. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
iv
Figure 2.1:
Proprietary and open-source development models
(Christl,
2008)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
10
Figure 2.2:
OSGeo’s structure
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
20
Figure 3.1:
Software components of cadastre and land
registration
systems
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
25
Figure 3.2:
The PgAdmin GUI lets users easily create and maintain
PostgreSQL
databases
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
26
Table 3.1:
FLOSS Desktop GIS products compared
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
30
Table 3.2:
Impact of STDM
on Conventional Concepts
in Land Administration
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
51
Figure 3.3:
STDM Class Diagram
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
52
Figure 3.4:
Fieldwork, identification of boundaries on the satellite image . 53
Figure 3.5:
Collected field data on satellite image
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
54
Figure 3.6:
Printscreen with vectorized boundaries
in STDM Prototype based on ILWIS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
54
Figure 3.7:
STDM Main window
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
55
Figure 4.1:
Elements of the Bavarian surveying
and geodata management
.
61
Figure 4.2:
Graphical display with layers’ tree (column left)
. . . . . . . . . .
64
Figure 4.3:
Entry menu in the case management system
. . . . . . . . . . . .
65
Figure 4.4:
Automatic generated extract of the database
. . . . . . . . . . .
66
Figure 4.5:
Relations between application and platforms
. . . . . . . . . . .
67
Figure 4.6:
Printing land title certificates
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
71
Figure 4.7:
With gvSIG, users can directly edit geographic
datasets stored in PostgreSQL
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
73
Figure 4.8:
Samoa geographic map
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
79
Figure 4.9:
“SO!GIS Layer” plugin
developed at the Canton
of
Solothurn
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
83
Figure 4.10: “SO!GIS Suche” plugin developed at the Canton
of
Solothurn
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
83
List of Figures and Tables
v
It is our great pleasure to write the foreword for the “FLOSS Cadastre” publica-
tion in our respective functions as Chair of FIG-Commission 7 and as the officer re-
sponsible of FAO’s Land Tenure Group. This booklet has been compiled and edited
by the initiators of this work, Dr. Daniel Steudler (Chair of Working Group 7.3 of
FIG-Commission 7) and Dr. Mika-Petteri Törhönen (Land Tenure Officer, FAO), as
well as by Ms. Gertrude Pieper, who provided technical leadership for the entire
initiative. We want to congratulate all three for this accomplishment and wish to
express our gratitude for this new theme of exploration within our cooperation.
Land administration and cadastral systems in the 21
st
Century, which play an
important role in practical implementation of responsible land governance, de-
pend on the use of information technology (IT) tools. The application of these
tools affects very much the systems’ efficiency and costs. While commercial soft-
wares have helped to establish the infrastructures of today and continue to do so,
open-source alternatives, which have achieved considerable significance in many
IT fields, have grown to provide credible alternatives for consideration. For various
reasons, however, they are not often used in land administration and cadastre,
even when their potential is increasingly recognised. This booklet aims to shed
light on this potential, exploring the advantages, and disadvantages of open-
source solutions within the context of cadastre and land registration.
This booklet is the result of four years of cooperation between FAO and FIG-
Working Group 7.3. This cooperation has allowed the participation and contribu-
tion of a wide variety of authors, who come from different settings of different
world regions. We would like to express our deepest appreciation to all of them
and for their valuable insights into the “theory” and “practice” of open-source
concepts and software, both in general and in the context of the cadastre and
land registration. Finally, many thanks for swisstopo for facilitating the publication
of this work.
Foreword
vi
We expect this booklet to be a contribution to further developments in support
of the crucial basic infrastructure of a functioning society, and, through that, to
improvements in social and economical development.
Dr. Paul Munro-Faure
Principal Officer
Climate, Energy and Tenure Division
Department of Natural Resources
and Environment
Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations FAO
András Osskó
Chairperson Commission 7
Cadastre and Land Management
International Federation of Surveyors FIG
