WO2008047387A2

WO2008047387A2 - A system for land record information management

Info

Publication number: WO2008047387A2
Application number: PCT/IN2007/000486
Authority: WO
Inventors: Karapureddy Veera Venkata Reddy
Original assignee: Speck System Limited
Priority date: 2006-10-17
Filing date: 2007-10-17
Publication date: 2008-04-24
Also published as: WO2008047386A2; WO2008047387A3; WO2008047386A3

Abstract

This invention discloses a system and method to maintain accurate information about land and retrieve and analyze the same. Multiple users have access to a centralized data store, which aggregates data, which was formerly recorded on media such as paper. The data is computerized from a variety of formats and languages and stored for use. The data has two main attributes, one spatial and the other non-spatial. The spatial component of the data is usually obtained by satellite imagery, amongst several other sources. The non-spatial component of the data is provided in turn by the teams for which the system is being developed and matters of public record. The present invention discloses a web-centric, client-server based information system and methods therein for fast, secure access to data for purposes of land management and similar applications involving data with spatial and non-spatial components.

Description

A SYSTEM FOR LAND RECORD INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

DISCUSSION OF PRIOR ART

The land records data available for various states and union territories of our country varies widely depending on the regional survey method adopted in the past. For Example, in Andhra region and Tamilnadu-Diagonal & Offset method is followed whereas in the Telangana region and Karnataka the Chain & Cross-Staff method is adopted. In a few other states and Union territories, Plane Table survey method has been adopted.

The paper records are in a derelict state due to poor archival procedures. These records are maintained by different offices under the state governments {Land Survey& Settlement office, Central survey office, Land Revenue, Land Administration). To restore them and to have a single point access to keep them up-to-date, the need of the hour is to assimilate the available land records. These records have several attributes to be taken into consideration. Some of these attributes are recorded in local languages and have to be parsed accurately, for correct information to be obtained.

Data for use in any application can be collected and stored using digital means. Further, meaningful information can be rendered from this data by running appropriate methods and displaying this information. Reports with subsets of information pertinent to the user of the system can also be generated.

Spatial data is collected by several tools available on the market. These tools allow the collection, analysis and display of spatial data. These tools do not include the integration of non-spatial data such as consumer details, customer names and addresses, types of dwelling etc. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of this invention to facilitate and regularize up-to-date land administration in state government departments. The system of the present invention is automatic, centralized, user-friendly, secure and optimized for performance. Another objective of the present invention is to integrate spatial and non-spatial data to provide a top-down, user-friendly system to help analyze, integrate and maintain all aspects of land-base and utility networks.

The first object of the invention is achieved by means of a Land Record Integrated Management System (LRIMS), which is a system and method that caters to all aspects of land-management. Starting with basic tasks such as digitization and moving on to highly complex functionalities of land-administration, it paves the way for standardization of details pertaining to land-management and improves the quality and accuracy of cadastral maps. The system provides users with a true spatial view of land records and also customizes the processes so as to meet the needs of land records administration with respect to the regional variations found in different states of India.

LRIMS enables a standardized solution that will be beneficial to the land management governance as well as to the general public. The system is built around the concept of sharing common tools and data. The system is expected to play a major role in reducing redundancy and ensure the modernization and accessibility of public land information for generations to come.

We begin our description with a table explaining the various terms that are used in this document:

If can

are

TABLE 1 - Definitions of Terms

LRIMS is designed using a specific set of design, function and interface requirements, which serve as a framework. There are several parts to the LRIMS. Data is aggregated into a central data store, which is rendered as meaningful information by careful processing. The data that is being stored in the LRIMS primarily consists of PT sheets, which are used to record land characteristics. Central to the system therefore, are methods to assimilate the PT sheets, store and access them from a central data store and manipulate the data to produce meaningful information, when required. A combination of spatial and non-spatial data is recorded as part of this system. Spatial data would include the actual land characteristics and non-spatial data would record the customer's requirements or attributes. This system can extend beyond land management to handle a variety of tasks, including electricity management, for example. There exist a set of users for the system, some regular users and others administrative users. They interface to the system with a different set of authentication and security requirements. Further, the interfaces that are used to render information in a two-way fashion between the user and the system are graphical and functionally rich. Using a set of algorithms and models, the data in the data store is processed and updated to be current. This data is occasionally formatted to produce reports, which are meaningful and needed by the users.

The LRIMS is designed to serve several purposes. Obtaining clarity in the maintenance and updation of current land records through systematic incorporation of changes in details pertaining to land ownership and other physical attributes is a central reason for the provision of an LRJMS. In the present state of the art, several departments such as survey, revenue and registration departments act in conjunction to provide a single point of information. Enhancing the co-ordination between these departments is a secondary purpose served by the LRIMS. Accessibility, centralized control, decision-making tools and systematic accrual of revenue to the state exchequer are some other purposes that are kept in mind while designing the LRIMS. Such a system decreases the occurrence of litigation, boundary conflicts and defaulters.

The benefits of LRIMS are manifold. First, it speeds up the retrieval and storage of land parcel information. Second, all data provided in plain table (PT) sheets are accepted directly and information can be provided for individual land parcels. Exact information from village maps of areas, boundaries and the cut points of individual land parcels can be viewed and printed out from a single source. The updated selection and modification of online attribute information of the land parcels is enabled. Tenure security is made possible for landholders by means of proper maintenance of the online Record of Rights (RoR) and title security details. This system effectively defines and enforces indexing standards, which are beneficial for posterity. There is an effort to build a consistent and comprehensive set of land records. Such a system also actively promotes accurate and efficient access to local and remote land records while making the entire process less error-prone. Finally, it enables governments to implement welfare activities via assignment and identification of weaker sections of house-sites, etc. and development activities via acquisition.

Several desirable characteristics were considered at the time of designing LRIMS. First, the Plane Table sheets, which give information about the land, are in paper form and many times badly depleted. Careful scanning and studying of these sheets needs to be performed to ensure accuracy.

Written measurements on these sheets need to be paid attention to as they are often unclear and error-prone÷ The script used in the land records is sometimes regional. This needs to be retained and written using a globally accepted and understood language such as English. Numerals and text need to be added, when pertinent. While the original measurement system as retained, modern and more acceptable measurement systems, which are more ubiquitous, were included. Conversion tables were prepared to interpret the same. Up-to-date data is rendered by the system, when it is queried and the overall performance of the system was optimized to be very high for quick retrieval of data. The errors due to the scanning or manual errors made at the time of data entry were checked and corrected before the digital records or sketches were generated.

The drawings/sketches were restored to the original. Proper care was taken at the time of creating the mosaic of Plan Table sheets with each other to avoid edge matching problems like gaps, overlaps and missing elements for generating the entire village map. A design parameter implemented was the generation of land records with their actual location with respect to the village map. The final output was ensured to have all the details pertaining to the land parcel like its area, the sketch, the adjacent parcel numbers etc. The final output is updated along with a date stamp. The system has the ability to read the local language fed by the users. The system has a help file and index to make the technical user comfortable to operate the software. Help is provided to people with varying skill levels — novices and experienced users. Care is taken to ensure proper license agreements and security provisions. The system is developed in the most platform independent fashion possible.

The main functions which the system primarily hopes to incorporate are:

Rasterization which enables accepting scanned digital images of the PT-sheets.

Library creation which provides a facility to create standard symbol and font libraries

(for local scripts) with the option to create user-defined symbology.

Digitization which facilitates the digitization of PT sheets.

Edgematching which facilitates continuity of feature across adjacent rasterized or vectorized data tiles. Error Correction which facilitates correcting errors produced by gaps and overlaps or lateral or vertical shifts.

Mosaic Creation where edge matching is combined with error correction of the PT sheets in both vector and raster form, and mosaiced. Attribute Data Maintenance which provides tables to enter textual information relating to land parcels.

PTSheet and village map generation which allows the generation of village maps and individual PT sheets that are ready to be printed.

Table 2 provides a more detailed view of the functions along with remarks pertaining to the specifics the users choose to achieve.

TABLE 2 - Functions and Specifics

The behavioral requirements of the LRIMS are outlined briefly. Two kinds of users are envisioned for the LRIMS, regular users and administrative users. The system has provisions to allow multiple users to access and use it, simultaneously. Proper authorization and security protocols are in place to ensure safe access to the system. Users have the capability to query the data store, input data to the data store and optionally be assigned to one or more user groups. Users are allowed to perform actions based on the privileges that are set for them by the administrator. After a certain number of modifications, the administrative user usually archives the information in the data store. The LRIMS can accept files in a variety of paper-based and digital formats, including image files, GIS files, spreadsheets and image processing files. Further, the system is capable of using GPS co-ordinates (total station survey) to specify the location of land. Further, proper options are provided to the user wherein they are able to manipulate, establish redundant copies, transform between data formats and further query the data by setting different parameters within the queries.

The non-behavioral requirements include performance requirements such as the ability to support access to the system, including the data store, by a plurality of users. The requirements of the system are benchmarked quantitatively. Availability is another requirement wherein the access to the central server is provided with user constraints. Portability is enabled in the overall system by enabling interoperability. The data store that is used in the system logs all activities and operations, stores data that is easily imported to other formats, when required.

The methods used in the present invention include a hierarchical representation of spatially distributed data. Further, there are methods employed to aggregate and collate spatial and non-spatial information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS Figure 1 shows the functional requirements of the LRIMS. Figure 2 shows the process flow in computerizing a PT Sheet. Figure 3 shows a sample of textual or attribute data that corresponds to PT sheets. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Figure 1 shows the functional requirements of the LRIMS 15. The main module shown in Figure 2 is the PT Sheet Module 16. This module has the capability to import images that are geo-referenced 17, the ability to create symbology and translate scripts 18, the onscreen digitization of individual PT sheets 19, the capability to edge match the mosaic of the PT sheets 20, error correction 21, attribute data entry capability 22, the ability for digital PT sheet and village map generation 23 and the integration of graphical and attribute data 24.

Figure 2 shows the process flow in computerizing a PT Sheet. Initially, input data is collected 25 which involves the collection of cadastral maps, textual records containing attribute information, toposheets if available and high resolution satellite imagery. This is proceeded by the steps of scanning cadastral maps and data in the toposheets 26, the generation of symbols 27 and the textual entry of data 28. The scanning of cadastral maps and data in the toposheets 30 is followed by a check to see if the images or toposheets are not available for geo referencing 29. If this is so, a digitization of individual PT sheets follows 34. The scanning of cadastral maps 26 is also followed by a check for quality 30. If errors are found during this quality check, the step of scanning of cadastral maps 26 is re-visited. If no errors are doing during the quality check 6 there is a geo-referencing of the PT sheets with respect to toposheets or GPS co-ordinates, if available 33. This is followed by the individual digitization of PT sheets 34, which is followed by another quality check 36. If errors are found in this quality check 36, the step of digitization of PT sheets 34 is re-visited. If no errors are found, this is followed by a step to aquire the client's approval 31. If the quality check 36 has been approved, the step of edge-matching individual PT sheets with it's adjacent PT sheets and error correction 38 follows. This is followed by checking individual PT sheets 39 and either of creating a mosaic of individual PT sheets 41 or the integration of textual data with digitized PT sheets 35. Once the generation of symbols 27 is verified, the step of getting the client's approval 31 follows, which is followed by the digitization of individual PT sheets 34 in case approval is granted, hi case of errors being found, the step of generation of symbols 27 is repeated. The step of textual data entry 28 is followed a quality check 32. If the quality check is passed, there is an integration of textual data with digitized PT sheets 35 which includes the creation of a GIS-ready data store which is one of the final deliverables. When this step 35 is approved by the client, there an installation of the software including technical support for the same 37. This is followed by a training phase 40.

Figure 3 shows a sample of textual or attribute data that corresponds to PT sheets. For every village, for example Ghodbari 60, there is information pertaining to the Kabjedar 61, tenure 62, government 63, block 64, taluka 65, village name 66, survey number 67, sub-division number 68, a name 69, details on the old dry crop 70, the present dry crop 71, the old garden 72, Hie present garden 73, information on the old rice 74, information on the present rice 75, the present total cultivation area 76, the old class-A 77, the present class-A 78, the old class-B 79, the present class-B 80, the old total uncultivated area 81, the present total uncultivated area 82, information on the land 83, water 84, H-area 85, G- area 86, Right 87, Price 88, tenant name 89, mut number 90 and right mut number 91 (mut number indicates the mutation number of a property or a parcel). As is evident, some of the data on the PT sheets are in regional languages or scripts and need translation.

Claims

1. A system to enable end-to-end, hierarchical Land Record Information management,- analysis and integration of data with spatial and- non-spatial attributes, having one or more networked entities and users with access to an automatic, modular, user-friendly, secure and high-performance framework comprising: a. One or more data aggregation components, which enable the aggregation of data present in a plurality of formats; b. One or more data manipulation components, which enable the modification of data; and c. One or more data retrieval components, which enable transparent data updation and retrieval in a plurality of formats based on user-specified parameters incorporating one or more models and events to process the data and render efficient data-management, such that the users are able to interact through a graphical interface, bi-directionally.

2. A system of claim 1 wherein the high-performance framework enables the incorporation of: a. Behavioral requirements such as creation, manipulation and secure authenticated access to the system; and b. Non-behavioral requirements such as those pertaining to performance, portability and concurrency.

3. A system of claim 1 wherein the end application is in the area of Land Record Information Management Systems comprising: a. A data aggregation component having a central data-store, with data such as Platen-Table sheets, wherein the land is organized with a certain pre- specified granularity to enable efficient land-administration; b. A data manipulation component to enable rendering the data, with both spatial and non-spatial attributes, as meaningful information, while performing some main functions, such that: i. Data which exists in plurality of formats and languages can be processed to extract the attributes, which have been recorded, for rendering the data useful; ii. Information can be provided for individual land parcels; iii. Exact information from village maps of area, boundaries and the cut points of individual land parcels can be viewed and manipulated from a single source; iv. The updated selection and modification of online attribute information of the land parcels is enabled; v. Tenure security is made possible for land holders my means of proper maintenance of Record(s) of Rights (RoR) and title security details; and vi. Strict enforcement of indexing standards and enabling remote, networked management of land data and information. c. A data retrieval component, which enables all the networked entities, with proper access rights, to access, manipulate and update the information they require.

4. A LREM System of claim 3 wherein the data can exists in such formats as paper scripts, plane table sheets in a variety of formats and data and measurements recorded in a plurality of languages.

5. A LRIM System of claim 3 wherein the data manipulation component is capable of adding data to the land-records, where necessary, such as numerals to text, in order to make the data more explicit, correct the data, update the data to modern standards, prepare conversion tables to interpret the data, as applicable, in a platform-independent fashion.

6. A LRIM System of claim 3 wherein the data manipulation components further comprises the capabilities of: a. Rasterization which enables accepting scanned digital images of the PT- sheets. b. Library creation which provides a facility to create standard symbol and font libraries (for local scripts) with the option to create user-defined symbology. c. Digitization which facilitates the digitization of PT sheets. d. Edgematching which facilitates continuity of feature across adjacent rasterized or vectorized data tiles. e. Error Correction which facilitates correcting errors produced by gaps and overlaps or lateral or vertical shifts. f. Mosaic Creation where edge matching is combined with error correction of the PT sheets in both vector and raster form, and mosaiced. g. Attribute Data Maintenance which provides tables to enter textual information relating to land parcels. h. PTSheet and village map generation which allows the generation of village maps and individual PT sheets that are ready to be printed.

7. A LRIM System of claim 3 wherein the process flow in computerizing a PT

Sheet comprises the steps of: a. Collecting input data which involves the collection of cadastral maps, textual records containing attribute information, topo-sheets if available and high resolution satellite imagery; b. Scanning cadastral maps and data in the topo-sheets, Generating symbols and textual entry of data; c. The scanning of cadastral maps and data in the topo-sheets is followed by a check to see if the images or topo-sheets are not available for georeferencing: i. If this is so, a digitization of individual PT sheets follows; d. The scanning of cadastral maps is also followed by a check for quality: i. If errors are found during this quality check, the step of scanning of cadastral maps is re-visited; ii. If no errors are doing during the quality check 6 there is a geo- referencing of the PT sheets with respect to topo-sheets or GPS co- ordinates, if available. e. This is followed by the individual digitization of PT sheets which is followed by another quality check: i. If errors are found in this quality check, the step of digitization of

PT sheets is re-visited; ii. If no errors are found, this is followed by a step to aquire the client's approval:

1. If the quality check has been approved, the step of edge- matching individual PT sheets with it's adjacent PT sheets and error correction follows; 2. This is followed by checking individual PT sheets and either of creating a mosaic of individual PT sheets or the^' integration of textual data with digitized PT sheets ;

3. Once the generation of symbols is verified, the step of getting the client's approval follows, which is followed by the digitization of individual PT sheets in case approval is granted.

4. In case of errors being found, the step of generation of symbols is repeated;

5. The step of textual data entry is followed a quality check: a. If the quality check is passed, there is an integration of textual data with digitized PT sheets, which includes the creation of a GIS-ready data store, which is one of the final deliverables. b. When this step is approved by the client, there an installation of the software including technical support for the same. c. This is followed by a training phase.

8. A LRIM System of claim 3 wherein the data has several attributes including: a. Village name; b. Tenure; c. Government; d. Block; e. Taluka (or other granularity, as applicable); f. Survey Member; g. Sub-division number; h. Owner's name; i. Owner's details; j. Details on the old dry crop; k. Details of the present dry crop;

1. The old arable land or garden's details; m. The present arable land or garden's details; n. Information on the old cultivation; o. Information on the present cultivation; p. The present total cultivation area; q. The old classes; r. The present classes; s. The old total uncultivated area; t. The present total uncultivated area; and u. Information on the land, water, H-area, G-area, Right, Price, tenant , mut number and right mut number 91 (mut number indicates the mutation number of a property or parcel