From parcels to global cadastre: challenges and issues of the post-cadastral reform in Quebec

AbstractIn 1985, the Government of Quebec decided to update its cadastre by producing an accurate computer based representation of private land division in the province. The cadastral reform project is unique in terms of scale, methodology and final product characteristics. The end result of the cadastral reform will be a system no longer based on single parcel paper maps, but a global digital map. Despite the strict framework within which the Quebec cadastral reform was launched in 1992, this renovation has raised unexpected questions that still need to be answered. The aim of our study is to describe the challenges and problems that have been generated by this transition. First of all, the impacts of the new cadastral system on land surveyors’ professional activities have neither been fully identified nor estimated. In the past, the idea of integration into a large cadastral grid was not compulsory and land surveyors used to represent their cadastral operations on parcel plans without showing the neighb...