Application of the Land Administration Domain Model to the City of Johannesburg Land Information System

Abstract

The paper explores the adoption of ISO 19152, Geographic information -- Land Administration Domain Model (LADM), in the enhancement of the current City of Johannesburg Land Information System (CoJLIS) data model. The CoJLIS was established to support integration of property data within various departments of the city. The current CoJLIS is designed for core land information only. There is a need for a comprehensive data model for all property information to support data management. The current CoJLIS upgrade coincides with the development of the LADM by ISO/TC 211, Geographic information/Geomatics. The LADM was published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) late in 2012 as an International Standard for modelling basic land administration (LA) information. The LADM aims to provide a common vocabulary within the LA domain. This research examined the core data model of CoJLIS against the corresponding LADM basic classes. The LADM presents an opportunity to adopt an ISO conformant model in the CoJLIS, thus leveraging the benefits associated with the LADM. We show that the LADM can be used to describe land administration information at a municipality in South Africa, but that there are semantic differences, similarities and mismatches of classes and attributes between the LADM and the CoJLIS. The current disconnect between different systems, each managing a different part of the land administration information at the CoJ, is a cause for concern. The research was restricted to the City of Johannesburg. The results improve the understanding of land administration at municipal level in South Africa, but more empirical explorations are necessary to examine the applicability of the LADM within different contexts, more especially in cadastre-less areas (e.g. informal settlements and rural areas).