A Cadastral survey is a detailed land surveying of the boundaries and metes of a given country. A large number of countries have undertaken Cadastral Surveys to record their land boundaries. This allows easy access by legal professionals for boundary disputes, land ownership, and land boundaries among others. As a result, a layperson can see exactly what a land boundary is according to a country’s civil law. They can also understand what is an easement, a public right of way or a private landowner’s right to occupy the land. Furthermore, it gives the public an idea of how much a particular land or area is worth. This is essential in selling or buying land or properties.
Beyond Administrative Functions
Most people think of a cadastral survey as a purely administrative task used to determine property boundaries. However, a cadastral survey can be far more complex. For example, a town or city may need to determine how many times a street has changed since its last survey. This information helps planners design future road improvements effectively. If the project requires planning permission, the town or city must apply to update the existing civil law land survey before proceeding.
Also civil law areas may require a survey to find out if there are any underground utilities that may affect the marketability of a home or block of flats. If planning permission is required for any structural changes, then adding to a civil survey could be vital. This helps to avoid future problems with planning applications. “The absence of defects in the record chain of title and freedom from encumbrances are major factors upon which the marketability of a land title is generally considered to depend. Such encumbrances and defects remain a clog on the title and an impediment to its marketability,” says a marketing representative at Geoinfotech Nigeria.
Enhancing Land Marketability
Geoinfotech Nigeria, further believes that, a properly executed cadastral survey can add value to land marketability in the following ways;
- It confirms the genuineness of the land or building.
- Eligible access to insurance plans.
- It grants security to land in terms of grappling and such land or building has rights to compensation in case of government’s policies and decisions. People value security in landed properties, and as such, assurance that no one will revoke or hijack the property is the key factor driving its marketability.
Fred Aboagye-Larbi, Managing Director at BEACON SURVEY LIMITED, states that, “The accuracy of cadastral survey increases the confidence in the document covering the land or property.”
Role in Construction and Property Development
Additionally, when planning a building project, or altering or extending an existing one to make it more efficient, or perhaps to increase its marketable value, a cadastral survey is essential for giving the planner an accurate idea of how the property would look before construction. This knowledge could help with the approval procedure.
According to Geoinfotech, a parcel of land remains unmarketable so long as encumbrances and defects in the record system are evident. Even though the person having an interest in such land may be totally ignorant of the existence of such right, this affects marketability. The company further points out other marketability factors. For example, these may include; access to road network and other social amenities, proximity to development, and land use category (urban or rural settlement, industrial land use, residential land use, administrative land use) etc. In addition, the personality of the land marketer or seller in terms of reliability, trustworthiness and presentation also matters.
Types of Cadastral Surveys
There are two different kinds of cadastral surveys: traditional and modern. Several voluntary organizations and government bodies still use traditional surveys. One major advantage of these cadastral surveys is that they enable organizations and government bodies to establish land boundaries. This is helpful even when new developments alter them or natural geological phenomena shift them. Another important advantage is that these surveys are usually not particularly costly and tend to produce very accurate results. Modern cadastral surveys are less accurate and produce more random results; however, they are much more expensive than traditional ones.
“Traditional cadastral surveys are executed with traditional survey equipment like theodolites and tapes or with total stations whilst the modern cadastral surveys are executed with modern equipment like GPS,GNSS,drones etc,” says Fred Aboagye-Larbi.
Impact of Technology on Surveying
“The rapid rate at which advances in technology are occurring have outpaced the ability of many individuals and organizations to react quickly and appropriately to change. It will take years to fully understand the impact of emerging technology on the land surveying profession. The differences are basically advancements in; Methods and techniques, Equipment, Data collection and presentation, Data storage and retrieval system. The field of land surveying and mapping have benefited from technology innovations in personal computers, digital instruments, global navigational satellite positioning system (GNSS), geographic information system to name just a few. New tools for rapid acquisition of measured data are continually being developed and refined, and the Internet has provided the means to share such data with people worldwide,” elaborates Geoinfotech.
Evolving Role of Surveyors
“New technology has not changed the boundary surveyors’ core responsibility, which is to locate, mark, and document the boundary in a legally defensible matter, for their clients, all future owners of real property, and interests in real property adjoining the boundary. Nonetheless, the global positioning system and computers have changed the way land surveyors measure, analyze, and calculate data. Land owners and land managers have turned to geographic information systems to make complex ecological and economic decisions. The increased need for better tools to manage complex issues in land matters has spawned to the realization and adoption of modern cadastral surveying over the traditional methods of rigorous, time consuming and outdated operations,” enhances Geoinfotech.
Challenges in Boundary Surveys
Non-removable types of boundary surveys present several challenges. Because fixed walls do not shift, surveyors struggle to determine how to adjust boundaries when new buildings are constructed along them. In some cases, they still require an accurate survey. However, surveyors can often define the exact boundary position by digging a trench around it. In addition to this, other problems include access to the land and the cost involved in raising the land to the required level for the surveyor.
Traditional cadastral surveys also present several problems. Landowners often find that changes to their land ownership boundaries can mean they will need to get a new survey in order to mark the new boundary. This can result in extra costs and a lengthy process. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that the boundary surveyor you choose has sufficient experience and expertise in relation to your land ownership boundaries. They should also be able to produce the results you require quickly and efficiently. If your boundary surveyor cannot produce the correct results then there is a good chance you will need a new one.
Read More:
