Future directions for Spatial Information Management in Australia-a land administration perspective

Abstract

Future directions for spatial information management in Australia, from a land administrationperspective, are discussed. Sustainable development, micro-economic reform, globalisation andtechnology are highlighted as the drivers for change. The changing spatial information environment withemphasis on land administration and cadastral issues is examined by drawing on research beingundertaken at the University of Melbourne. Issues concerned with future land administrationinfrastructures such as the changing humankind to land relationship, cadastral reform and native title arehighlighted. Specific cadastral and land administration issues and technologies which impact on spatialinformation strategies are reviewed, including understanding the business-infrastructure relationship inspatial information management, modelling the maintenance of cadastral systems, the changing nature ofspatial data infrastructures, the spatial hierarchy problem, the importance of developing partnerships andthe impact of communications and WWW technologies. The paper concludes by emphasising that anygovernment spatial information strategy is intimately linked to land administration and is influenced byglobal drivers such as sustainable development, micro-economic reform and globalisation, as well astechnology. Understanding the inter-dependence between these global drivers is a key to successfulspatial information management strategies.