GIS Manages LIC's Property Life Cycle Programby Gary M. Jurkowski, GIS Coordinator, Land Information Center (LIC) |
| Contents Page | Al-Khabar Home Page | CGIS Home Page |
Land use and ownership are issues that mankind has deliberated and fought over since shifting from a nomadic way of life to that of a settlement dweller. Well-considered land-related decisions are very important to a country, from its economic stability and safety, to providing a secure future for its children.
Qatar's Land Information Centre (LIC) has implemented a GIS-based system that evaluates land use by monitoring the life cycle of all properties in the country to assist in making sound decisions in land use planning.
Planners generally evaluate many proposals and scenarios before making a decision. Deciding upon the correct course of action can be greatly assisted with the use of a relevant set of tools to assist the planner, surveyor, or engineer in making logical, sustainable decisions. LIC's GIS implementation has been developed to address all requests for land-related information and planning procedures that have some geographic component to it.
Qatar's Property Life Cycle program insures that the underlying land base data is correct so that accurate, up-to-date information is automatically available when requested. It is possible to view the status of information at all levels including designs, temporary proposals, and approved plans via GISnet, the country's dedicated, fiber optic wide area network that connects all agencies that are part of the GIS implementation. Accessing information is as easy as managing your own personal banking account at an ATM. A few key punches and your transaction is complete. The transactional systems developed by LIC are just as easy but maintain and manage land-related information.
The
Property Life Cycle flow chart illustrates the ongoing
processes and procedures that impact a property during its
life span. GIS is key to all these processes. For instance:
1. Subdivision Design / Site Planning: A Subdivision Design or site plan is always necessary for an area so that future development may progress. However, such design details need to transact regularly with the GIS in order to obtain the latest physical and non-physical details within the local area.
2. Approved Policy Plan: The Planning Department will insure that the derived site plan depicts the approved policies for a given area to insure that rules and regulations are followed for all development. All Units and Sections transact with the GIS to insure that the correct decision is taken.
3. Street Naming and Plot Numbering (QARS): Once an area has been slated for development, it is necessary to establish addresses for all distinct buildings and residences. The Qatar Area Referencing System (QARS) provides the methodology to create these addresses. The LIC assigns addresses, street numbers, and names to the newly created subdivision or redeveloped areas using QARS a GIS transaction based system.
4. Field Setting by Cadastral Survey: An exact geo-reference of land is completed by the LIC's General Survey Section, which is entirely maintained via a digital environment. Defining the precise location of a piece of land is necessary for buying, selling, and determining property ownership. Therefore, the LIC insures that its cadastre (property boundary) database maintains the information required for title transfer.
5. Parcel Ownership: Not only is GIS used within one or two buildings but across Ministries where the Cadastre database may be accessed. A cadastral map shows individual tracts of land, indicating precise corners, length and bearing of boundaries and area. Registering such lands is the responsibility of the Real Estate Registration Department (RERD), within the Ministry of Justice. The details regarding each property maintained by RERD are considered legally binding. With the availability of GISnet, related spatial information (parcel boundary definition) is accessed via computer linkage from LIC's cadastre database, while RERD maintains the non-spatial (descriptive details concerning ownership) information for their legal records.
6. Roads and Services Projects: Supporting a community with water, drainage, electricity, and other utilities is one of the final steps to be implemented within your existing or future neighbourhood. GIS has provided engineers with tools to help support their decisions and analyse future scenarios with the implementation of necessary services. As well, these decision-makers harness the GIS for existing capacities to maintain current and implement future needs within existing communities.
7. Existing Parcel with Super Structure: The life cycle is completed when finally a structure is built with all the necessary services to support a family. The GIS will have been harnessed by planners, engineers, inspectors, directors, secretariesÉ any of whom will have had to make a GIS query understanding the spatial context (that is the geography) for the existence of your living environment today.
8. Redevelopment: Over time our living environment change shape, size, and function to accommodate future use. Land ownership changes and new plans, roads and other infrastructure are expanded or developed. It is necessary to carefully examine current conditions to make accurate predictions regarding any future development.
Therefore, to accommodate these ongoing process, LIC's GIS is used as a transactional system, which ensures the proper management of the property life cycle.