Kuala Lumpur Workshop introduces pro-poor land information system

klumpar(Kuala Lumpur, 11 Oct 13) At a workshop held in Malaysia last month the president of International Federation of Surveyors (FIG) Teo CheeHai, presented on the Social Tenure Domain Model (STDM).

The presentation made during the 5th LADM held at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia was titled ‘The Social Tenure Domain Model: A Specialization of Land Administration Domain Model (LADM) Towards Bridging Information Divide’. It provided a background of STDM; gave a detailed account of scenarios where STDM has been applied as well as upcoming application areas. He concluded by highlighting the next steps in enhancing the functionalities of the tool and making the source codes publicly available by end of 2014.

Similarly, a day earlier on 23rd September 2013, STDM was presented during a one-day awareness training, which was a pre-event to the Land Administration Domain Model 2013 workshop. The pro-poor land information system was welcomed by a group of 35 land professionals and experts. Most of the participants were from Malaysia but the event also attracted participants from other countries.

Ms. Eva-Maria Unger from the FIG Young Surveyors Network opened the event and explained the activities of the network as well as providing a general introduction of the event. LADM was briefly introduced by Prof. Dr. Christiaan Lemmen (ITC/Twente University) with a focus on 2D spatial unit representations. Mr. John Gitau (from UN-Habitat/GLTN) introduced the Global Land Tool Network and its main activities in addressing global land challenges.

The final session brought about a lively discussion on the usability of STDM for different stakeholders and a general feedback on the concept and the tool itself. Dr. Shahida binti Mohd Ariff from UTM remarked “STDM will be useful in mapping Wakaf land and monitoring its agricultural produce as stipulated in Islamic law”. Dr. Tan Liat Choon (JUPEM) noted that STDM can be used to assess the number of people that would require compensation or be displaced when scoping out the requirements for large infrastructural projects.

Donmarl Camua from Phillipines observed that STDM can be very useful in monitoring and identifying members of the professional squatters’ syndicate in the Philippines, evidenced by historical ownership records of property.

The event was organised in conjunction with the 5th International Workshop on the Land Administration Domain Model (LADM2013), held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 24-25 September 2013.

The organisation was possible with the support of UN-Habitat and FIG; University of Technology Malaysia (UTM), Department of Survey and Mapping Malaysia (JUPEM), Association of Authorised Land Surveyors Malaysia (PEJUTA); University of Twente (ITC), Delft University of Technology and Kadaster, Netherlands.