A STRATEGIC APPROACH TO LAND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

Governments throughout the world have turned (or are turning) to moder n technology -in particular, computer technology - to solve the proble ms associated with their traditional methods of land-data recording. T his introduction of technology has not always met with success. A majo r problem has been that many jurisdictions have only addressed needs a t the individual system level. Typically, the traditional manual syste ms that comprise the land recording environment have never been planne d as a homogeneous or integrated operation. If computerisation of thes e independent, autonomous, fragmented, and often duplicated systems is undertaken on an individual basis, the result is almost certain to be a series of independent, autonomous, fragmented, and duplicated compu ter systems. In addition to perpetuating the inefficiencies of the pas t, these systems lack the valuable synergy which comes from the abilit y to interrelate and integrate the wide variety of data contained with in the generic term ''land information.'' With the realisation that ef fective land resource management (and therefore, social and economic d evelopment) is totally dependent on effective land information managem ent, governments around the world are beginning to understand the impo rtance of a ''corporate,'' strategic approach to the development of th eir land-related information systems. This paper outlines the rational e, methodology, and benefits of such a strategic approach.