conventionally closely undertaking land administration efforts, rely intrinsically on it to achieve corporate social responsibility objectives. Full article

Land administration is established to manage the people-to-land relationship. However, it is believed that 70% of the land in developing countries is unregistered. In the case of Ecuador, the government has an ambitious strategy to implement a national cadaster on the full territory in a short time period. Therefore, the objective of this study was the assessment of land administration in Ecuador based on the fit-for-purpose approach as an assessment framework. A literature review was performed on the topic of land administration, including guidelines for improvement and assessment frameworks. The basic concept of fit-for-purpose land administration was reviewed with the three frameworks, which are: spatial, legal, and institutional. Interviews and focus group discussions were performed in Ecuador for collecting primary and secondary data about land administration in this country. Results from these activities are presented and discussed using the structure of the basic concept of fit-for-purpose land administration with the three frameworks. It was found that during the field data collection precise land survey of fixed boundaries was performed and around 55–60 attributes per parcel were collected as a part of the field land survey in Ecuador. Based on the findings, discussions were developed, and a score table was created identifying which principles should be addressed if rapid mapping and land registration are desired by the government of Ecuador to be implemented on the whole territory in a short time period. Finally, the paper ends with conclusions and recommendations. Full article