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World Around FIG - News

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  • Joint WB/FIG/GLTN/FAO publication on Innovations in Land Rights Recognition, Administration and Governance
The World Bank has published a joint WB/FIG/GLTN/FAO publication on “Innovations in Land Rights Recognition, Administration and Governance”. This publication is based on papers presented mainly at the joint FIG/WB conference on  “Land Governance in Support of the Millennium Development Goals: Responding to New Challenges” that was held in Washington DC, USA 9-10 March 2009.

Joint WB/FIG/UNHABITAT/FAO publication on Innovations in Land Rights Recognition, Administration and Governance. Joint Discussion Paper published by The World Bank, GLTN, FIG and FAO. Edited by Klaus Deininger, Stig Enemark, Clarissa Augustinus and Paul Munro-Faure. Proceedings from the Annual Conference on Land Policy and Administration. Joint Organizational Discussion Paper—Issue 2. April 2010. Available on web at http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTARD/Resources/335807-1174581646324/InnovLandRightsRecog.pdf (8.41 MB - 251 pages)


Kosovo has got its Business Plan for 2009-2014 which provides concrete actions for development of the Kosovo Cadastre Agency and the cadastre sector in Kosovo. The preparation of the Business Plan is financed by the Governments of Norway and Switzerland, the World Bank and GTZ / Germany. The Business Plan will be submitted to the Government for approval. The success of the land administration reform will depend on donor coordination and their timely coordinated decisions regarding funding of the different parts of the reform. Read the business plan.


  • Comprehensive book on Land Administration for Sustainable Development from FIG experts published by ESRI


Stig Enemark, Iain Williamson and Abbas Rajabifard hand over the book to Paul Chung, Director of the United Nations Statistical Division (UNSD) (2nd from right) at the UNRCC-AP conference  in Bangkok in October 2009.

Prof. Iain Williamson, Prof. Stig Enemark, Ms. Jude Wallace and Dr. Abbas Rajabifard - all active and well-known in FIG - have made a comprehensive book on land administration from several aspects from today’s perspective. Their book Land Administration for Sustainable Development examines global land administration systems at different levels of maturity. The book explains how countries can establish the basic infrastructure for implementation of land-related policies and land management strategies to ensure the vision of social equality, economic development, social justice, environmental protection, and good governance. Through its presentation of a holistic view of land management for sustainable development, this book outlines basic principles of land administration applicable to all countries and their divergent needs. The book is written for professionals looking for comprehensive overview of modern land administration strategies, including politicians, senior government officials, students, and land administrators.

ISBN: 9781589480414, ESRI Press, 2009. 512 pages, recommended price: USD 49.95.
Note: no royalties to the authors.

Read more:


  • FIG Honorary President Holger Magel, President of the Bavarian Academy of Rural Areas celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Academy 17 June 2008 – Bavarian Prime Minister Dr. Günther Beckstein acknowledged the competence of the Bayerische Akademie Ländlicher Raum)

Bavarian Prime Minister Dr. Günther Beckstein, in his speech on the occasion of the 20th anniversary celebration of the Bavarian Academy for Rural Areas, appreciated the high professional competence of the Academy and its members. In the words of the Prime Minister: “The academy transmits important messages and ideas for the attainment of equalitarian quality of life in all regions of Bavaria”. The Bavarian State Government and the Academy agree on the need of a durable and reliable inclusion of all regions outside the biggest urban agglomerations and on the importance of their lasting promotion. The academy, presided by Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Holger Magel has achieved a great reputation far beyond the limits of the Bavarian State within the 20 years of its existence.

A high appreciation for the impacts of the Bavarian Academy for Rural Areas and its nationwide role as pioneer and mentor was expressed by the Chairman of the Academy for Rural Areas of the State Schleswig-Holstein Former State Secretary Rüdiger von Plüskow in his welcome speech.

Prof. Christiane Thalgott, President of the German Academy for City and Regional Planning (Deutsche Akademie für Städtebau und Landesplanung) delivered her welcome speech from the point of view of the principle of partnership between rural and urban areas; in other words, not pointing towards the identification of the contrasts between town and country, but to the recognition of the respective identities and individualities which may foster cooperation among them.

In the context of the ceremony, the scientific board of the Bavarian academy, in presence of Prime Minister Dr. Beckstein, awarded eight young scientists who have dealt with current topics of the rural areas in an innovative way, with a prize for their outstanding work.

Click picture for bigger format.
Dr. Günther Beckstein and Prof. Holger Magel.
 

Click picture for bigger format.
Prize Winners together with Dr. Günther Beckstein and Prof. Holger Magel.


  • Workshop on 3D cadastre in Nepal - 3 May 2005

Cadastral Survey Branch, Survey Department, Nepal had organized a successful one day discussion programme on the topic ‘implementing 3D cadastre in Nepal’ at Survey Department Hall, Minbhawan, Kathmandu, Nepal on 3 May 2005. Thirty five participants from 10 related Government Organizations were participated on that programme. The participants were mainly senior level executives and policy makers from different organizations. Different organizations are involving in Nepal for the data acquisition, data maintenance and data dissemination about 3D cadastre. The intension of the programme was to raise awareness to the different organizations for implementing 3D cadastre to secure the ownership and facilitate the real estate market.

The history of land recording in Nepal was started from one dimension (i.e. keeping the record only) and now the registration of two dimensions (i.e. measuring the length and breadth of the parcel and calculating area) is in practice. Basically, the legal boundaries of parcels used for the registration of the legal status are fixed in 2D space. Due to the high population growth and growing interest in using space under and above the surface (particularly in the urban areas) there is a need of registration of vertical dimension of the legal status of real estate objects. To be able to define and manage the juridical situation satisfactory, 3D information are becoming indispensable for land administration in Nepal.


  • France: Chartered Surveyors Mobilized around a National Objective: The Creation of a GPS Network of the Territory by the End of 2005

The French Order of Chartered Surveyors (Ordre des Géomètres Experts )has set itself the objective, by the end of 2005, of setting up a GNSS (“Global Navigation Satellite System”) network over the national territory, integrated with satellite geo-referencing, which will allow any user to position himself in real time with an accuracy down to the inch, anywhere within the territory, at any time. Already, 500 chartered surveyors, one third of the profession, are supporting the rollout of the network—the most substantial ever carried out in the world at a single time. The chartered surveyors intend to share this network in order to respond to the needs of other potential users: in local governments, in agriculture, public works contractors, network administrators, vehicle fleets, for housing stock, emergency preparedness, cartography institutes, research and universities.


  • The European Commission and the United States agreed on GPS/Galileo co-operation in Brussels in February 2004

The United States and the European Commission, joined by the European Union Member States, held a successful round of negotiations on GPS/Galileo co-operation in Brussels on 24-25 February 2004. The delegations built upon progress made in The Hague and in Washington and were able to reach agreement on most of the overall principles of GPS/Galileo cooperation, including,

  • Adoption of a common baseline signal structure for their respective open services
  • Confirmation of a suitable baseline signal structure for the Galileo Public Regulated Service (PRS)
  • A process allowing optimization, either jointly or individually, of the baseline signal structures in order to further improve performances
  • Confirmation of interoperable time and geodesy standards to facilitate the joint use of GPS and Galileo
  • Non-discrimination in trade in satellite navigation goods and services
  • Commitment to preserve national security capabilities
  • Agreement not to restrict use of or access to respective open services by end-users
  • Agreement to jointly finalize associated documents after which the agreement will be presented for signature

The delegations will continue to work diligently to resolve the few remaining outstanding issues which concern primarily some legal and procedural aspects.


  • The Netherlands Society of Geodesy merged into the new society Geo-Information Netherlands, GIN

The Geo-Information Netherlands, GIN was established late last year and has started under the new structure in January 2004. The new association is the result of a fusion of in total eight former societies of landsurveyors, catographers, remote sensing and photogrammetrists and others.

On October 23, 2003 the landscape of geo-related societies in the Netherlands changed considerable. Eight societies, among which the Nederlandse Vereniging voor Geodesie (the Netherlands Society of Geodesy), merged into the new society Geo-Informatie Nederland (Geo-Information Netherlands, GIN). The total amount of members is about 4,000 including 150 institutional members and about 800 academic members. The association is split up into five sections:

  • Landsurveying and Geodesy
  • Earth Observation
  • Cartography and Geo-visualisation
  • Real Estate and Landinformation
  • Geo-ICT

Every section has a president and is member of the general board.

The new society Geo-Information Netherlands inherited all rights and obligations of the merged societies including the membership of FIG. Members of the Nederlandse Vereniging voor Geodesie (the Netherlands Society of Geodesy) are automatical members of GIN. The President of GIN is Leen Murre, Secretary is Wilbert Wouters (ir. W.J.C. Wouters) and the new treasurer is Maarten Bomers (ir. M.P.H. Bomers). The total number of general board members is 11 persons.

Contact information:

Geo-Information Netherlands 
P.O. Box 57,
NL-5753 CW Deurne,
The Netherlands
Tel. + 31 493 328 628
Fax + 31 493 328 601
E-mail: leen.murre@gbkn.nl 


  • UNHCR and UN-Habitat sign a Memorandum of Understanding - Closing the gap between relief, reconstruction and development efforts in post-conflict and post-disaster area

The High Commissioner, Mr. Ruud Lubbers, and the Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, Under Secretary-General, signed in the Geneva Headquarters of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees December 17, 2003 an operational Memorandum of Understanding opening the opportunity for operational linkages between the mandates of both organisations.

The significance of this agreement lies in the collaboration between an agency mandated to address the emergency and humanitarian obligations of the High Commission, and the developmental and longer term mandate of the Human Settlements Programme, with a view to ensuring "...systematic, predictable cooperation between the two organisations while building on the recognized expertise... of each organisation." Specific areas of collaboration will include among others: shelter solutions for refugees and returnees; settlement planning and management; land and property rights, restitution, and administration; infrastructure planning and development; and capacity building of local and national authorities.

The objective of this collaboration however, is to ensure that one end of the bridge spanning the gap between relief and development rests within the emergency humanitarian activities of UNHCR, and the other well into the longer term sustainable human settlements development activities typically undertaken by UN-HABITAT.


  • The longest map of the world ?

In 2004 the Netherlands Committee for Geodesy will celebrate its 125th birthday. To draw some publicity to this occasion the Netherlands Kadaster decided to produce a cadastral map 1:2000 of a 332 km. cross section of the seemless cadastral database of the Netherlands, thus resulting in a 166 m. long map. It is the longest map of the Netherlands and maybe of the world. A photograph of the map was selected news-photograph of the day by the largest press agency of the Netherlands. Pictures of the map ("langste kaart" in Dutch) and a flash-animation can be seen on the website of Kadaster, www.kadaster.nl.


  • "This is better than learning math" - Made to Measure

Alberta Land Surveyors and the Science Alberta Foundation have launched an educational math program that has kids saying, "this is better than learning math" and "this is fun!"

Made to Measure is one of the newest crates offered as part of Science Alberta's Science in a Crate program. The crates are a treasure trove of scientific activities designed to engage minds through hands-on learning. In the Made to Measure crate, grade eight students get to try their hand at seven activities commonly performed by Alberta Land Surveyors. In the "world survey" activity, students draw and interpret scale diagrams while in the "that was then, this is now" activity, students estimate areas using
photos and maps of property boundaries.

During the student testing of the crate, students were heard to say that doing the activities in the crate were better than doing math. They didn't realize they were learning about shapes and volumes.

The Made to Measure crate is based on the grade eight math curriculum and because the only cost to schools or libraries or community groups is a small handling charge, it is a great opportunity for those with limited budgets and resources.

The Made to Measure crate can be ordered by calling Science Alberta at + 1 403 220 0077 or visiting their website www.sciencealberta.org. Thanks to Science Alberta's supporters, users pay just $25 for a three-week booking, including shipping.


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