Volume 26 • No 05 • 2003
ISSN 0742-468X • Since 1978
On-line Since 2000
Standardizing the International Cadastre Data Model
Standards. Good news or bad? Your point of view will dictate that answer. For my part, I like them. Standards are like a railway. They let you go in a certain directions, have a definite set of rules, designated stops, and the occasional train wreck. Like a railway standards limit future creativity and abhor deviation from the norm. Still, without standards I couldn’t be writing this on my Mac so that you could read it on your Windows or Unix machine. Finally, for the railway, or standard, to work it must be properly implemented.
Figs, anyone?
The International Federation of Surveyors (FIG) created Cadastre 2014. It was originally proposed in 1994 as a template for the development of a modern cadastre system based GIS technology and presents a vision for cadastral agency operations in the year 2014. Now, ESRI is in the game by announcing a development initiative focused on creating an ArcGIS Cadastre Data Model template based on the Cadastre 2014 concepts.
Just in case you missed it, recently ESRI cohosted an international cadastre data model workshop at the ITC headquarters in Enschede, the Netherlands. There were over 30 cadastre data modeling experts from around the world eagerly assembled to share their expertise and project experience to help define the core data model requirements. According to ESRI’s Jim Baumann, “the goal of the workshop was to refine the initial 2014 cadastral data model so it could be used to implement core requirements, which include the management of multiple property rights and restrictions by cadastre agencies.”
Led by Steve Grisé from ESRI and Christiaan Lemmen from ITC, the workshop was opened by Professeur Paul van der Molen of ITC, who shared his extensive international experience with various land management systems. This was followed by selected presentations from attendees, who outlined the many issues involved in implementing cadastre systems in their organizations.
Specialist working group meetings on property rights, survey/topography, and land registry and philosophy were conducted and, after lengthy discussions, reported back to the general meeting to consider specific issues and recommendations.
To get a feel for the true benefit of a cadastre standard I checked with long time GIS expert Dennis Klein. Dennis, you may remember pioneered GIS on a PC with his FMS/AC (Facilities Mapping System on AutoCAD). Currently, he is the president of Boundary Solutions Inc., (www.boundarysolutions.com) a company he founded to provide a single source of data of this nation's parcel maps. Here is his view:
“ESRI long has been a leader in pushing the GIS envelope. I fully appreciate
ESRI’s effort to standardize the cadastre data model. At BSI, we spent years
collecting the nation’s digital parcel map databases, then and converting each map according to a standard spatial configuration protocol including common format and projection, file / attribute naming convention, annotation and structure, then normalizing the data. One result of this effort is an improved geo–locator for insurance, hazard certification, and real estate information provider companies. flood insurance industry. We welcome all efforts to standardize maps. Hats off to ESRI for leading the way.”
Dennis Klein • Boundary Solutions Inc.
Looking at the model
The preliminary version of ESRI’s ArcGIS Cadastre 2014 Data Model is on the ESRI Data Model Web page (http://support.esri.com/datamodels), joining the existing Land Parcel Data Model and others. ESRI says that a key design goal of the data model efforts is that each data model must be open, multipurpose, and standards based. ESRI builds each design on appropriate implementations of the Open GIS Consortium (OGC) Simple Features Specification in which the spatial data is managed in database management system tables.
Conclusion
As the King of the GIS Hill, ESRI is, in many ways a defacto standards for key GIS concepts. Adopting and promoting open standards is not what most kings do. ESRI is not only supporting the Cadastre Data Model, but encourages the land records and cadastre community to further enhance the ArcGIS Cadastre 2014 Data Model by leaving feedback on the ESRI Data Model Web page.
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