Open Source Software for Cadastre and Land Registration - A Viable Alternative?

SUMMARY Cadastres and land registration systems in developing countries often struggle to provide appropriate and affordable services for tenure security. Reasons are related to governance but also to technological and financial shortcomings. Systems are often geared for serving well paying clients rather than poor peasants. Information technology plays a crucial role in operating cadastres and land registration systems. In developing countries, the on-going license costs of proprietary software often created serious constraints and have even stopped programmes. Over the last few years, open source software solutions in fields such as database management and geographic information systems became powerful and credible alternatives to proprietary software. FIG working group 7.3 in cooperation with FAO is investigating the potential and the prospects that open source software might offer for the cadastre and land registration field. The FAO is undertaking a project known as «FLOSS Cadastre» and aims to investigate the issue and to support country case studies. This article looks at the activities so far and the planned steps ahead.