Overcoming major challenges to deliver land reform and spatial data in Ukraine

“The StateGeoCadastre faces four major challenges – war, budget constraints, land contamination, and updating maps of a vast geographical area within a very short timeline. In parallel, we are digitising services and re-aligning geospatial data strategies, we are trying to increase the level of public trust by launching new functionalities and geographic information systems, and we are also working to change the way citizens consider the StateGeoCadastre as a service-oriented service.”

Dmytro Makarenko

Acting Chairman, State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre

Continued implementation of Land Reform in Ukraine is developing tools to underpin better informed and more localised decision-making.

Significant achievements included modernisation of the State Land Cadastre (SLC) software, which now has additional functionalities for entering, displaying and extracting information. More than 1.2 million administrative services related to the SLC were provided by the state cadastral registrars of the StateGeoCadastre`s territorial offices in 2023.

StateGeoCadastre has also relaunched a pilot project to delegate the powers of state cadastral registrars to certified land engineers. As a result, certified land engineers can now register land plots, create land books, assign cadastral numbers, and provide extracts from the SLC, with registrars checking, confirming or rejecting their actions. As of 31 December 2023, 47 certified land engineers were empowered as state cadastral registrars and 1,400 applications were filed.

During the agricultural land market operation, StateGeoCadastre conducted market monitoring based on the informational exchange with the Property Rights Registry. The monitoring, which includes prices, quantity of the land parcels and area sold, is conducted weekly and is openly available on the StateGeoCadastre website. In 2024, StateGeoCadastre is planning to launch the automated public land relations monitoring system which will use data from nine state authorities.

Through its partnership with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), StateGeoCadastre continues progress towards operation of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), most recently with the production and acceptance of updated 1:10 000 topographic maps covering 509 km2. It also finalised the development of the NSDI geoportal which provides access to 20 geospatial datasets. Four use cases demonstrate different applications of the information available.

The launch of the State Cartographic Fund’s Geoportal has made it possible to provide executive authorities, institutional cartographic and geodetic funds, and local governments with validated topographic, geodetic, and cartographic data to reduce budgets and the cost of duplication. The geoportal means that geodetic, topographic and cartographic materials (topographic plans and maps of the entire scale range from 1:500 to 1:1 000 000), hydrographic and aerial survey materials are accepted by the State Cartographic and Geodetic Fund through a personal account based on a geographic information system.

Benefits

  • Continues implementation of Land Reform in Ukraine,

  • Supports decentralisation by developing tools that help better informed and more localised decision-making processes.

  • Increases income for local budgets and increases tax revenues as a result of more accurate and complete knowledge of property locations and values.

  • Improves transparency through access to public information, reducing corruption risks and minimising bureaucracy.

  • Increases the accuracy and up-to- dateness of spatial data.

  • Optimises time and resources required for completing the registration cycle through the introduction of a digitised process.

  • Provides a reliable and robust way for monitoring land relations.

Defining quality for users of Cadastral Map open data in The Netherlands

“Providing insight into quality of data is very important. Users have to know to what extent they can rely on data – especially when data is used for making policy or decisions that impact on people’s lives.”

Frank Tierolff

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

Since its release as open data, The Netherlands’ Cadastral Map has seen a tenfold increase in users.

Published by the Cadastre, Land Registry and Mapping Agency (Kadaster), it shows the location of parcels and boundaries to provide a graphic representation that is used mainly for orientation. Whilst professional users are aware of the map’s purpose, the assumption among open data users is that it can be used for exact measurements. This is not the case as only surveyors can provide information about exact measurements.

To make clear to everybody that the Cadastral Map is just for orientation purposes, Kadaster has developed a new feature: labels of quality for each represented boundary. These labels provide insight into the accuracy of the boundaries that are visualised on the Cadastral Map, and indicate their quality compared to actual boundaries in the terrain.

The new feature was developed by combining available data with labels automatically assigned by means of an algorithm.

The open dataset is published on the website for Public Services on the Map (www.pdok.nl) and contains views and downloads.

Benefits

  • Enables understanding of quality of Cadastral Map.

  • Provides an insight into accuracy of boundaries as shown on the Cadastral Map.

  • Saves users time and money if quality label is sufficient for their purposes and no further research is required.

  • Reduces potential risks in decision-making as the quality is determined by Kadaster, the data owner, rather than by users collecting and combing data themselves.

Accelerating the transition to a knowledge society in Switzerland

“Geoinformation is increasingly important for decisions in politics, the economy, civil society and everyday life. Geoinformation, as a part of digitisation, is accelerating the transition to a knowledge society. In addition, digitisation and digitalisation increase the availability and versatility of spatially-referenced data, giving users new opportunities to gain relevant knowledge from data. The Swiss Geoinformation Strategy provides a blueprint for the future development of swisstopo”

Fridolin Wicki

Head of swisstopo

The ‘Swiss Geoinformation Strategy’ was established in collaboration with stakeholders of the Swiss Geo-Community.

The strategy aims to make reliable, detailed, up-to-date and interoperable geoinformation accessible. It should be made available to all users in a simple, interlinked manner and, where appropriate, in real time. A large number of workshops, bringing together more than 30 representatives of the entire Swiss geo-community, were organised to draft the new strategy.

The Federal Council and the Swiss Conference of Directors of Public Works, Planning and Environmental Protection have ratified the ‘Swiss Geoinformation Strategy’. In it, they explain how they want to interconnect up-to-date, reliable geoinformation and make it easily accessible to everyone.

The Federal Coordinating Agency for Geoinformation and the Conference of Cantonal Geoinformation and Cadastral Survey Directors are responsible for its implementation.

The two bodies are implementing the strategy in collaboration with economic, scientific and political partners, as well as with the general public. The 2024 action plan is based on a strategic roadmap.

Benefits

  • Supports our daily decision-making with helpful, easily accessible bases.

  • Provides access to reliable, harmonised, nationwide geodata via reliable powerful interfaces.

  • Enables easy linking of non- spatial data with geodata and facilitated networking via open and standardised geoservices and common platforms.

  • Supports leadership and participation, as well as an agile approach fostering collective intelligence for knowledge generation and improving resilience capacity.

  • Improves integration of all users for the consideration and satisfaction of their needs.

  • Delivers wide-ranging, well-described geodata, services and an information pool for versatile use.

  • Preserves the common heritage and long-term availability of geodata, geoinformation and knowledge, as well as the necessary interfaces.

Providing insights to realise the potential of solar energy in Spain

“Energy efficiency is a priority of general interest, driven not only by economic reasons due to rising electricity and gas prices, but also for ecological and sustainability reasons. The IGN wanted to help users to know both the solar potential of their building and the optimal placement for solar panels.”

Lorenzo Garcia Asensio

Director General, National Geographic Institute, Spain

Citizens in Spain can assess whether solar energy is a viable option for their building thanks to a new service from the National Geographic Institute (IGN).

The viewer, developed from open-source software, uses a range of public data to assess solar potential, as well as the optimal placement for solar panels.

Users simply enter an address to locate the position of the building. The viewer then displays detailed building data, including the roof area, average, maximum and minimum solar potential, and total potential energy generated for one year.

The solar potential is calculated using data from buildings, a digital terrain model and solar radiation (PVGIS) obtained from different public administrations.

Benefits

  • Demonstrates the benefit of reusing public data.

  • Shows how Spain’s location is highly appropriate for realising 100% clean solar energy.

  • Enables citizens to know the solar potential of their building to decide whether to install solar panels for self-consumption.

  • Provides insights to identify the optimal location for solar panels.

  • Enables solar panel installation companies to gather more information.

  • Allows public administrations to estimate the solar energy potential of public buildings and improve the energy consumption of their premises.

Enabling easier and more efficient Cadastral updates from the Notaries offices in Spain

“The cadastral regulations themselves include collaboration as one of the guiding principles of the Spanish Cadastre, and the new system for exchanging information on physical alterations between the Notaries and the Cadastre allows it to be definitively enshrined.”

Fernando de Aragón Amunárriz

Director, General Directorate for Cadastre, Spain

Notaries in Spain can now use their own applications to modify and update the cadastral map through the electronic cadastre office.

The unique official seamless cadastral map, which is open and free for view and download, includes all private properties and public land in Spain. By law, citizens and all public administrations must declare any modification of the cadastral parcels and provide information with technical conditions defined by the cadastre to verify that the information is correct.

Tools are available for users so that they can easily reflect new boundaries in the cadastral map. Surveyors hired by the citizen, which is not obligatory in Spain, as well as technicians from public organisations, can download the boundary information and coordinates, make the modifications and provide the new ones using INSPIRE GML format.

By means of a validation process that guarantees the non- invasion of the adjoining titleholders or the public domain and, if adjoining properties are invaded asking the conformity of the neighbour, the cadastre updates the map. As Spain has a dual registration system for both cadastre and land registry, users can then obtain a descriptive cadastral and graphic certification for the deed and to register the new parcels.

Prior to 2023, Notaries communicated legal changes to parcels to the Cadastre and Registries. Now they can also communicate the physical changes in the parcels, generate validation reports, and once verified that the change either does not affect neighbours or a request for agreement has been made, the cadastral certificate and deed are sent directly to the Registry via the electronic office.

Benefits

  • Eliminates burdens on citizens as the Cadastre continues its evolution from a model based on citizen declarations to one of direct communication from the Notary.

  • Facilitates the exchange of graphic information in a more efficient and automated way.

  • Avoids transcription errors as the graphic data is created digitally and shared with everyone.

  • Allows Notaries to work simply and easily with graphical information
    to which they were not previously accustomed.

  • Enables significant progress towards the objective of achieving the greatest legal certainty in real estate transactions.

  • Allows the General Directorate for Cadastre to deepen collaboration with Notaries and land registrars.

Establishing a Joint Spatial Information Infrastructure for improved efficiency and decision-making in Slovenia

‘’Spatial information is becoming extremely important in today’s digital world. To further increase its impact and facilitate its development, it is vital to connect and set up a joint digital infrastructure. Establishing links between different institutions and data sources is crucial for improving efficiency and the quality of processes and provision of spatial information. Moreover, such joint infrastructure will allow us to better manage, plan and make decisions at all levels.’’

Tomaž Petek

Director General, Surveying and Mapping Authority of the Republic of Slovenia

Slovenia has successfully tested its joint infrastructure project as a tool to identify land for rebuilding in the aftermath of the 2023 floods.

The test version of the joint infrastructure combined several layers of data from different institutions, including orthophoto, waters, century waters, five-hundred years waters, and undeveloped building land. It was proven to be an effective tool for finding replacement land for destroyed homes and negotiations between the state authorities and municipalities.

The joint infrastructure is not only synonymous with IT solutions or equipment, it also includes processes, agreements, organisation, standards and, above all, people.

The Joint Spatial Information Infrastructure project is a part of Green Slovenian Location Framework - GreenSLO4D. It connects six participating institutions within the Ministry of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning and the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Energy. The goal of the project is to establish a national infrastructure for spatial information, which will be based on the United Nations Strategic Framework for Integrated Geospatial Information (IGIF) and will be supported by an effective management system and an empowered team.

Benefits

  • Enables digital transformation of the entire spatial, real estate, and environmental sector.

  • Optimises processes.

  • Improves support for users in need of services and data from various sectors.

  • Supports green transition – Recycle Space Slovenia (RSS).

  • Provides a decision-making tool for government that enables a comprehensive approach that takes all factors into account.

Ensuring accuracy of high-precision surveying in Slovakia

“Land surveying measurements requiring high accuracy must be carried out with surveying instruments that are calibrated at regular intervals. By building a state-of-the-art calibration baseline, we are enabling professional surveyors to check and calibrate their instruments to meet the strict requirements for carrying out high-precision surveying work.”

Ján Mrva

Head, Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre Authority of the Slovak Republic

Precision land surveying is being facilitated in the Slovak Republic by a national calibration facility for selected systems, instruments, and devices.

Established by the Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre Authority (UGKK SR), the Calibration Centre of Geodesy (CCG) unifies all calibration activities of geodesy and cadastre. The CCG consists of several laboratories that provide calibration activities for selected systems, instruments, and devices to enable high accuracy land surveying measurements.

Construction of a calibration baseline for testing and calibrating EDM (Electronic Distance Measurement) instruments began in 2020. The baseline consists of 7 pillars placed in a single line with a total length of 606 metres.

Reference measurements of the baseline were carried out between 2022 and 2023 to determine the individual lengths between pillars and their reference coordinates. In 2024, the calibration baseline will become operational together with the ‘calibration’ web application. In the future, UGKK SR plans to expand the baseline, so that GNSS instruments can also be calibrated there.

UGKK SR’s vision is for the CCG to become an accredited calibration facility that will issue calibration certificates. The certificate is a guarantee of the quality and accuracy of the instrument, and confirms its suitability for precise surveying measurements. At the same time, it aims to anchor the condition that precise surveying works may only be carried out with calibrated instruments in legislation.

Benefits

  • Establishes a state-of-the-art calibration baseline.

  • Unifies all calibration activities of geodesy and cadastre across the Slovak Republic.

  • Ensures precision measurement by enabling surveying instruments to be calibrated at regular intervals.

  • Enables professional surveyors to meet strict requirements for carrying out high-precision surveying work.

Significant progress towards completion of the general cadastre achieved in Romania

“I am very pleased with the significant progress achieved towards the realisation of the general cadastre in Romania. This will facilitate the government, the central, and the local authorities to take documented decisions. In addition, it will contribute to
the proportional increase in income from property taxation, will facilitate access to agricultural credits for small farmers and contribute to renewable energy projects by identifying locations for installations.”

Laurentiu Alexandru Blaga

Director General, National Agency for Cadastre and Land Registration, Romania

Completion of the general cadastre remains a national priority in Romania. The National Agency for Cadastre and Land Registration ended 2023 having delivered significant results accomplished through the National Cadastre and Land Registry Program (PNCCF).

To support this program, a national scale project was developed for the realisation of true-orthophoto plans
for urban areas. The project covers 320 administrative territorial units and is carried out within the National Mapping Centre. The National Mapping Centre is a public institution with legal personality and subordinated to the National Agency for Cadastre and Land Registration.

For the country’s capital, the city of Bucharest, images were acquired using the UltraCam 4.1 oblique photogrammetric camera. For the rest of the localities, the images were harvested with the UltraCam Eagle Mark or UltraCam Lp nadir photogrammetric cameras.

The results of the project, a true-orthophoto plan for the 320 UATs in the urban environment, will support the implementation of the systematic registration works and the quality verification of cadastral documentation prepared for the sporadic registration of properties.

The innovative oblique image acquisition technology presents multiple advantages for cadastral activity.

Benefits

  • Enables excellent visibility of roofs and facades, multiple views (including nadiral views).

  • Allows easy interpretation of building types (number of floors, footprints etc.).

  • Provides potential access to products delivered by the project to the central administration, local administrations and civil society.

  • Supports the further development of applications in areas such as:

    • -  Energy management (estimating the photovoltaic potential of building roofs, with the aim of producing renewable energy).

    • -  Monitoring heat losses of buildings and determination of energy losses.

    • -  Urban planning (realisation of General Urban Plans, preparation of urban planning documentation, generation or updating of topographical or thematic maps).

    • -  Identification of constructions erected without authorisation and verification of compliance with the conditions of building authorisation.

Delivering state-of-the-art remote sensing data for Portugal

“Remote sensing data is crucial for several sectors in Portugal. LiDAR data and very high-resolution satellite imagery acquired by modern sensors are an opportunity for obtaining very accurate spatial datasets, besides being a quick process to provide users with updated spatial information about the country. All these open datasets will promote a better knowledge of the territory. They will also encourage the development of further cartographic products useful for numerous public and private sector activities, in particular thematic and topographic cartography, land planning, forestry, water resources, land use and research, to mention just a few.”

Fernanda do Carmo

General Director, Directorate General for the Territory, Portugal

Two new highly accurate open datasets created using state-of-the-art sensors are promoting a better understanding of continental Portugal. The important landmark in remote sensing data is being achieved through LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), and very high spatial resolution satellite imagery coverage delivered by the Directorate General for Territory (DGT).

For decades, DGT has been regularly producing high resolution orthophotos using aerial photography of continental Portugal. The Azores and Madeira islands are not included and have specific coverages acquired by the regional public administration entities.

In 2021, it was decided to diversify these remote sensing data and to obtain derived products using different kinds of sensors for continental Portugal. Production of two datasets providing LiDAR and high spatial resolution satellite imagery began in 2023.

The LiDAR coverage is ongoing and is scheduled to end by the first trimester of 2025. The satellite imagery coverage from Pléiades Neo sensors was obtained during 2023 and the orthomosaics produced from these images will be available by the fourth trimester of 2024. Both products will be available for users free of charge.

LiDAR coverage main specifications:

  • Full territorial coverage of continental Portugal

  • Point Density: 10 points per m2

  • Vertical accuracy better than 10 cm

  • Full waveform LiDAR data

  • Additional 25 cm resolution aerial photography
    (4 bands – RGB and NIR) obtained simultaneously.

Very high-resolution satellites images specifications:

  • Full territorial coverage of continental Portugal
  • Sensors: Pléiades Neo 3 and Pléiades Neo 4
  • Panchromatic and 6 multispectral bands including, Red, Green, Blue, Near-Infrared, Red-Edge and Deep Blue
  • Spatial resolution of 30 cm for the panchromatic image and 1.2 m for the multispectral images
  • Radiometric resolution12 bits.

Benefits

• Creates complementary information resources suitable for several applications.

LiDAR data

  • Allows the generation of high- resolution Digital Terrain and Surface Models, as well as hydrographic 3D networks.

  • Helps significantly the production of vector topographic maps for 3D themes, contributing to future integration with the National Cartographic Database (BDNC).

Satellite imagery from Pléiades Neo sensors

  • Plays a decisive role in the production of thematic cartography, including the Land Cover Land Use Map (COS) produced regularly by DGT.
  • Provides an opportunity to apply automatic classification algorithms with very high-resolution satellite images to characterise land cover with unprecedented detail on a large scale.

 

Continuous development of easy-to-use e-services in Poland

“The Head Office of Geodesy and Cartography is focused on continuous development of e-services to ensure clarity and ease of use. Work is carried out continuously, allowing modern solutions to be gradually implemented. In particular, we are committed to the development and improvement of the national geoportal. To ensure an easy and accessible way for society to use spatial data, we have launched a new version of the geoportal.gov.pl website.”

Alicja Kulka

General Surveyor of Poland

As part of its commitment to enhancing e-services, Poland’s Head Office of Geodesy and Cartography (GUGiK) has launched a new version of the national geoportal.

The development brings not only aesthetic enhancements but, more importantly, practical solutions aimed at facilitating the use of valuable spatial resources available online for all users. The new website meets the requirements for web content accessibility, with the user- friendly interface designed to facilitate navigation and the retrieval of information.

A new mapping layout called ‘Spatial Planning’ has been added to facilitate access to information related to spatial development. Users can browse datasets related to spatial planning and development and generate a land report. This report serves as a valuable source of information regarding environmental threats and details of local development plans.

It generates various types of data, including:

Noise and Flood Hazard Maps; Spatial Planning; Legend related to the Geodetic Utilities Network System (GESUT) and Land and Building Register (EGIB) data; and Legend related to Landform.

The geoportal also delivers new types of data in the National Geodetic and Cartographic Resource (PZGIK): diagonal data and 3D mesh grid models which is available via the ongoing update of photogrammetric databases. In addition, users can access the fully automatic update of the Database of General Geographical Objects (BDOO), based on BDOT at 1:10 000 scale and can download BDOO collections from 2021-2023.

GUGiK is preparing programmes to modernise basic geodetic, gravimetric, and magnetic frameworks, the EUPOS ASG system, and to update of photogrammetric databases. The main objective of the photogrammetric programme is to ensure the currency and completeness of data collections for the country’s territory. With the introduction of this new data, GUGiK plans to acquire spatial data in three standards between 2024 to 2026. These are high-resolution photogrammetric data for urban areas, standard photogrammetric data for non-urban areas, and high-resolution photogrammetric data for urban areas
(full package).

In 2023, GUGiK (as Junior Partner) implemented the Twinning Project ‘Improving Spatial Data Services in the Republic of Moldova following EU standards’ in a consortium with Croatia and the Netherlands. The project included activities related to the development of e-administration, strengthening the institutional capacity of Agency for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre (ALRC) and the development of the spatial information infrastructure in the Republic of Moldova. It is worth emphasising that the project is considered as one of the best twinning projects implemented so far in the Republic of Moldova.

Benefits

  • Facilitates the use of valuable spatial resources available online for all users.

  • Provides environmental data and information on local development plans.

  • Enables access to updated and new types of data.

  • Prepares foundations for continued modernisation of frameworks and databases.