Infrastructure Engineering - Research Publications

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    Considerations is assessing the potential success of a cadastral or land information management project in developing countries: a case study of the Thailand Land Titling Project
    Williamson, Ian P. ( 1990)
    The Thailand Land Titling Project is undoubtedly a successful project combining technical, institutional, management, legal, training and educational components. It is a joint project by the Royal Thai Government, the World Bank and the Australian International Development Assistance Bureau. It is primarily concerned with the issuing of land titles to all freehold parcels in the Kingdom of Thailand, in addition to undertaking land administration reform, establishing a national valuation system, carrying out urban cadastral mapping for all urban areas in the country and developing a national land information strategy. The paper briefly overviews the project, outlines some of the lessons from the project and the significant socio-economic benefits of the project. However the paper concentrates on attempting to evaluate the reasons for the success of the project. In particular it argues that the institutional, economic, social, legal and political environment at the time of project preparation and implementation was conducive to its success. Such an evaluation is necessary to place the lessons, achievements and benefits of the Land Titling Project in perspective for others who may wish to translate these experiences to their own countries or jurisdictions. By drawing on the experiences of the Land Titling Project and other projects with which the author has been involved, an attempt is made to generalize the considerations and necessary environment for success of similar projects.
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    Teaching and research programs in land and geographic information systems at the University of Melbourne, Australia
    Williamson, Ian P. ; Hunter, Gary J. ( 1990)
    As in many other parts of the world, Australia is experiencing a severe shortage of Land and Geographic Information System (LIS/GIS) specialists who possess appropriate tertiary education backgrounds. This shortage of qualified personnel is causing difficulties for public agencies trying to establish LIS/GIS which, having fought for approval of staff increases, are often in the embarrassing position of not being able to fill positions when finally allowed to do so. This shortage applies just as equally to the private and academic sectors.In an effort to address this imbalance, The University of Melbourne has designed new LIS/GIS courses and subjects, at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, with the aim of catering for young professionals about to enter the LIS/GIS community, and current administrators, academics and practitioners who find they now need a stronger background in the science, technology and management issues surrounding LIS/GIS.The paper outlines a multi-disciplinary strategy at The University of Melbourne for teaching and research in LIS/GIS. The paper, however, concentrates on the programs within the Department of Surveying and Land Information (A Centre of Excellence in Land Information Studies designated by the Institute of Land Information based in Washington, DC), and a new Graduate Diploma in Geographic Information Systems being introduced jointly by the above department and the School of Environmental Planning within the University.
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    The Bangkok Land Information System Project: past and future
    WILLIAMSON, IAN ; Mathieson, Garry ( 1993)
    Most cities in the developing world are expanding rapidly and are usually the “engines” of economic development in their respective countries. Yet the quality of life for the inhabitants is deteriorating together with the urban environment. The services and facilities that are essential for the city to operate are not coping with the rapid growth. At the same time the ability to raise sufficient taxes, equitably and efficiently, is severely limited because of lack of basic land information. In these circumstances, cities are turning to land information systems (LIS) as one possibility that may contribute to solving some of these problems. Bangkok, with a population of 10 million, is one such city. This paper reviews a pilot project to develop a LIS for the city. It reviews the major justification for a LIS, looks at the objectives of the project and how those objectives were met. Lessons from the project are described in detail. The paper describes a conceptual model and a strategic framework for a future LIS. Even though the paper is directed at cities in the developing world, the experiences from the project should be of interest to any person involved in designing, building or operating a LIS for a large metropolis.
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    Magic revisited: the object-oriented solution to a cadastral maintenance problem
    Hesse, Walter ; Williamson, Ian P. ( 1993)
    This paper has evolved from the ongoing research in the area of "Optimising, Maintaining and Updating the Spatial Accuracy of Digital Cadastral Data Bases", a paper published earlier in The Australian Surveyor [Hesse et al. 1990]. This paper gives additional background information for the process described in the first paper and describes new findings in form of an object-oriented software implementation. The concepts of this relatively new software development approach are examined and their advantages for cadastral modelling and software creation are demonstrated. The resultant software prototype, programmed in Smalltalk/V286, has been implemented and tested at the Department of Surveying and Land Information, The University of Melbourne. Future trends are discussed with special emphasis on the rapidly changing hardware and software platforms, their impact on cadastral and LIS issues and the challenges ahead for the continuing education of Land Information professionals.
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    Implementing LIS/GIS from a customary land tenure perspective: the Fiji experience
    Rakai, Mele E. T. ; Williamson, Ian P. ( 1995)
    This paper briefly reviews Fiji's national land information system (LIS) strategy and the major land and geographic information systems (LIS/GIS) initiatives that have been under way in the major government organisations in Fiji up to April 1994. It also describes and attempts to examine the impact that these initiatives have had on the people who continue to live under Fiji's customary land tenure systems.