Floss in Cadastre and Land Registration

Word of caution

FLOSS bears a promise for easier entry of developing countries to the era of IT 

system-managed land administration. However, we should be careful not to over-

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Often referred to as FLOSS i.e. Free / Libre and Open-Source Software.

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estimate its potential. The idea that IT systems can be installed within a limited 

amount of time and then used permanently thereafter is a common misconcep-

tion. Building a digital land administration system, as any other digital administra-

tion system, is a continuous process rather than a one-time event. After installa-

tion, there will be new requirements and additional functions to be added. Hard-

ware and software will need to be upgraded. Maintenance of the system must be 

planned and taken into account. System sophistication cannot exceed the avail-

able long term resources and in particular local capacities. System development 

 relying in external know how should be used only with a credible exit strategy 

building local capacities. Although the costs of software maintenance and support 

when adopting FLOSS based systems will probably be lower than would be the 

case with proprietary software 

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, they are not to be underestimated. FLOSS may 

make the maintenance easier, as problems can be solved without external support 

also making use of international user and developer communities, and cheaper, as 

license fees can be reserved for the maintenance and further development of the 

system. However, all IT systems require substantial budget and skills for mainten-

ance, and developing country cadastral agencies have traditionally struggled to 

 establish adequate resources for maintenance. Application of FLOSS will not 

change the fact that a proper business plan is the key requirement for introducing 

IT systems for land records.

Application of FLOSS to land registration and cadastral systems is likely to suc-

ceed in countries where the government embraces the idea of using open-source 

software for their information systems, and support the use of FLOSS in education 

and research activities. In such a national context, it will be easier to find local IT 

specialists who are familiar with FLOSS products that form the base and ability to 

maintain systems beyond their initiation.

2.2  Free and Open-Source Software

 

Arnulf Christl (President OSGeo)

In most cases the terms “Free Software“ and “Open-Source“ can be used syn-

onymously as in the acronym FOSS. For the sake of clarification this text differen-

tiates between Free Software as a licensing model and Open-Source as a develop-

ment model. To emphasize the aspect of freedom sometimes the word “Libre“ is 

included as an L to form the acronym FLOSS.

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With proprietary software systems, typical maintenance fees account for a third of the software expenses.  

Service fees for FLOSS maintenance and support are more transparent and usually on a pay-per-service 

 basis. See: Are proprietary maintenance fees worse than open-source maintenance fees? 

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-9827846-16.html 

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