Cadastral development in Norway: the need for improvement

Abstract

Cadastral systems provide important information for the public and private sectors. To understand the functions and impacts of a cadastral system one needs to understand its development. The Norwegian cadastral system has its origins in the 1600s and is defined as a German-style cadastral system. In the early 1800s, an economic survey was initiated in the kingdom of Denmark-Norway to modernise the tax cadastres. After the defeat in the Napoleonic wars, Norway entered into a union with Sweden in 1814 and the survey was stopped. Consequently, cadastral mapping would not be introduced in Norway until 1960, and at that time photogrammetric methods with poor quality control were used. Land subdivisions were undertaken by laymen until 1980. The paper describes cadastral development in Norway, challenges that have arisen and how they can be addressed. Measures to improve the system are proposed.