Interoperability, security, accessibility and transparency are the key strengths of official cadastral and land registration data in contributing to Europe’s resilience and recovery programme, a survey has found.

The joint questionnaire by EuroGeographics and the Permanent Committee on Cadastre in the European Union (PCC) gives an overview of the role of National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registration Authorities (NMCAs) in post-Covid 19 economic and social stability. It reveals that artificial intelligence, APIs, crowdsourcing and automation are already in use by national cadastral systems and thus demonstrates the value of authoritative data and information in enabling digital transformation and providing opportunities for innovation.

Dr Daniel Steudler, Chair of EuroGeographics Cadastre and Land Registry Knowledge Exchange Network (KEN), said: “Cadastral authorities and land registries fulfil an essential role by providing official, detailed, secure and reliable information on property rights and registration. Indeed, 13 of the countries questioned replied that cadastral data are included in their national list of High Value Datasets.”

“An agile approach to delivering trusted, reliable, authoritative cadastral data and high-quality services is vital for achieving the Next Generation EU agreement, its key instrument the Recovery and Resilience Facility and the European Green Deal. As a community used to constant and far-reaching change, we have a proven ability to respond to new ways of working, and the results of this survey show that NMCAs remain committed to adapting their activities to meet user needs and ensure lasting recovery.”

Mr Tomaž Petek, General Director, Surveying and Mapping Authority of the Republic of Slovenia added: “Digital geospatial information, including cadastral and land registry data has become a very important basis, upon which governments, organisations and businesses base their decisions on and implement their services. The aim is to foster public services that are, by default, digital, cross-border and interoperable, user-centric, inclusive and accessible, open and transparent, trustworthy and secure, and require users to supply information only once.”

The Joint PCC and EuroGeographics Cadastre and Land Registry KEN conference and plenary was held under the Presidency of Slovenia.

Key results

• Of the 25 countries responding to the survey, 20 said that their national cadastral system was relevant to achieve results or contribute to the aims of the European Green Deal which is described by the European Commission as ‘our lifeline out of the COVID-19 pandemic’.
• The top 3 strengths of a cadastral system’s contribution to the Next Generation EU agreement were identified as:
  • Interoperable, digital data.
  • Public, transparent, complete, secure, reliable data with a legal basis.
  • Data that is open, full, and easy to access.
• The top 3 areas for improvement were identified as:
  • Expanded databases in terms of user experience and flexibility.
  • Integration with Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs) and the creation of single platforms.
  • Extension of data content and an additional building database.
• The top 3 opportunities for cadastral data to be used by businesses and other organisations for delivering new and innovative applications, products, and services were:
  • A key role in other geospatial data and SDI, interoperable web services, including APIs, and as a basis for innovative products and services.
  • Open data.
  • As a high potential, strategic asset to stimulate economic growth.
• The top 3 new technologies being used to maintain national cadastral systems are:
  • Artificial Intelligence – used for change detection, to detect properties which are not taxed, and for managing older documents and texts.
  • Web portals, web services, APIs - for easier linking of data and providing services.
  • Crowd sourcing, automation of processes - to increase accuracy, gamification to raise interest and chatbots to answer questions from users.

The survey results and presentations from the conference are available at: https://bit.ly/PCCCLRSurvey

EuroGeographics is an international not-for-profit organisation (AISBL/ IVZW under Belgian Law. BCE registration:  833 607 112) and the membership association for the European National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registry Authorities. It currently brings together members from 46 countries, covering the whole of geographical Europe.