A geospatial approach to strategic asset management in Northern Ireland

“Underpinning land and property assets with geospatial information and unique identifiers has been a transformative breakthrough for strategic asset management within Northern Ireland. The ability to view different Departments’ asset information together and to drive the spatial linkage of data related to those assets from across government is a powerful tool to enable more informed and effective asset management practices.”

Dr Suzanne McLaughlin

Chief Survey Officer, Director of Ordnance Survey Northern Ireland

The Government Land and Property Asset Management Programme is building a central geospatial database of all Government-owned and occupied land and property in Northern Ireland (NI), covering 135 fields of information and incorporating unique identifiers known as Fusion IDs for each asset, to support the efficient and effective management of public services.

The team worked to locate and map all NI government owned and occupied land and property by researching information held on a vast range of government databases in various formats, on a department-by-department basis.

Once located, both buildings and land parcel assets were attributed with a Fusion ID from the large-scale mapping. The identifier is a unique 36 Character GUID allocated to all Ordnance Survey Northern Ireland (OSNI) Fusion features.

By allocating the Fusion IDs to the assets it facilitates a linkage to other NI government databases and pioneers the embedding of Fusions IDs across government.

A web application was developed allowing the user easy access to the asset information and to report on the data based on requirements, with a light version of the data available on the NI open data portal OpenDataNI to promote transparency.

Benefits

  • Drives the embedding of OSNI Fusion IDs across government to facilitate a joined-up approach to data collection and management.

  • Delivers a robust GLPR Database to facilitate data driven, informed strategic and day-to-day decision making.

  • Will help enable reductions of the net cost of service delivery through the efficient use of public sector assets by supporting effective asset management processes that unlock value.

  • Provides data to improve key business processes which ensure better service delivery, increased capacity, a reduction of operating costs and increased customer satisfaction.

  • Establishes consistent and reasonable ways of working across departments and provides a firm foundation for assurance, risk management and capacity and capability improvements.

  • Drives better and more easily accessible information on land and property assets, which a variety of internal and external stakeholders can access, improving accountability and transparency.

  • Increases protection of central government interests through the registration of all central government land in the Land Registry.

Modernising the spatial data infrastructure in Moldova

“Completion of the EU-funded twinning project ‘Improving Spatial Data Services in the Republic of Moldova following EU standards’ has modernised Moldova’s spatial data infrastructure. Thanks to the activities carried out by project, a stronger adaptation of work processes to European standards was possible and the operational capacities of the Agency for Geodesy, Mapping and Cadastre and other public entities were strengthened.”

Ivan Danii

Director General, Agency for Geodesy, Mapping and Cadastre of the Republic of Moldova

Improved e-government, spatial data exchange and cooperation has been achieved in Moldova through the implementation of a twinning project financed by the European Union (EU).

The three-year ‘Improving Spatial Data Services in the Republic of Moldova following EU standards’ project was implemented by the Agency for Geodesy, Mapping and Cadastre of the Republic of Moldova and a consortium of three EU member states. The Croatian State Geodetic Administration (SGA) was the lead partner, with the Polish Head Office for Geodesy and Cartography (GUGiK) and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) as junior partners. The Croatian Central Financing and Contracting Agency (CFCA) provided administrative and financial management.

The general objective was to improve e-government, spatial data exchange and cooperation between interested parties through the modernisation of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). The results include the development of the national geoportal – https://inds.gov. md – as a single point of access to spatial data. In addition, the legal framework and preparation of NSDI strategic development documents were updated. These activities have empowered employees from various ministries and state agencies working with spatial datasets and related services.

During the project implementation, the Agency for Geodesy, Mapping and Cadastre benefited from technical and professional assistance in harmonising legislation with the INSPIRE Directive and its associated implementing rules/norms. Partner institutions within the EU member states also offered support to ensure the institutional NSDI capacities of the Agency and other public entities are strengthened.

In total, more than 60 central and local public entities from the academic and private sectors participated in various capacity-building and lifelong learning activities in the field of spatial data.

Additionally, a pilot project was implemented for the testing and implementation of spatial data standardisation guidelines developed by experts from the member states, was implemented in partnership with relevant public institutions from the Republic of Moldova. The pilot project, which was implemented in partnership with relevant public institutions in Moldova, focused on the Ungheni region, covering both the municipal and district level.

Benefits

  • Provides a single point of access to spatial data.

  • Adapts and aligns work processes to European standards.

  • Empowers employees from various ministries and state agencies working with spatial datasets and related services.

  • Strengthens operational capacities of the Agency for Geodesy, Mapping and Cadastre and other public entities.

  • Improves e-government, spatial data exchange and cooperation between interested parties.

Supporting green energy transition in Lithuania with insights on solar potential

“More than a decade ago, the Centre of Registers created a map of the geoinformation environment (REGIA) for municipalities to facilitate their daily functions. Today, we are developing this map as a national platform for open data and public services of the Centre of Registers. From this year, the REGIA map will offer a possibility to learn about the output of the solar power plant installed on the roof of a particular building. This data may become the first step in assessing our ability to start producing electricity from renewable energy sources.”

Adrijus Jusas

Director General, State Enterprise Centre of Registers, Lithuania

State Enterprise Centre of Registers is providing data to support green energy transition in Lithuania by enabling people to decide whether to invest in solar panels.

Increased investment in renewable energy, and in particular solar power, means people want to know the annual potential of installing rooftop panels. Such decisions are now easier after completion of a new layer of data on the national geoinformation environment map, REGIA.

The Centre of Registers, in cooperation with various state institutions and companies, displays a wide range of data on REGIA. This includes engineering infrastructure and transport objects, cultural and natural heritage objects, territories with special land use conditions, and renewable energy sources.

Based on publicly available data, the new layer enables users to assess the potential of solar energy for the roofs of buildings. By combining this data with the data in the Real Property Register, which is managed by the Centre of Registers, the indicative annual solar energy potential for the roofs of buildings is calculated and displayed.

People and businesses across Lithuania are increasingly investing in renewable energy sources, not only to contribute to sustainable development but also to save money.

Benefits

  • Residents and businesses can assess their annual electricity consumption and compare the results with the potential solar energy output.

  • Provides possibility of finding out the roof area suitable for solar power panels and the quantity of solar panels needed to produce energy.

  • Allows users to evaluate the factors that affect construction of solar power panels, for example protected buildings.

  • Enables residents and businesses with suitable buildings to contact solar panel service providers.

Modernising the Latvian Cadastre to deliver vital real estate data

"Today, we can claim with confidence that our Cadastre is an important source of building data. This is important for real estate developers who are currently rebuilding various structures constructed in previous years, for authorities investigating various accidents, for entrepreneurs who are looking forward to developing adjacent areas of their businesses, and for all other real estate owners. Given the rapid pace of real estate development in Europe, countries without a central building registration system are considering introducing one in recognition of its long-term national importance. The State Land Service of Latvia has done much research and planning to achieve modernisation. This will continue and will contribute significantly to our country’s future growth.”

Vita Narnicka

Director General, State Land Service, Latvia

Latvia has successfully completed a project to modernise the Cadastre information system and develop data services.

The initiative, which was supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and carried out over 26 months, is realising improvements across a wide range of services.

Modernisation of the Cadastral Map, both the map database and the work environment of the employee, is making everything as efficient and intuitive as possible.

In addition to implementing a solution for real estate valuation, the project has also delivered improvements to the public e-service ‘My data in Cadastre’ and 10 new datasets that are now available on the Latvian Open Data Portal.

Although the objectives set during the project have been successfully achieved, the work on modernisation and improvement of the Cadastre will continue in 2024. This includes work on a single platform for all Cadastre processes which will provide convenient services in terms of quality, speed and costs, and ensure business processes are compliant with modern requirements and standards.

Benefits

  • Improves the operational processes of eight services.

  • Introduces a data structure to improve the registration process of the Cadastre objects.

  • Changes are made to the application software modules in the systems maintained by the Latvian State Radio and Television Centre and the State Electronic Communications Centre.

  • Improves three data exchange flows between the Cadastre and other system

  • The State Land Service has switched to a PostgreSQL v16 database and now use QGIS v3.28. Previously, it used Bentley MicroStation V8.1. The previous platform was implemented as far back as 2005 and was based on Oracle Database 10g.

Archive aerial imagery supports climate resilience, education and research in Iceland

“Digitising Iceland’s historical aerial images fulfills a long-standing dream of the National Land Survey. The interactive web application format opens this valuable archive for research, education and anyone curious about Iceland’s ever-changing landscapes.”

Gunnar H Kristinsson

Director General, National Land Survey of Iceland

Iceland has released its aerial imagery archive as open data to provide a resource that enables a greater understanding of landscape changes for a wide range of uses.

The National Land Survey of Iceland has digitised and mosaicked most of its historical aerial image archive, making the images available as map layers online and available for download as open data that is free for all to use. This digitisation allows for preservation and dissemination of the valuable archive, which spans back to the 1930s and captures changes in Iceland throughout its history as an independent nation.

To create map layers, film rolls from the archive were first scanned into digital format, then automated methods using satellite imagery as reference were used to geolocate and mosaic images.

In addition to map layers, metadata containing information about the flight survey was attached to the resulting image mosaics, allowing the images to be searched in a more user-friendly manner. Distribution of the archive is through a web viewer and as a Web Map Service (WMS) layer. The data is available both in Icelandic and English.

Benefits

  • Makes valuable historical imagery publicly available to all.

  • Helps to build a strategy for climate resilience by providing resources for understanding landscape changes in response to climate change, such as glacier retreat.

  • Provides educators with a free and open tool for deepening students’ understanding of natural and man-made changes in Iceland’s landscape.

  • Preserves part of Iceland’s cultural identity by visually preserving the landscape history.

  • Unlocks unlimited opportunities for research in fields such
    as natural hazards, volcanic eruptions, ecology, geology, and more.

  • Encourages public engagement and participation. Citizens, historians, and enthusiasts alike can explore and appreciate their local history, fostering a sense of community pride and connection with the past.

  • Creates historical Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) from georeferenced images to provide key information for landscape change studies in three dimensions.

Supporting sustainable development with Cadastral forest mapping in Greece

“The Hellenic Cadastre is proud to announce the successful completion of the National Forest Map Program. Forest map development and ratification represents an excellent example of collaboration across State agencies in Greece, including wide public awareness and participation. The high-accuracy geospatial data that were produced during the process have enabled the State authorities to register forest public lands in the cadastre and secure land tenure in those areas.”

Stylianos Sakaretsios

President of the Board of Directors, Hellenic Cadastre

The largest investment in the forest sector for the last two decades in Greece has contributed to the development of the cadastre and is supporting sustainable development in the country.

Co-funded by the EU, the Forest Map program provides nationwide data on forest cover and forest changes across two periods: 1945 and 2000-2022.

Forest mapping deals with forestlands boundaries and their associated characterisation as ‘forest’ or ‘non forest’. This relates to claims on land use and property rights by the State against individuals and vice versa.

Digital 1:5.000 scale Forest Maps depict effectively forest/non-forest extent, as well as the status to protect forestlands. They also help in identifying and registering State property rights on forestlands through cadastre, and provide geospatial data to public administration and private sector for land management and planning.

Forest Map development and ratification in Greece is based on a comprehensive procedure that uses a wide variety of data to produce the final outcome. Such data include orthophotomaps of the 1945 and recent – after the year 2000 – periods, on-site inspections and surveys, zoning data, land consolidation data, cadastral maps, judicial decisions, and administrative decisions.

To raise public awareness and participation, the Hellenic Cadastre has developed a web-based geospatial platform for Forest Map viewing. This enables users to search by geographic coordinates, parcel-id, and navigation, and retrieve land information per polygon or parcel. The platform provides forms and geospatial tools for any interested entity to compile georeferenced claims against content of the Forest Map. Users pay the respective fee per claim and receive a certificate that documents their claim along with the respective Forest Map extract.

In the absence of a Forest Registry in Greece, the Hellenic Cadastre launched the National Forest Map Program in 1998. Since cadastre deals with registration of all land properties in Greece and forestlands cover approximately 60% of the area of the country, such mapping is a crucial factor for the successful development of the cadastre.

Benefits

  • Enables effective forestlands protection where geospatial demarcation has never been implemented.

  • Provides site-specific geospatial data and information regarding forestlands to the public and private sector.

  • Improves spatially-enabled land administration and management of State-owned forestlands.

  • Provides the basis for State property declaration over forestlands and registration in the cadastre.

  • Allows legitimacy control of property rights claims over forestlands according to the law.

  • Accelerates cadastre development.

  • Provides the basis for the development of National Forest Inventory and land use/land cover mapping.

  • Raises employment rates of foresters, surveyors, lawyers, and other professionals.

  • Promotes spatial planning and sustainable development (economic, social and environmental).

Supporting UN Agenda 2030 with a globally coordinated approach to geodesy

“With the establishment of the United Nations Global Geodetic Centre of Excellence, Germany is creating an elementary building block for improving earth observation and positioning. The establishment of a UN organisational unit for the coordination and monitoring tasks of a globally state-coordinated geodetic infrastructure for earth observation is essential.”

Professor Paul Becker

President, Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy

Germany is supporting the implementation of the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda through the new UN Global Geodetic Centre of Excellence (UN-GGCE).

Geodesy plays an increasing role in people’s lives, from finding directions using a smart phone to alleviating poverty. Emphasising that ‘no one country can do this alone,’ the UN General Assembly called for greater multilateral cooperation.

The objective of the UN-GGCE, based at the UN Campus in Bonn, is to support, within available resources, the implementation of the 2015 General Assembly resolution 69/266, better known as ‘A Global Geodetic Reference Frame (GGRF) for Sustainable Development.’ Because the earth is in constant motion, an accurate point of reference is needed for making measurements. With the GGRF, geodesy provides a very accurate and stable coordinate reference frame for the whole planet.

The UN resolution is the first to recognise the importance of a globally coordinated approach to geodesy. The involvement of countries around the world, as well as the need for measures to strengthen international cooperation, have been recognised by the UN and implemented by the Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy, Germany (BKG).

With the UN-GGCE, the German government is supporting the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by providing human resources and funding for the UN-GGCE. In doing so, it aims to ensure the development, sustainability and advancement of the GGRF.

Under the leadership of Nicholas Brown, BKG, together with other member states such as Norway and Spain, will support the tasks of the UN-GGCE with its globally recognised expertise in geodesy.

Benefits

  • Enhances global cooperation and coordination across member states and relevant geodetic stakeholders to maximise the benefit of ongoing geodetic efforts, ensure coherence, and avoid duplication of effort.

  • Strengthens worldwide geodetic infrastructure.

  • Assists member states in making their geodetic data findable, accessible, interoperable
    and reusable (FAIR) in line

    with standards, policies and conventions.

  • Supports education, training and capacity building.

  • Improves communication and raise awareness.

Strengthening cross-Laender cooperation and standardisation in official real estate valuation

“The formation of the ImmoWert working group (AG ImmoWert), and the direct connection to the AdV chairmanship, takes into account the AdV’s commitment to increasingly take on the tasks of official real estate valuation and to be available as a single point of contact for federal ministries and other institutions. In particular, the consistent development of the standard land value model BRM 3.0.0 in the AAA® model enables the nationwide use of standard land values for a wide range of applications.”

Karin Schultze

AdV-Chairwoman 2024/2025, Ministry of the Infrastructure and Digital Affairs of Land Saxony-Anhalt

A completely revised version of the standard land value portal BORIS-D, launched at INTERGEO 2022, is one of the first results of the work of the AG ImmoWert. The working group has also adaptated and further developed the standard land value data model to the requirements of GeoInfoDok and ImmoWertV 2021, as well as the current requirements for a suitable and up-to-date data structure and data management.

The Standard Land Value Model BRM 3.0.0 defines an external standard in the modelling language UML, which is intended to ensure nationwide provision and use of the official standard land values, in particular for BORIS Germany and for tax purposes.

The standard land values as technical geospatial data of the surveying authorities use the basic schema of the geospatial reference data, in which fundamental properties of geo-objects are described. The specialised schema describes the structure of object classes, object type groups, object types, and their attributes. It encompasses all legal provisions for the standard land values, organisational features, and further information on the standard land value.

Formal release of BRM 3.0.0 and subsequent publication on the AdV website is scheduled for February 2024.

Benefits

  • Integration of the AG ImmoWert into established AdV structures strengthens cross-Laender cooperation and standardisation in the field of official real estate valuation.

  • Provision of standard land values in the standard land value model 3.0.0 enables integration into automated business and valuation processes, particularly in financial administration but also in banking and insurance, the real estate industry, and companies offering real estate valuation services.

  • The BORIS-D information portal, a joint project of all the German Laender, makes the standard land values of the expert committees available to the public in a standardised, web- based, free and easily accessible form across all Laender, thus creating market transparency.

  • The standardisation serves as the foundation for the further nationwide development of digital, future-oriented solutions for the increased requirements of administration, economy, statistics, and science.

Supporting customer use of Ordnance Survey National Geographic Database through enhanced data, simplified access, and more insightful analysis

“In a fast-moving world, customers require rapid, personalised access to trusted geospatial data. The launch of the Ordnance Survey National Geographic Database (OS NDG) in 2022 was the biggest digital transformation for OS in decades, revolutionising the way that our data can be accessed. We continue to grow and evolve the OS NGD by adding new data and improving its flexibility to help empower our customers to make better decisions across the public and private sectors.”

David Henderson

Chief Geospatial Officer, Ordnance Survey

Great Britain’s location data is managed by Ordnance Survey in the National Geographic Database, which houses over 500 million landscape features of England, Scotland and Wales.

While in the past, users may have had to download large amounts of this data to get the information they were looking for, the Ordnance Survey National Geographic Database (OS NGD) collates its previous products into a simplified offer, making it straightforward for customers to select only the data they need.

Since its launch in 2022, Ordnance Survey continues to make significant improvements to the OS NGD, with enriched data introduced this year focused on helping customers who work in areas such as the emergency services, the land and property sector, and the transport network, with further enhancements to come.

The OS NGD has grown rapidly with over 1.6 million separate transactions having already taken place, helping decision-making in some of the most critical services, and playing a strategic role in supporting the economic growth of the nation.

Benefits

  • Customers can personalise their access to the OS NGD database by feature, attribute or time, taking only the valuable data they need to help answer their questions, saving them time and effort.

  • Users can access a variety of APIs through the OS NGD, allowing them to receive our new generation of detailed analytical data and can now run multiple concurrent versions of it at the same time.

  • New OS NGD data introduced this year includes speed limits and average speed data for the public sector, enhancements to building data and the publication of a new national rail network data.

  • Using data science techniques, Ordnance Survey is creating additional value for users by directly generating new insights contained within the data and making it available through the OS NGD.

  • Customers can now access integrated third-party data within the OS NGD giving them even more tools to help answer the complex questions they are often faced with.

  • OS NGD data can be easily shared between government departments to promote collaboration while also removing technical barriers.

  • The OS NGD is available to the whole public sector in Great Britain and all of the OS licensed data partner community.

Establishing a robust legal foundation to reinforce geospatial arrangements in Georgia

“Smart and informed decision- making is backed by easy access to geospatial data across different agencies. As part of Georgia’s EU integration goals, we’re putting together the rules and tools— following the INSPIRE Directive— to guide the development of Georgia’s National Spatial Data Infrastructure.”

David Devidze

Chairman, National Agency of Public Registry, Georgia

Georgia’s Law on National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) is creating a robust legal foundation and reinforcing geospatial arrangements in the country.

Adopted by the Parliament of Georgia in November 2023, it empowers the development of a functional NSDI. Prior to its enactment, significant groundwork was laid with support from Sweden and Norway. Notably, the implementation of the UN-adopted Integrated Geospatial Information Framework (IGIF) project supported by Norway contributed to NSDI development. Intensive works were also conducted by the National Agency of Public Registry (NAPR) to strengthen geospatial direction. This included aligning core geospatial data production with international standards, the creation of a citizen’s map portal, and the drafting of crucial legislative and policy documents.

These achievements formed a robust foundation, prompting the inclusion of NSDI development as a priority on the government agenda, and ultimately leading to the adoption of the Law. Notably, the ongoing World Bank-funded project GRAIL, initiated in October 2023, aligns with these efforts, further supporting the geoportal development and operationalization of NSDI.

The development and review process of the draft law on NSDI, which was supported by the Ministry of Justice of Georgia, involved a comprehensive analysis of 10 different laws along with the active engagement, collaboration and consultation with the key stakeholders of NSDI, including government authorities and agencies.

The study of use cases and Social-Economic Impact Analysis (SEIA) conducted in Georgia within the IGIF project, showed that the development of a NSDI plays a pivotal role in cultivating a more sustainable, efficient, and knowledgeable society, yielding positive social, economic and environmental impacts across various sectors.

The newly enacted law, which establishes the governance model for NSDI, outlines the mandates and responsibilities of NSDI subjects, facilitates the development and adoption of policy and legal documents, oversees the creation of a geoportal and relevant technical infrastructure, and sets timelines for the implementation of necessary operational actions. This comprehensive framework aims to support the establishment of a well-functioning NSDI, enabling the realisation of widespread cross-sectoral benefits for government, the private sector, and citizens.

 

Benefits

  • Enhances evidence-based decision- making across government sectors and empowers citizens to make informed decisions about property transactions, location-based services, and emergency planning through easy access to standardised geospatial data.

  • Improves efficiency of public services, such as land administration, taxation, and emergency response.

  • Reduces costs and promotes sustainable development by enabling efficient planning and management of infrastructure projects.

  • Encourages innovation and the development of value-added services in sectors such as real estate, retail, and urban planning.

  • Reduces risks for businesses by enabling better market analysis, site selection, and planning for construction and infrastructure projects.

  • Enhances access to location-based public services directly improving citizens’ quality of life, including efficient navigation and emergency response.

  • Contributes to transparent and accountable governance, promoting citizen trust in government initiatives.

  • Fosters EU integration of Georgia through conformance with the INSPIRE Directive and aligning with European standards.