From Low-Cost to Open Source: Choices and Challenges for the Cambodian Land Registration System Gertrude Pieper FM-International Oy FINNMAP OVERVIEW The LMAP / LASSP project Systematic registration: the process The Cambodian Land Registration System Current status IT challenges From Low-Cost to Open Source
HISTORY OF LAND REGISTRATION IN CAMBODIA Land registration in Cambodia started during French colonial period All land records were destroyed by Khmer Rouge Private property re-introduced in 1989 From 1995-2002, pilot projects supported by German, Finnish and French governments registered 81,000 land parcels In 2002, multi-development partner project LMAP started THE LMAP / LASSP PROJECT LMAP is a multi-development partner land management and administration project; renamed to LASSP in 2009 Systematic land registration in Cambodia is conducted under component 3 Land titling program and development of the land registration system LMAP started in 8 provinces in 2003 and has expanded to 11 provinces in 2004. Four new provinces were added in 2008 34 Land registration teams consisting of adjudicators, surveyors, demarcators, GIS and data entry officers (over 800 staff)
SYSTEMATIC REGISTRATION: THE PROCESS Systematic registration is done village by village. The registration process follows the following steps: Opening meeting Field work Office work Public Display Title issuing OPENING MEETING After an adjudication area is declared, an opening meeting is held to inform the public about land registration.
FIELD WORK During field work, the parcel boundaries are demarcated and owner information is recorded on the Parcel Form. FIELD WORK / SURVEYING Where the parcel boundaries are not clearly visible on orthophoto, boundaries are surveyed by total station.
OFFICE WORK In the office, the information from the field work is processed. The owner information on the Parcel Form is entered into the database. Field sketches with tape measurements and boundary points from total station are used to digitize the parcel boundaries with the orthophoto as background. PUBLIC DISPLAY When the field work for one village is completed and the information is processed, the Cadastral Index Map and the List of Owners are printed and publicly displayed for 30 days. During the Public Display, owners can verify the information and request modifications.
TITLE ISSUING The last step in the systematic registration process is the issuing of land title certificates. A title issuing ceremony is held in every village, but the owners can also collect their land title later. THE CAMBODIAN LAND REGISTRATION SYSTEM The LMAP land registration system is: Fully digital, but with paper outputs Based on low-cost, local developed technology
THE CAMBODIAN LAND REGISTRATION SYSTEM The database interface is an MS Access application Cadastre tools for parcel creation, subdivision and consolidation have been developed over ArcGIS THE CAMBODIAN LAND REGISTRATION SYSTEM The Cambodian Land Register consists of the Land Book, List of Owners, Land Title and Cadastral Index Map
CURRENT STATUS OF LAND REGISTRATION IN CAMBODIA Parcels 1800000 1600000 1400000 1200000 1000000 800000 600000 400000 200000 Land registration in Cambodia Over 1.7 million land records in the database Subsequent registration of ownership transfers, subdivisions, consolidations and mortgages 25,000 new registrations per month 0 2002 2003 2004 2005 2007 2008 2009 Oct-09 Year IT CHALLENGES Computers and other hardware is overdue for replacement Procurement procedures are complicated and slow Frequent power cuts and UPS devices are no longer working Lack of IT-skilled staff MS Access databases can no longer handle the growing data volumes
FROM LOW-COST TO OPEN SOURCE TASK Migrate all provincial cadastral databases from MS Access to PostgreSQL Develop GIS tools for open source GIS software; replace ArcGIS with udig STATUS Planned (waiting for hardware procurement) Planned Combine provincial databases into one readonly national PostgreSQL database Implemented DATA MIGRATION TO POSTGRESQL
CONVERSION OF DATA TYPES MS Access data type Text Integer Long Integer Byte Date Memo Yes/No Autonumber PostgreSQL data type Character Integer Bigint Smallint Time / Date / Timestamp Text Boolean Serial / Big serial DATA MIGRATION TO POSTGRESQL
DATA MIGRATION TO POSTGRESQL SAME INTERFACE, WITH POSTGRESQL BACKEND
DATA MIGRATION TO POSTGRESQL GIS tools for LMAP/LASSP now also work with PostgreSQL Combination of open source and proprietary software will work for some time Eventually, more than ArcGIS is needed FROM ARCGIS TO OPEN SOURCE GIS For multi-user geodatabases and data sharing, ArcServer licenses will be needed Costs of ArcServer licenses prohibitive Open source GIS offers more flexibility Plans to replace ArcGIS with udig To replace ArcGIS with open source GIS, more development is needed
FROM LOW-COST TO OPEN SOURCE TASK Migrate all provincial cadastral databases to PostgreSQL Develop GIS tools for open source GIS software; replace ArcGIS with udig STATUS Planned (waiting for hardware procurement) Planned Combine provincial databases into one readonly national PostgreSQL database Implemented NATIONAL LAND REGISTRATION DATABASE IN POSTGRESQL Data from 14 provincial databases combined Over 1.7 million land records Read-only database Used for monitoring of progress, reporting and statistics Good base for the development of an online Land Information System and NSDI
NATIONAL LAND REGISTRATION DATABASE IN POSTGRESQL CONCLUDING REMARKS The use of open source software can help to reduce the total cost of land administration systems Open source software is not the solution for all IT challenges Need for: IT capacity building IT maintenance and continuously upgrading to keep up with changing requirements
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