Infrastructure Engineering - Research Publications
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ItemConsiderations 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( 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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ItemLand information management at the World Bank( 1991-03)The surveying, mapping and land information management industry in both the government and private sectors in Australia has increasingly promoted the export of its expertise to developing countries during the 1980s, particularly in the land administration area. This activity has brought the industry in closer contact with organizations such as the World Bank with a view to increasing Australia’s share of the international consulting market. As a consequence of these developments and the extensive expertise in land management within the World Bank, in both the operational and research areas, the author spent six months undertaking research in land information management in developing countries in the World Bank during the latter half of 1989. This paper summarizes his impressions and experiences from this period but in particular highlights the role and importance of surveying, mapping and land information management as perceived by the World Bank. A major conclusion of the paper is that the surveying profession together with its institutions, systems and technologies is ‘alive and well’ and has a very sound and important future in the developing world.
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ItemNo easy road: accountability in modern education for professional surveyors( 1991)In any economy where public expenditure on higher education accounts for a sizeable proportion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), equity in spending and equality of access have long been considered to be crucial issues in the political arena. They still are. However, we now find that it is concerns about the efficiency of higher education provision, and especially its quality, form, content and relevance, which are now expressed most stridently. In turn, this has led to demands for more coherent planning and management control systems in higher education generally within which the accountability of the institution, the professional school and the individual academic is a sine qua non. Then, in the space of a decade or so, the well-defended vocational walls which have surrounded land information professionals, especially land surveyors, have begun to be breached in many parts of the world. Primarily, this process is due to the advent of new information and positioning systems, including Land Information Systems (LIS), Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) over which surveyors have no particular lien. This has been coupled with other powerful external forces such as professional deregulation. Quite simply, there is a new game, new turf and new players. Things are not what they used to be - nor will they ever return to what they were. Unfortunately, many wish that they would and a laager mentality is still alive and well in the worlds of surveying academe and professional surveying practice alike. Yet, some individuals and institutions have, with not a little delight, welcomed the opportunities which change invariably brings and, moreover, achieved success. This success is due, in no small way, to the vigorous adoption of a variety of innovative measures of modern academic management including the process of proper accountability and the introduction of performance indicators. There is also the matter of a growing and increasingly vociferous consumer lobby. In a number of countries, including Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain, tertiary students have had to sustain substantial increases in direct charges for their courses. In practice, the alternative cost-recovery mechanisms range across the charging spectrum and include: full-cost fees, supplementary top-up fees for certain courses, repayable loans and inflation-indexed graduate taxes. Yet, whatever the charging mechanism, it would be surprising if the natural querulousness of students regarding their education anyway were not intensified by the forceful expression of dissatisfaction if they consider the education they receive as representing poor value for money. It would also be surprising if there is not increased pressure from both public-sector and private-sector employers of surveying graduates for greater accountability to be demonstrated by those involved in professional surveying education. Many of these employers have been put through an "economic wringer" by governments set on obtaining efficiency and effectiveness in the national economy. Moreover, to survive in the medium term and long term, they know that they need that essential input which comes from fresh, active, and capable young minds able to respond to the new challenges, not those of twenty years ago. To put it bluntly, academic accountability is not just a fashionable word. Increasingly, it is a powerful and necessary, albeit emotive, issue for governments, tertiary-education institutions, individual academics, tax-payers and students alike. The reality of the academic environment today is that the introduction of accepted management practices - strategic plans, performance appraisal and business plans to name but three - are all becoming part of the daily routine. However, a major problem which accompanies the introduction of increased accountability for the tertiary-education sector in Australia lies with the lack of proper provision, within the new performance appraisal process, for financial rewards for individual high-achieving academics. This contrasts markedly with the private sector and, indeed, with some parts of government where performance payments are the norm. Thus, in a sense, the tertiary-education sector has been both squeezed by government and also put through the "economic wringer" as well. Moreover, this has happened at a time in Australia when academic salaries have fallen, in relative terms, well behind teachers and other related professionals. The net, and worrying, result is that many of the best people are leaving universities, while at the same time it is very difficult to attract suitable professionals into the tertiary-education sector. The purpose of this paper is four-fold. First, we outline what is meant by accountability. Then, we will explore the manner in which accountability fits into the rapidly-changing world of higher-education management. The third objective is to examine the various inter-mingled relationships and responsibilities of the major role-players in professional surveying education. Finally, we consider the need for and introduction of suitable performance indicators to provide an essential underpinning to the academic accountability process. We offer no apology for using the management practices at the University of Melbourne as an example throughout the paper. Quite simply, it is sensible to comment on that which one knows well. Moreover, in dealing with some issues of potential contention and sensitivity, it seemed more prudent to remain reasonably "close to home". Naturally, it is recognised that similar processes would be found in other institutions to varying degrees.
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ItemThe need for improved forms of conceptual models in Geographical Information System development( 1991)While numerous books have been published in the past two decades on the subject of information system development methodologies, it is now recognized that these techniques need modification to suit the peculiar nature of Geographical Information Systems (GIS). However, regardless of how system development life-cycles might be varied to suit GIS, the use of models remains a common feature of the development of any information system. It is argued that high-level conceptual models, as used in the initial system evaluation phase, are perhaps the most important type of model in terms of providing an overall picture of what the system is designed to achieve -- yet they remain the least understood. The aim of this paper is to provide a greater understanding of their role and purpose and to highlight their importance in effective GIS development and implementation. Suggestions are also made for improving the form and content of conceptual models so that their meaning becomes clearer
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ItemThe Bangkok Land Information System Project: designing an integrated land information system for a large city in the developing world( 1992)International aid and lending organisations worldwide are increasingly recognising the importance of improving the operation and management of cities in developing countries. A key activity to improve these cities is land information management, however the methods adopted in the developed countries are not necessarily applicable to those which are less developed. This paper reviews an important and innovative approach to developing a land information system for the City of Bangkok. The Bangkok Land Information System (BLIS) Project is a cooperative effort between five key authorities in the City; this cooperation in itself is almost unique. The paper reviews the operation of and strategy behind the design of the two year BLIS project and highlights some of the early lessons.
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ItemThe Bangkok Land Information System Project: past and future( 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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ItemMagic revisited: the object-oriented solution to a cadastral maintenance problem( 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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ItemThe Authoritative Topographic-Cartographic Information System (ATKIS)( 1993)Recent years have seen an added emphasis in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) on better conceptual data modelling and data transfer standards. A major achievement in this area is the United States Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS). This standard represents one of many worldwide attempts to standardise the way in which geographic information is modelled and transferred. It is currently being reviewed for adoption in Australia. In a previous paper [Hesse and Williamson, 1993], the authors questioned the appropriateness of such an approach and suggested alternative approaches which should be considered to better reflect Australasian needs. This paper describes an interesting and different alternative from Germany, the Authoritative Topographic-Cartographic Information System (ATKIS), together with a working implementation of the model using an object-oriented software system.
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ItemThe role of land and geographic information systems in economic and environmental management( 1994)Economic development and environmental management are often in conflict, particularly in developing countries. This paper examines two projects in Thailand as case studies to show that the use of land and geographic information systems can contribute to both objectives. The paper briefly describes the concept and the role of land and geographic information systems, and looks at their application, primarily in the urban context. The paper discusses the two major limiting factors in developing appropriate systems in both the developed and developing countries; institutional arrangements at a government level and appropriate education programs. The first project, the Thailand Land Titling Project, is concerned with reforming the land titling and land administration system for the whole of the country. The second project, the Bangkok Land Information System Project, was a three year project completed in 1992 to examine the feasibility of developing a land information system for the City of Bangkok, a city with a population of approximately 10 million.
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ItemEducation for surveyors: a vision for the 21st century( 1994-03)The history of surveying in Australia over the last two hundred years has shown the surveyor to have played many roles besides that of solely measuring features on the earth’s surface. These include those of engineer, planner, land manager, land valuer, environmental manager and land developer. What has given the Australian surveyor a competitive edge over other more narrowly defined professions, is the fact that surveyors have always possessed a balance of fundamental skills in measurement science and land management. It should be noted however, that surveying education has taken many different directions in the same period, often being more influenced by overseas trends and models rather than the needs of the practising Australian surveyor - even though the role of the surveyor in the broader community in Australia has not changed to a great extent over the last two hundred years. This paper discusses the historical perspective of surveying education in Australia and draws distinctions between local and international trends. It presents a vision which recognises the surveyor’s primary role is the measurement and management of spatial data in the broadest sense. The vision is based on maintaining a balance between measurement science and land management, on retaining a strong scientific foundation to the discipline but above all else remaining flexible in today’s ever changing world. The paper illustrates this vision by describing the programs at the University of Melbourne.