LIS - Issues, technologies and standardization
Dr. T. Raja Rao Managing Director, Vision Labs Institute, 2nd Floor, 4Motilal Nehru Nagar Begumpet Main Road, Hyderabad Telephone: 040-7762218/7763881/77640884 Email: vision@hd1.vsnl.net.in This paper attempts to present the various issues for development of Land Information Systems across the country, the available technologies and the need for standardization. It also presents an overview of VISION LIS 2000, a suite of software which caters to the diverse requirements of Land Records in various states across the country. LIS - Issues Diversity of Land Records System across the country Importance of Land Records
The object of cadastral survey is the determination of village and field boundaries, preparation of village map showing such boundaries and area lists, and preparation of field registers. The maps and area lists give the physical boundaries and areas and the field registers give the land particulars like ownership, revenue assessment, land classification etc. Numerous Survey methods were used in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Many of these systems led to inaccuracies and were modified time and again. However, the records of Bombay Survey System and Madras Survey System which evolved after 1880, were accurate and were directly or with variations adopted as a standard in many States. Bombay Survey System This method involved running an imaginary line called G-Line or Baseline across the field and measurement of plot boundary vertex locations with respect to this line. Two distances, the distance along the baseline and the perpendicular length from the baseline to the vertex were recorded in the form of a Ladder Table or Field Measurement Table (FMT). The Field Data for a village were maintained in a book with the ladder tables and a rough or fair sketch of each land holding. Variations of this method include use of multiple baselines, adharline survey (where a number of plots were surveyed on a single long baseline, with the entire village surveyed on 1 to 4 baselines), punganur system (where entire village was surveyed on one baseline) etc. Madras Survey System In this system, the survey field is initially approximated by running triangulation lines across the field. These triangulation lines describe the basic shape of the boundary of the survey field. The detailed profile of the survey field is described by offsetting local boundary points on to the triangulation lines along the boundary. The system also uses multiple base line method occationally in describing a complex shape survey field. Further, survey records are also sub-divided and represented in the field measurement sketch unlike in the case of Bombay survey system where sub-divisions are represented on a separate sheet from the main tippan (a sheet describing the boundary of the survey field). Mapping Village maps were prepared by using the individual survey field data. Such maps tended to be slightly inaccurate due to error in individual fields being accumulated across the village. Errors generally crept in due to measurement resolution being rounded off and also due to terraneous nature of the ground. Field sketches assume the ground to be flat, however, the same data when mosaiced across a village result in sizeable. The boundary of the village was traverse surveyed and was used to control the accumulated error in the mosaiced village map. In traverse survey, the entire village was divided into more than one block called Khandam and known boundary points (called traverse stations) in each Khandam were surveyed. The method involved starting from first station and recording the distance and the angle to the next station and so on till the circuit was closed. This circuit represented an accurate Khandam boundary, whereby plots belonging to that Khandam were manually adjusted in the past to fit into the Khandam boundary. In Southern States, changes were made to plot boundaries only in making the village maps while traverse fitting were not reflected back on the original Field Data, i.e., only the original record of field measurement table or sketch are still legally acceptable. However, in many Northern states, the individual field records were either lost or abandoned after preparation of accurate village map and this map became a basis for obtaining individual survey boundaries. Problems in manual systems
Maps are a powerful medium for planning, analysis and monitoring of execution of large projects, Satellite images, Cadastral Maps, Political Boundaries, Contours, Networks and Spatial Analysis are handled on a day-to-day basis by decision-makers in numerous organizations. The data of cadastral survey forms the basis for generation of any accurate high-level map. Spatial analysis applications are of two types:
Spatial Analysis Applications, especially in micro level, are a natural progression from Land Management applications, as the maps are directly used or derived from cadastral survey data and the land profile and usage information is available in land registers. LIS - Technologies CAD based systems Of the available technologies for creating a Land Information System, CAD based software are the most cumbersome and unviable solutions. The reason being that with their powerful drafting features, they may be able to replicate the field geometry or village maps, but analysis cannot be carried out on them. Further, they can only be used for digitization process and they do not recognize traditional survey information like Field Measurement Tables, Traverse etc. nor do they recognize discrete survey objects like G-Line/Baseline, Offset Lines, Triangulation Line, Survey Symbols etc. GIS based systems GIS based systems are a step better than CAD based software, in the sense that they can also be used for maintaining and analyzing databases. Truly speaking, GIS is a tool that can be effectively used for spatial analysis applications. However, it by itself cannot act as an LIS, as survey methods and data are not understood in GIS software. At best a customized version may be created, but the following disadvantages would accrue:
2.3. True LIS To judge a technology as a true LIS, certain parameters have to be checked. Some of these include:
LIS - Standardization Need for Standardization There is an immediate and utmost need for standardization of technologies and interfaces in use by various states to ensure creation of a compatible LIS at the national level in future. As things stand now, different states across the country have adopted various technologies for computerization of graphical and textual records. As discussed earlier, these technologies fall into one of the three categories - CAD-based, GIS-based and True LIS solutions. The present data exchange capabilities of most software are limited to exchange of graphical records in a drawing form and textual record in database form. There is a need to address the protocols for interfacing and exchanging diverse information being stored by virtue of differing survey techniques and standards across the countries. In the absence of such standardization, the country may well end up with different states adopting different software technologies, which are unable to communicate totally with each other. In other words, the new generation of digital survey records will be similar to old manual records - each state with its own standard! There are two aspects to standardization:
Open Architecture A major issue that has to be catered for any standardization is the concept of Open Architecture. Any software product used for LIS applications must
Customizability Survey and Land Records departments across the country are one of the oldest Govt. departments and the manual systems used by them are based on time-tested and honored procedures laid down over 100 years. As such, any new technology that is introduced into the system must be highly customizable to local needs. This is to
4. VISION LIS 2000 - An indigenous solution Background VISIONLABS, a pioneer in indigenous software development in Scientific and Engineering applications, has developed an LIS software solution known as VISION LIS 2000, to meet every requirement of Land Records computerisation and also looks beyond into the future of Land Management. The complete software is tailor made for Land Management applications and complete source code level support is available. The development is a product of 5 years of meticulous research, which involved interactions with many senior experienced officers involved in Land Management portfolios, Central Survey Office, numerous State Land Records Departments and analysis and testing by various Surveyors and field executives. VISION LIS 2000 is the product of over 200 man-years of coordinated effort put in by Software Engineers, Surveyors and User Departments. Components of VISION LIS 2000 VISION LIS 2000 is a software suite comprising of
Applications Let us take a look at the fundamental operations of any Land Records Department and see how VISION LIS 2000 acts as an indispensable use.
National Perspective - VISION LIS across the country
Summary Due to diversity of system of survey and land records management across the country, and also numerous off the shelf software solutions being used by many states, there is an acute need for Govt. of India to initiate formulation of standardization policies for making LIS Technology across the country compatible, reliable and most important suitable to the context of the application. | ||
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