Infrastructure Engineering - Research Publications
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ItemBridging SDI design gaps(Centre of Geo-Information Technologies (cGIT), 2006)The environment we inhabit is integrated and to properly manage the environment it is necessary to look at all environmental components and making multi-criteria decision about environment mostly needs an integrated view of built and natural environmental components to better interpret it.Despite the integrated nature of environment and requirements of users to integrate different components of environment, information about different elements of environment is being collected and managed by fragmented agencies under different and mostly inconsistent policies and standards to satisfy their own needs –for a single discipline- with little attention to the broad range of users – a multi-disciplinary approach. This fragmentation results in heterogeneity of technical and non-technical issues surrounding integration of datasets.An SDI is an initiative to facilitate the cooperation among all stakeholders and the interaction with standards and technological components and one of its objectives is to facilitate the integration of multi-source spatial data sets.This paper aims to address different issues connected to the integration of multi-source data sets in order to better serve different communities through their SDI initiatives and also a better management and sharing of their spatial data. The paper aims to discuss both technical and non-technical issues related to the integration of multi-source data sets in alignment with an ongoing research project devoted to developing models, guidelines and associated tools to facilitate the integration of multi-source datasets within an SDI.
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ItemThe role of sub-national government and the private sector in future Spatial Data Infrastructures( 2006-08)A Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) facilitates and coordinates the exchange and sharing of spatial data between stakeholders in the spatial data community. With this objective in mind, countries throughout the world are developing SDIs to manage and utilise their spatial data assets more effectively. These countries are developing SDIs to assist in various kinds of decision-making at different levels of government jurisdictions that have an important impact within their national boundaries. However, current research shows that SDI is understood and described differently by stakeholders from different disciplines and different jurisdictional levels. Therefore, in many cases SDI initiatives remain very much an innovation even among practitioners. There are still uncertainties regarding the benefits and identities of SDIs, particularly in connection with how they evolve over time to meet user needs.This paper reviews and assesses the development of SDIs throughout the world over the past fifteen years and the leadership role of national governments in SDI creation. This assessment is based on the SDI activities of various jurisdictions including Asia-Pacific, Australia, North America and Europe and research into the worldwide effects of spatial information clearinghouses. This assessment includes a discussion on emerging trends in SDI development, with particular reference to the increasingly important role played by sub-national governments and the private sector within the framework of SDI development. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for future SDI development, including the delivery of a virtual world that has a particular focus on facilitating decision making at a community level within a national context.
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ItemAssessing the worldwide comparison of cadastral systems(Elsevier, 2006)There is growing interest internationally in land administration and cadastral systems and especially in their role as part of a national Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI). The important role the cadastre plays in supporting sustainable development is also well recognised. Both developed and developing countries accept the need to evaluate cadastral systems to help identify areas of improvement and whether their systems are capable of addressing future needs. Countries are continually re-engineering and implementing various aspects of the cadastre, comparing systems and trying to identify best practice within nations of the same socio-economic standing.In order to address this need, members of a team from the Centre for Spatial Data Infrastructures and Land Administration at the Department of Geomatics, the University of Melbourne, with the support of the United Nations Permanent Committee on GIS Infrastructure for Asia and the Pacific (PCGIAP) and the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG), have developed a cadastral template. The template aims to assist the evaluation and benchmarking of cadastral systems and the role they play in spatial data infrastructures.This paper aims to outline the concept and theory behind the cadastral template as well as analysing the results from 34 completed country templates. Several indicators have been used to analyse and benchmark countries cadastral systems, results of which will contribute to an improved understanding of the complex relationship between cadastral, land administration system and National SDI initiatives. This will also enable a worldwide comparison of cadastral systems, forming the basis for best practice and a tool to improve national cadastral systems.
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ItemDiscuss: a soft computing approach tospatial disaggregation in economicevaluation of public policies(Blackwell, 2006)For more than three decades cost-benefit analysis (CBA) has been used in manycountries as an important tool for evaluating public policies. More recently, participationof stakeholders in CBA processes has become an important issue for governments.However, CBA by itself does not provide a good environment for stakeholderparticipation. A major reason for this is the lack of spatial disaggregation intraditional CBA. In order to allow greater public participation, a GIS-based approachis proposed. This approach uses a Geocomputational system, which incorporates softcomputing theory with expert systems in a geographic information systems (GIS)environment. It is designed to generate representations of environmental, economicand social policy outcomes according to the perceptions of the stakeholders and afterthe CBA results have been obtained. The methodology proposed for modellingimpacts in cases where uncertainty exists uses the soft computing theory of fuzzy logicto generate a raster map based on spatial inputs provided by the stakeholders involvedin the decision process. This computer-based system, called DISCUSS (DecisionInformation System for Community Understanding of Spatial Scenarios), is intendedfor situations where the government chooses to evaluate a policy using CBA anddesires to encourage public participation in evaluating the results identified by theeconomic methodology. DISCUSS and the maps that it produces are being testedin a public participation case study with long-term impacts over a large area ofsouth-eastern Australia.
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ItemThe role [of] cadastral data modelling in e-land administration(Centre of Geo-Information Technologies (cGIT), 2005)Enablement of land administration with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is heading toward e-Land Administration (e-LA): the transformation of land administration through the use of ICT. Existing initiatives include providing land information on line, electronic conveyancing, digital lodgement of survey plans, and online access to survey plan information. Thus far, implementation of these initiatives is isolated in their specific subsystems without reference to the broader land administration system or its core policy function of supporting sustainable development. One solution to isolation is to develop effective communication among the different land administration subsystems by harmonising data and functionalities, so they are capable of being used by all subsystems. The key to harmonisation is data modelling which both recognizes and reengineers existing business processes. Modelling allows every single process in land administration to influence the cadastral data model and vice versa. This paper describes the importance of cadastral data modelling in data management as well as coordination among subsystems in an e-LA.
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ItemBuilding land markets(Elsevier, 2006)A primary driver in land titling and administration improvement is facilitation of a land market. Land markets are difficult to establish and to manage. Titling on its own will not create a land market, nor will a land administration system unless it is connected with the way participants think about and organise their land. Indeed, the difficulty is compounded because very little is available to explain how a land market works, particularly to identify non-technical components essential for market success. This framework article explains land markets in terms of five evolutionary stages. The ingredients of a complex and developed land market, especially social processes and cognitive capacities, are identified.
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ItemDeveloping a platform to facilitate sharing spatial data(Centre of Geo-Information Technologies (cGIT)., 2005)Users of positioning and spatial information services and tools require precise spatial information in real-time and real-world objects. Simply an accurate positioning of a future subdivision is no longer accepted by users, they require it to be visualized as well, in order to take into account outside influences. The capacity to meet such user needs and deliver services and tools within the spatial information market has gone well beyond the ability of single organisations (Rajabifard, et al, 2005a). There is now a wide range of products and services available for a wide range of information technology applications, and hence the development of an enabling platform can facilitate access to data and sharing resources and tools among different practitioners. The creation of an enabling platform for the delivery of these tools and positioning applications will allow users from diverse backgrounds to work together with current technologies to meet the dynamic market place. Up until now, individual jurisdictions within Australia for example have started utilizing different platforms in attempting to create mechanisms for accessing and delivering spatial data and associated applications and tools in a coordinated fashion. This has been done through the use of hierarchies of information, where jurisdictions utilize information both by those within a jurisdictional level as well as those at a higher or lower jurisdictional level. The benefits of this sharing of information have been documented, however they do not necessarily break down the barriers between jurisdictions. Just because different information can be gained about Victorian state for example from different jurisdictional levels, does not mean that the information will necessarily be compatible (it may not be of the same accuracy or have the same specifications, utilize the same symbology, etc) (Rajabifard, et al, 2005b). There is now a need to create a common rail gauge within Australia to aid in implementing initiatives which solve cross jurisdictional and national issues. In order to meet this need, there is a requirement for an enabling platform.
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ItemAppropriate cadastral systems( 1996)Cadastral systems are not ends in themselves and support effective land markets, increased agricultural productivity, sustainable economic development, environmental management, political stability and social justice, although it is absolutely essential that each cadastral system is designed appropriately to serve the needs of the individual country.
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ItemUnderstanding cadastral maps( 1996)Cadastral maps are generally regarded as an essential part of the land management infrastructure in most countries yet there is often misunderstanding about their characteristics and role. Due to the vast range of different cadastral systems and resulting cadastral maps, it is very difficult to describe a “typical” cadastral map. It is the authors’ view that it is also very difficult, if not impossible, to understand the characteristics and functions of a cadastral map without understanding the respective cadastral system. As a result this paper endeavours to examine the characteristics and functions of cadastral maps by examining the cadastral mapping systems in Denmark and Australia. The Danish system is a typical “old world” European system which had its history in land taxation. The Australian systems could be considered “new world” systems which have been more heavily influenced by land market considerations. Even though the Australian and Danish cadastral systems are very similar, understanding the characteristics and functions of cadastral maps in the two systems remains difficult. This study discusses the different characteristics of cadastral maps which have been designed for different users or functions. In particular the paper concentrates on the issues concerned with developing digital multi-purpose cadastral maps. The major conclusions from the paper are that the creation and maintenance of multi-purpose digital cadastral maps is a difficult and complex task. This complexity arises to a large degree because the characteristics of a cadastral map designed to serve traditional land markets or land registration purposes are quite different from the characteristics of a modern multi-purpose cadastral map.
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ItemThe justification of cadastral systems in developing countries( 1997)This paper provides a justification for cadastral systems in developing countries. The paper commences with a brief overview of cadastral systems and argues that the debate about such systems should move from whether cadastral systems are important or appropriate for developing countries, to what constitutes an appropriate cadastre for such countries. The paper reviews the reasons for the dramatic increase in interest in cadastral systems over the last decade and highlights some of the lessons and current challenges facing policy makers in the design of appropriate cadastral systems. The role of cadastral systems in both urban and rural situations is considered. In rural areas the paper argues that a secure title is important: in promoting increased investment in agriculture; for more effective husbandry of the land; for improved sustainable development; to support an increase in GNP through an increase in agricultural productivity; and providing significant social and political benefits leading to a more stable society, especially where land is scarce. In densely populated rural areas or areas of high value a cadastral system also permits an effective land market to operate and allows an equitable land taxation system to operate. In urban areas it argues that a cadastral system is essential to support an active land market by permitting land to be bought, sold, mortgaged and leased efficiently, effectively, quickly and at low cost. In addition it argues that a parcel based land information system (not necessarily computerised), based on the cadastre, is essential for the efficient management of cities. Cadastral systems permit land taxes to be raised thereby supporting a wide range of urban services, and allowing the efficient management and delivery of local government services. In promoting the importance of cadastral systems in developing countries, the paper draws heavily on the experiences of the World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) and several recognised authorities. The paper also argues that an effective cadastral system is important for the support of sustainable economic development and environmental management within the context of Agenda 21 as agreed at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Brazil in 1992. The paper then reviews the trend for cadastral and land information systems to be increasingly justified on rigorous economic grounds, both in the developed and developing worlds. Finally, the paper emphasises that cadastral systems must be appropriate to the circumstances and needs of the individual country, otherwise the cadastral system can do more harm than good!