Crowdsourcing in land administration

Abstract

Currently, 75% of the world’s estimated land parcels are not registered in land administration systems. This indicates that there is an enormous tenure gap worldwide. In addition, many existing land administration systems tend to collect a limited number of land Rights, Restrictions and Responsibilities (RRRs) in direct relation to ownership rights. Information about other RRRs related to land and property is not collected, easily accessed or discovered. Therefore, locating and capturing the required data to manage current land and property issues within a specific country or region remains a challenge.

There are a number of impediments for collecting and managing land and property information including a limited workforce with an insufficient number of professionals, limited resources in government bodies, and the high costs of current data collection methods. There is a need to develop faster, cheaper and more fit-for-purpose data collection methods in land administration. Crowdsourcing could be a potential approach for collection land and property information in a quick and low-cost manner. Crowdsourcing can be understood as the process of collecting and aggregating data from ordinary individuals, usually by means of web enabled mobile devices.

This research explores the emerging crowdsourcing concept in land administration. Given the limited literature and empirical studies in this domain, this research employed Delphi study to draw on the knowledge of a group of international experts in land administration and crowdsourcing field. The research developed: an appropriate term and definition to address citizen contribution to land and property data collection; a list of parameters that influence the choice of a data collection method in land administration; a set of factors that are crucial for utilising crowdsourcing in land administration; and finally, a list of land and property information types that could potentially be collected by means of citizen contribution.

These findings were incorporated to formulate a generic and innovative framework, which could potentially serve as a basis for the adoption of crowdsourcing in land administration. The developed framework goes beyond the technical aspect of crowdsourcing in land administration. It provides a comprehensive view on the entire process of using crowdsourcing in land administration by integrating land and property characteristics and requirements, institutional, social, and technical aspects of crowdsourcing in land administration. It also prompts the awareness and understanding of a range of drivers and enablers that could facilitate the use of crowdsourcing in land administration. It also helps to think about different functions that crowdsourcing can offer to land administration systems ranging from collecting land and property information to reporting issues related to land and property. It also provides insight into how the legal framework could limit or support crowdsourcing for land administration purposes. Furthermore, this work helps to clearly understand the opportunities and barriers of adopting crowdsourcing in land administration by identifying the aspects that should be considered in the process of crowdsourced implementation.

In addition, a prototype system called MyLand, was developed to examine the developed framework for the adoption of crowdsourcing in land administration through the conducted pilot study. It also demonstrates how crowdsourced land and property data can be collected in real-world situations. The main lesson learned from the conducted study was that the crowdsourcing framework in land administration is largely successful in its aims by providing explicit and detailed explanation on the areas that need consideration and investment within a specific context.