Implementing Geographical Information Systems for the State Land Administrative Department

Implementing Geographical Information systems for the State Land Administrative department

Table of contents

1. Prologue

2. Structure and organisation of the department

3. Advantages of GIS

4. GIS implementation

4.1. Pilot implementation

4.2. Roll-Out phase

4.3. Integration phase

5. Implementation Challenges

5.1. Map production

5.2. Sufficiency and appropriateness of budget

5.3. Qualified staff

5.4. Data sources

5.5. Streamlining business processes and resistance to change

5.6. Other constraints

6. Cost Benefits of GIS implementation

7. Conclusion

1. Prologue

Before beginning this paper I have conducted some preliminary research on the latest trends in information technology through Google. Although Google has become more of a necessity than just a search engine, I want to use Google only as a utility than a need.

Hence I started my journey interviewing many people ranging from my classmates, colleagues, friends, relatives, clients and also tech savvy people. The most frequently used technology by most of the interviewed people was GPS. In recent times people have become so dependent on GPS; they depend heavily on Google maps to reach their destinations. Just as Google search engine has become a part and parcel of our daily life, slowly the satellite navigation/GPS devices have becoming an integral part of our lives.

The GPS devices and Google maps are developed and built on GIS technology (Geographical Information System or Geospatial information systems). GIS is a system that captures, stores, analyzes, manages and presents data with reference to geographic location data. In the simplest terms, GIS is the merging of cartography, statistical analysis and database technology.

The use of Geographic Information System (GIS) technology has increased dramatically over the past 10 to 15 years in a wide range of venues. GIS is both an analysis and a display technology, meaning it can be used to both track information and display it in a variety of graphic formats (eg. Google maps). Most often, these graphic formats are maps that visually represent the data. GIS naturally fits with a wide range of natural resource decision making, from land suitability analyses to optimal road location, and from recreation and cultural resource management to fire planning, suppression, and management efforts.

The following document is a proposal for GIS implementation for the state Land administrative department. It is very important for the department to keep up to date geographic information about all the public lands, private lands, mines, natural resources lands etc. The primary functions of the land administration department are

1. Planning and building controls

2. Land valuation

3. Zoning and

4. Development controls and

5. Drawing maps and analysing

2. Structure and organisation of the department

The state department currently works in a decentralized manner with over 400 sub departments spread across the state. Each of the sub department works independent of each other. Because the entire state is divided into separate zones and each of the department is responsible for their allocated zones, the decentralized organisation has been successful so far. All the individual divisions collect the data in a traditional approach (employing work force and surveying/inspecting the land, taking measurements and creating an empirical landscape model to scale) and maps are created. These maps are developed using CAD based software called MAPDEV.

The department also uses a centralized computer systems which integrates data collected from all the independent divisions and integrates and stores all the information into one common database. This computerised system works similar to an ERP based system, but does not function as efficiently as an advanced ERP system. But