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Appendix to item 10.1
Report for the 24th General Assembly
FIG Working Week in Seoul, 6-11 May 2001
INTERNATIONAL OFFICE OF CADASTRE AND LAND RECORDS (OICRF)
Report on the work done in the year 2000
This annual account gives an overview of the activities being performed by
the International Office of Cadastre and Land Records, a permanent institution
of FIG. The report outlines matters like OICRF's tasks, its collection and its
information duty.
Tasks
As usual OICRF carried out its activities in all three areas of its tasks,
namely:
- to collect and systematically file and index all documentation material
relating to existing cadastres and land registration systems;
- to make comparative studies of that material, followed by publication of
the results;
- to give information and advice on all cadastres and land registration
systems to all interested persons and institutions, whether for the purpose
of study or to help countries wishing either to introduce a cadastre or a
land registration system or to improve the existing system.
The Collection
After the introduction and presentation of the renewed Internet-site OICRF
spent most of its time and efforts to the consolidation of the presented
services.
Also in 2000 OICRF continued on bringing the most important part of the
collection digitally into the database. This concerns the documents which OICRF
expects to be asked for and consulted mostly.
The growth of the collection is satisfactorily. Magazines' articles,
dissertations, themes and books are still useful input for the OICRF collection.
Since OICRF brings in the new documents digitally anyway, it has the most recent
publications always digitally available for its users.
OICRF constantly realises the increasing importance of documents' digital
availability. OICRF reports that from the standing collection up to now more
than 3,750 publications have been brought digitally into the database.
Information and advice
Bringing publications digitally into the database is an activity which has
also been given much priority in 2000. By doing this OICRF is able to provide
the most important part of the desired publications via the Internet within some
hours. Trying to offer quick services is part of OICRF's duties.
In the beginning of 2000 OICRF additionally made some arrangements to its website,
just to comfort the visitor. The search windows have been improved, so that the
visitor now can get a faster and more concrete result. Besides OICRF inserted a
special page with links to other interesting websites in the field of land
registration and cadastres.
But - just in order to more optimise this website service - OICRF started in
2000 to replace its current web site by a totally new, more user friendly one.
Development started in autumn of 2000. Although it is a site being visited many
times (6,000 times this year) and although many digital orders are received,
nevertheless this project has started. A new, actual looking website, offering
advanced facilities by using recent internet technologies, stimulates OICRF's
position at least. It is planned that the new website is available at the end of
March 2001.
Furthermore also this year OICRF presented itself as a host, by receiving
delegations from abroad. Thus was it in the opportunity to promote its
activities and tasks, as well as its international reputation. OICRF was also
invited to lecture at academy.
Comparative studies
Last year OICRF published several (comparative) studies:
- Cadastres in the 21st Century (GIM International Jan. 2000)
- Datacommunication: a lifeline between Land administration and Society (FIG
Prague, May 2000)
- Cost Recovery for Land Administration (Survey Review, accepted)
Final Remark
OICRF makes as always every effort to offer best and quick services to anyone
who requests for information, not at least to the members of FIG and the
professional public. In other words: OICRF is ready to perform its tasks at the
level required by an ever improving profession.
Once more all this was possible by the generous support of our host, the
Dutch National Agency for the Cadastre and the Public Registers.
Prof. Eng. Paul van der
Molen
President of OICRF
Alexander Maljaars LLM
MA
Secretary-General of OICRF
21 February 2001
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