Floss in Cadastre and Land Registration

Open-source GIS software

Open-source GIS software has really taken off in the last few years. To name a 

few, uDIG, Quantum GIS and gvSIG are recent desktop GIS products that could be 

used instead of ESRI ArcView. When LMAP started in 2002, these products had 

not been developed yet, and open-source GIS was not really an option. So far, the 

LMAP/ LASSP project has made use of ArcGIS software with success. The costs of 

ArcGIS  /ArcView are relatively low compared to other commercial GIS software, 

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  ESRI ArcServer replaces the earlier ArcIMS and ArcSDE licenses and provides tools for managing large 

 spatial datasets and Internet mapping services.

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and it offers good value. It is hard to find other GIS software with as many vector 

editing capabilities as ArcGIS. The ArcObjects development kit that comes with the 

software makes it relatively easy to customize ArcView for almost any GIS require-

ment. But with only the ArcView licensing level of ArcGIS, LASSP is running into 

software limitations in terms of topology validation and multi-user editing. 

GvSIG is one of the most promising open-source GIS products. With a user- 

friendly interface, editing tools to maintain vector data with a CAD-like precision, 

and  direct database connection to PostgreSQL, gvSIG is the ideal software to re-

place ArcGIS in LASSP. The latest version of gvSIG includes a topology extension 

and new editing tools for cutting and merging polygons. 

Developments have started to build customized LASSP tools to print land titles, 

handle parcel subdivisions and consolidations and produce the Cadastral Index 

Map with gvSIG.

When this is done, the LASSP geographic datasets can be migrated to Post-

greSQL with PostGIS. The central storage of land register data in PostgreSQL would 

be more reliable than in the current ESRI personal geodatabases spreaded over 

 multiple PCs, and it would open up possibilities for data sharing in an NSDI and 

public enquiry services.

Figure 4.7: With gvSIG, users can directly edit geographic datasets stored in PostgreSQL.

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