Is It Possible To Create A Cadastral Map Of Europe?

Cadastral data is one of various geospatial datasets of key importance for land management and spatial development. Cadastral maps with accompanying land-related attributes have become fundamental for many application fields, such as spatial planning and development, protecting state lands, securing of land tenure, real estate market analysis, facilitating land reforms, land consolidation, administering agricultural subsidies through the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS), forestry, soil protection and environmental measures. They underpin land governance, property rights, economic activities, infrastructure development and sustainable resource management, contributing to social stability, economic prosperity and environmental sustainability.

So is it possible to create a digital cadastral map of Europe to trigger long-term socio-economic benefits by facilitating data integration, exchange and analysis across borders? Ideally, the map should be simple to use desktop GIS or online GIS software to find, access, download and combine data about Europe’s cadastral parcels. But this would require common standards and formats to achieve interoperability between the various national data sources. In this context, several initiatives regarding cadastral and other geospatial data have been launched in the last 20 years. At the European level, it started with the Permanent Committee on Cadastre in the European Union, the European Land Information Service (ELIS), INSPIRE, UN-GGIM Europe with the FELA and recent European policies on open data and high-value datasets.

Read more in GIM International article.