Land administration systems are being modernised to streamline the cadastral data lodgement. However, in many jurisdictions, cadastral data are still stored as a flat file. This method of data ...storage has significant limitations in terms of effective access, management, query, and analysis of cadastral data. Therefore, this study elicited the requirements and proposed an approach to automate the cadastral data storage. The proposed approach was successfully implemented within the land registry organisation in Victoria, Australia and the database management system was rigorously tested. The outcomes can potentially contribute to the implementation of a similar data storage infrastructure in other jurisdictions.
•The Australian digital cadastre initiative, namely ePlan, has been introduced and discussed.•The main challenges of visualising digital cadastral plans in Victoria are discussed and illustrated by ...images.•A research methodology to tackle the digital cadastral data visualisation challenges in Victoria is discussed in detail.•Implementation of a tool enabling the surveyors to enhance the presentation of digital cadastral plan is discussed.•The results of the usability evaluation of the tool and the future direction for this research are discussed.
ePlan, as a digital cadastral data initiative, is a collaborative program between the land authorities and the surveying industry which aims to replace paper and PDF cadastral plans and surveys with digital data in LandXML format. ePlan has been adopted by Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. ePlan has been operational in the State of Victoria for 2D plans since 2013. The ePlan files are automatically converted into PDF plans by the ePlan visualisation service within the Victorian state’s digital lodgement portal, namely Surveying and Planning through Electronic Applications and Referral (SPEAR). Cadastral plan in PDF format forms part of the legal title in Victoria.
Presently, ePlan, in terms of development, has limitations in visualising detailed, complex and large scaled 2D plans. The visualised plan from the LandXML file must comply with accepted Victorian survey drawing standards as the plan is a source for plan certification by council, forms part of a contract of sale, and when the plan is registered by the State of Victoria land authority, Land Use Victoria (LUV), it becomes the title diagram. In addition, through significant engagement with the Victorian Surveying industry, LUV has received feedback from surveyors that they would like to have the ability to enhance the presentation of visualised plans to create enlargements, define additional sheets, exaggerate the position of lines, and move the placement of visualised labels. These enhancement provisions would provide greater scope to ensuring plans complied with the aforementioned drawing standards. A Licensed Surveyor, the creator of the LandXML file is also duty bound to sign the visualised plan.
In addressing the abovementioned problem, a research methodology, including the conceptual, choice of technology, development and evaluation phases has been defined and implemented at LUV. The ‘conceptual’ phase considered the business and technical requirements for developing a tool to support surveyors to enhance the presentation of the visualised ePlans. The ‘choice of technology’ phase focused on defining the most suitable technologies for developing the tool. In the ‘development’ phase, the tool was implemented within SPEAR. The surveyors’ feedback on the tool usability was collected as part of the ‘evaluation’ phase. The main outcome of this research has been the ePlan Visualisation Enhancement Tool (VET) developed within SPEAR based on OpenLayers technology, which enables surveyors to improve the presentation of auto-generated cadastral plans. The evaluation phase showed that end users were generally satisfied by the usability of VET and identified the areas that need further improvement.
This paper first provides an overview of the ePlan project in Victoria with a focus on the research problem and objective. The relevant interstate and international experiences are then reviewed. Next, the paper discusses the research methodology including the above four phases in detail. The outcomes of the evaluation phase are then discussed. The paper concludes with some discussions around the approach taken for this research, the surveyors’ feedback and the future directions.
•The importance of validation service in a 3D digital cadastre has been discussed.•The relevant studies in 3D cadastral data validation have been fully reviewed and discussed.•An approach including ...three main phases has been defined to conduct the 3D cadastral data validation investigation.•Four geometrical validation rules which have been developed using mathematical expressions are discussed.•The future direction for State of Victoria in relation to developing a validation service for 3D cadastre has been defined.
Data ambiguity and invalidity can cause significant expensive issues in the cadastral domain (e.g. legal disputes). An automated data validation can significantly help to reduce the potential issues. Quality assurance has been comprehensively investigated in various domains, however, the validation of 3D cadastral data is still in its early development. The availability of various regular and irregular shapes for 3D cadastral objects and modern building designs has resulted in a critical need for developing validation rules to ensure data validity and quality.
The land registry in Victoria, Australia, is investigating the technical requirements for implementing a 3D digital cadastre. The study of 3D cadastral data validation requirements has been part of this ongoing investigation. This study is being undertaken in three main phases including 1) developing geometrical validation rules, 2) developing non-geometrical validation rules, 3) implementing an online service to validate 3D cadastral data.
This paper aims to discuss the initial outcomes of the first phase of the aforementioned study which has focused on developing geometrical validation rules for 3D cadastral objects. The paper reviews the development of four geometrical validation rules which have been formalised using mathematical expressions to check the individual 3D parcels and their relationships with adjoining or neighbouring parcels. The first validation rule checks the compatibility of the cancelled parcel against the created parcels. The second rule deals with parcel collision detection which is required for flagging unacceptable intersection of 3D objects. The third rule ensures the faces forming a 3D parcel are flat. The fourth validation rule assures 3D objects are watertight. The paper concludes with a discussion around the impacts of the proposed validation checks on the subdivision process and future research for the Victorian 3D digital cadastre.
•The importance of developing 3D principles and validation rules to define a trustable spatial and legal extent of ownership is discussed.•The recent studies on 3D data validation and the current ...examination practice in Victoria, Australia, are thoroughly reviewed and discussed.•A structured framework for 3D cadastral data validation is proposed.•Three main aspects of checking the validity of 3D digital cadastral data are fully discussed.•A set of critical issues for the practical implementation of 3D validation phase in 3D digital cadastre is recommended.
There are a wide variety of cadastral objects, ranging from simple 2D entities such as a land parcel, to complex 3D objects such as multistory/multi-owned buildings. The complex infrastructures development happening above and below the ground complicates the processes required for defining rights, restrictions and responsibilities in 3D (3D RRRs). Even in the current, predominantly, 3D analogue cadastral system which relies on 2D drawings and representations, defining 3D RRRs is still a complicated task. With the widespread use of 3D geospatial information technologies, it is increasingly becoming easy to realise and interpret a 3D digital cadastre system. As part of the process of transition from the 2D representation of cadastre towards a 3D digital cadastre, not only will 2D representations be replaced with 3D models, but the examination workflow and its principles also need to be able to manage 3D models. Developing principles and validation rules is a critical requirement to guarantee that the diverse cadastral data is trustable and contains enough detail to define the spatial and legal extents of ownership. This paper proposes a structured framework to define validation rules for 3D cadastral models. The paper’s methodology utilises a case study approach where a plan examination process in Victoria, Australia has been analysed to investigate the principles of examining cadastral plans, and further expanded on for validating 3D digital plans. The paper concludes with a discussion on the implications of the proposed 3D validation rules and proposes future research within the topic of 3D cadastral data validation.
•Australian digital cadastre protocol (ePlan) was examined in terms of 3D spatial unit modelling.•Various simple and complex building subdivision plans were investigated and modelled in ePlan.•An ...efficient approach for modelling 3D spatial units in ePlan is proposed.•The ePlan Protocol is able to support 3D building subdivision plans.•In the ePlan Protocol, curved shapes are not well handled.
Population growth and lack of available land in urban areas have resulted in intensive property development both above and below ground. According to the ‘Cadastre 2034 Strategy’ published by the Intergovernmental Committee on Surveying and Mapping (ICSM) for Australia in 2014, the current digital cadastres have limitations in positional accuracy and do not adequately represent the three-dimensional nature of real property. This strategy highlights the fact that land parcels that are limited in vertical dimension are not adequately represented in the current digital cadastre. This makes it difficult to visualise security of tenure as it relates to a building or an apartment within a building.
Since 2011, a national cadastral data model (ePlan Protocol) is being implemented in different Australian jurisdictions including Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland for 2D (non-building) plans of subdivision. Following the ICSM’s strategy, the ePlan Working Group has started to investigate the requirements for supporting 3D building subdivisions in ePlan. As part of this investigation and to assess the potential of the ePlan Protocol in terms of supporting 3D spatial units associated with land and property management, a research project was recently undertaken in Victoria, Australia.
In this research, various building subdivision plans were investigated and modelled in ePlan and a number of technical and non-technical challenges were identified. Overall, the study confirmed that the ePlan Protocol is able to support 3D building subdivision plans, however curved shapes are not well handled. This paper also proposes future investigations for implementing a 3D digital cadastre in Victoria.
The introduction of digitization has changed all spheres of business on a global level, including geospatial data. The general goal of the paper includes the formation of a new model of geospatial ...data management. The authors propose the formation of an eSpace model that includes the ePlan system. In order to achieve the goal of the paper, the authors conducted a survey in which representatives of local self-governments and holders of public authority participated through a structured online survey. A pilot study for the formation of a geospatial data model is an overview of spatial and urban planning. The focus is on looking at the real state of spatial and urban planning documents and the possibility of establishing a central database of spatial planning documents in digital format and its further distribution through a single system. In this way, easy access to digital plan data expands the community of users and enables communication with different groups of stakeholders. The introduction of the described model affects the further development of society as a whole.
Various jurisdictions are currently in the process of reforming their cadastral systems to achieve a smart and multidimensional system that provides a range of land administration services to the ...wider community. The state of Victoria in Australia has been actively modernizing its cadastral system since the 1990s by developing a digital cadastre database, an online digital cadastral plan lodgment portal named SPEAR, and smart cadastre services for validating and visualizing digital data in the ePlan (LandXML) format. However, due to challenges in the implementation of the smart cadastre lifecycle in Victoria, the uptake of ePlan is currently low across the surveying industry. This study aims to explore the feasibility of implementing a smart platform for managing ePlan lodgments in Victoria, which provides all required services within an integrated digital environment. To achieve this aim, the business and technical requirements for realizing a single smart cadastral platform are first explored. A proof of concept (PoC) is then developed to showcase a suitable approach for developing this platform. The evaluation of the PoC confirmed that integration of smart cadastre services into a single environment could significantly streamline the digital cadastral data management processes in Victoria.
ePlan, as a digital cadastral data initiative, is a collaborative program between the land authorities and the surveying industry which aims to replace paper and PDF cadastral plans and surveys with ...digital data. ePlan is currently operational in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. ePlan was introduced in the State of Victoria in 2011 and has been operational in this jurisdiction for 2D plans since 2013. On average, one ePlan application is currently submitted to a digital plan lodgment portal every two weeks. The low uptake of ePlan is caused by several technical and non-technical challenges. This paper provides an overview of cadastral information transitioning from paper to digital in Victoria. The research methodology to identify the challenges in Victoria for the adoption of ePlan is then described. This is followed by a discussion on the identified challenges. The paper then proposes a generic framework of strategic actions to increase the uptake of digital cadastral data based on the lessons learned from Victoria. The initiatives suggested by this framework to address the ePlan challenges in Victoria and increase its uptake are also introduced. The paper concludes with a direction for future research.
The massive property development of high-rises and complex structures above and below the ground surface in cities indicates the lack of land and high demand to use spaces. However, the existing land ...and property administration systems are mainly two dimensional and not capable of efficiently managing these complex spaces. As ownership rights on plans are recorded in paper or PDF, understanding these rights and making effective decisions and analyses can be difficult without having experience in the art of reading and interpreting plan information. This paper attempts to address these issues by presenting a prototype for visualizing three-dimensional land and property information. The aim of this prototype is to illustrate and communicate the requirements and benefits of a 3D digital cadastre platform. The prototype is a web-based application and includes functionality to display both legal and physical data, interact with 3D models, display administrative data, identify objects and search objects, visualize cross-sections, and undertake measurements in 3D. For this prototype, a multi-story building was selected as a case study and its 3D model was imported into the prototype to display ownership rights. The prototype was then evaluated by various stakeholders and their feedback was considered for future enhancement.
EPLAN GmbH & Co. KG (as brand name in the spelling EPLAN) is a global software company that develops CAE software and services for the optimization of engineering processes. As with many companies in ...recent years, including EPLAN, the development of a comprehensive, sustainable, eLearning-based international training concept began in the COVID-19 period, although the idea had existed for a long time. Within 6 months, the company developed 600 learning contents in 14 languages and two standards, fully localized (including audio and text), for both industrial and educational clients, whereby the education customers were divided by target groups of educators and students. They developed their own LMS system, feedback system and much more. This paper presents how this mammoth project came about and what the results were. The project has meanwhile been awarded the eLearning Award 2024 by the eLearning Journal Germany.
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