TY - JOUR

T1 - Remote sensing for property valuation

T2 - A data source comparison in support of fair land taxation in rwanda

AU - Koeva, Mila

AU - Gasuku, Oscar

AU - Lengoiboni, Monica

AU - Asiama, Kwabena

AU - Bennett, Rohan

AU - Potel, Jossam

AU - Zevenbergen, Jaap

N1 - Funding Information: The authors acknowledge cadastral experts, including professionals from the Rwanda Land Management Authority, the Rwanda Natural Resources Authority, the Ministry of Infrastructure, district staff, RCMRD, IRPV, RRA, the Organization of Surveyors in Rwanda, and its4land for supporting this study. We acknowledge the land registration department of Rwanda land management authority for providing legal boundaries. We are grateful to ITC for providing image data. We also thank Pix4D for providing us with the research license of Pix4dmapper.

PY - 2021/9/8

Y1 - 2021/9/8

N2 - Conventionally, land administration—incorporating cadastres and land registration—uses ground-based survey methods. This approach can be traced over millennia. The application of photogrammetry and remote sensing is understood to be far more contemporary, only commencing deeper into the 20th century. This paper seeks to counter this view, contending that these methods are far from recent additions to land administration: successful application dates back much earlier, often complementing ground-based methods. Using now more accessible historical works, made available through archive digitisation, this paper presents an enriched and more complete synthesis of the developments of photogrammetric methods and remote sensing applied to the domain of land administration. Developments from early phototopography and aerial surveys, through to analytical photogrammetric methods, the emergence of satellite remote sensing, digital cameras, and latterly lidar surveys, UAVs, and feature extraction are covered. The synthesis illustrates how debates over the benefits of the technique are hardly new. Neither are well-meaning, although oft-flawed, comparative analyses on criteria relating to time, cost, coverage, and quality. Apart from providing this more holistic view and a timely reminder of previous work, this paper brings contemporary practical value in further demonstrating to land administration practitioners that remote sensing for data capture, and subsequent map production, are an entirely legitimate, if not essential, part of the domain. Contemporary arguments that the tools and approaches do not bring adequate accuracy for land administration purposes are easily countered by the weight of evidence. Indeed, these arguments may be considered to undermine the pragmatism inherent to the surveying discipline, traditionally an essential characteristic of the profession. That said, it is left to land administration practitioners to determine the relevance of these methods for any specific country context.

AB - Conventionally, land administration—incorporating cadastres and land registration—uses ground-based survey methods. This approach can be traced over millennia. The application of photogrammetry and remote sensing is understood to be far more contemporary, only commencing deeper into the 20th century. This paper seeks to counter this view, contending that these methods are far from recent additions to land administration: successful application dates back much earlier, often complementing ground-based methods. Using now more accessible historical works, made available through archive digitisation, this paper presents an enriched and more complete synthesis of the developments of photogrammetric methods and remote sensing applied to the domain of land administration. Developments from early phototopography and aerial surveys, through to analytical photogrammetric methods, the emergence of satellite remote sensing, digital cameras, and latterly lidar surveys, UAVs, and feature extraction are covered. The synthesis illustrates how debates over the benefits of the technique are hardly new. Neither are well-meaning, although oft-flawed, comparative analyses on criteria relating to time, cost, coverage, and quality. Apart from providing this more holistic view and a timely reminder of previous work, this paper brings contemporary practical value in further demonstrating to land administration practitioners that remote sensing for data capture, and subsequent map production, are an entirely legitimate, if not essential, part of the domain. Contemporary arguments that the tools and approaches do not bring adequate accuracy for land administration purposes are easily countered by the weight of evidence. Indeed, these arguments may be considered to undermine the pragmatism inherent to the surveying discipline, traditionally an essential characteristic of the profession. That said, it is left to land administration practitioners to determine the relevance of these methods for any specific country context.

KW - Land

KW - Property taxation

KW - Property valuation

KW - Remote sensing

KW - UAV

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85114693879&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3390/rs13183563

DO - 10.3390/rs13183563

M3 - Article

VL - 13

JO - Remote Sensing

JF - Remote Sensing

SN - 2072-4292

IS - 18

M1 - 3563

ER -