Digital Land Research Articles

A fully automated model for land use classification from historical maps using machine learning

Digital land use data before the age of satellites is scarce. Here, we build a machine learning model, using Extreme Gradient Boosting, that can automatically detect land use classes from an orthophoto map of Sweden (economic maps, 1:10 000 and 1:20 000) constructed from 1942 to 1988. Overall, the machine learning model demonstrated robust performance, with Cohen's Kappa and Matthews Correlation Coefficient of 0.86. The F1 values of the individual classes were 0.98, 0.95, 0.84, and 0.87 for graphics, arable land, forest, and open land, respectively. While the model can be used to detect land use changes in arable land, higher uncertainties associated with forest and open land necessitate further investigation at regional scales or exploration of improved mapping techniques. The code is publicly available to enable easy adaptation for classifying other historical maps.

Study on the Derivation of Spatial Information-Construction Information Linkage Technology for Digital Land Information Construction: Focused on Groups of Spatial-Construction Information Experts

Study on the Derivation of Spatial Information-Construction Information Linkage Technology for Digital Land Information Construction: Focused on Groups of Spatial-Construction Information Experts

Contestation, negotiation, and experimentation: The liminality of land administration platforms in Kenya

This paper examines diverse infrastructural interventions in the making of Ardhisasa, the Kenyan state’s digital land information management platform, as a space of contestation, negotiation, and experimentation. We analyse the platformisation of governance through theories on liminality to explain the agency of various actors in shaping the digital state. We particularly zoom into the influence of two actors: the private actors in the land sector and the civil society organisations representing informalised residents, and how they exercise agency in the development of Ardhisasa. Drawing on interviews with state and non-state actors, secondary literature, and extensive experience within Kenya’s land administration system, we trace the overt and covert exercise of power in the platformisation of land administration of Nairobi. Our central thesis is that, despite its progressive development, Ardhisasa follows the tradition of a long line of large-scale infrastructural or developmental projects that rarely deliver on their promise for improvement but rather further entrench marginalised groups due to its exclusion of the already existing, albeit informalised, land administration and transaction practices that meet the needs of the urban poor. We argue that Ardhisasa’s perpetual state of becoming leads to the spatialisation of liminality itself.

Forecasting urban futures: Evaluating global land use data sensitivity for regional growth simulation in the Ruhr Metropolitan Area

In recent years, numerous multitemporal global land use and land cover products have been published acting as valuable source for training spatially explicit geosimulation models forecasting urban growth. However, there is a notable gap in research that specifically addresses the sensitivity of models traing with those data sets when it comes to regional modeling purposes. Accordingly, the objectives of this study were to calibrate, validate, and employ global urban input datasets for the regional simulation of urban growth by the year 2030. The SLEUTH urban growth model, focused on the metropolitan area of the Ruhr, Germany, was calibrated using the Global Human Settlement Layer, World Settlement Footprint Evolution, historical OpenStreetMap data, and a Digital Land Cover Model for Germany. The goal was to compare the results in terms of accuracy, certainty, quantity, and allocation, particularly in urban areas susceptible to floods and heat. While all models achieved high accuracy levels concerning quantity and allocation, the extent of new settlements varied from 40.77 km2 to 477.91 km2. The models based on World Settlement Footprint and OpenStreetMap exhibited higher certainty and lower stochasticity. As the simulated urban growth increased, there was a corresponding rise in the likelihood of allocating new settlements in areas affected by natural hazards. While all models presented a similar relative portion of new settlement areas impacted by floods, variations emerged in terms of areas affected by unfavorable thermal conditions. This study underscored the potential use of historical OpenStreetMap data in training cellular automation for geosimulating future settlement growth. Furthermore, it highlighted the applicability of global Earth observation-based urban datasets for regional geosimulation and explored the impacts of diverse input data on the accuracy, certainty, quantity, and allocation performances in simulating future conditions.

Navigating the Terrain of Digital Transition: Ghana’s Journey of Developing a Digital Land Information System

This paper explores Ghana’s two-decade journey in developing a digital land information system (LIS), exemplified by Ghana Enterprise Land Information System (GELIS) and Enterprise Land Information System (ELIS). Despite advancements by Ghana’s Lands Commission, manual processes persist and coexist with digital ones. Our study uses a qualitative approach to assess the effectiveness of the LIS implemented in Accra. This study found that Accra’s LIS is highly aligned with clear institutional mandates, roles, and responsibilities, as well as the availability of laws and policies to support analogue-to-digital conversion. Furthermore, a robust approach to protecting the data, operating system, and software underpins the system. Subsequently, the integration of a digital LIS has enhanced service delivery and accountability. Nonetheless, Accra’s LIS is still at the beginning of a comprehensive learning and development curve. Sustaining the LIS requires furtherance in the implementation plan, funding, law implementation, ICT strategy, divisional integration, work processes, data quality, and communication strategy. These findings will inform the next steps of improvement for Accra’s LIS and guide its nationwide scaling, contributing to discussions on technology acceptance dynamics in predominantly analogue environments.

Problems and tasks of improving land management system in the Republic of Kazakhstan

The article considers the sphere of land management in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The purpose of the study is to determine problems of land management system in the republic and the tasks of its improvement in the future. The research methodology included a desk method for collecting and analyzing data on the activities of land administration authorities. The problems were identified in the following three areas: legislative regulation of land use, management and control of state ownership of land, the process of digitalization of land management. As a result, it was found that the national land administration system does not fully meet the needs of the modern economy. In order to improve the land management system, it is proposed to solve the following tasks: to improve the quality of legal regulation; carry out a complete digitization of land; form an integrated electronic land management system; develop and implement the state program “Digital Land Management” until 2025. The results of the study contribute to the development of a new land management model in Kazakhstan, aimed at encouraging the national government to develop a new land management strategy, increasing the transparency of the management system as well as simplifying the process of administration in this area.

Land Archive Authentication as a Result of Media Transfer at the Land Office

The digitalization efforts undertaken by the land office do not necessarily guarantee the authenticity of its records or documents in the same manner as physical documents. Authentication is essential to reinforce the utility of digital land documents and bestow legal validity as admissible evidence in court. This research aims to analyze the implementation of digitalization and authentication of land documents at the land office. Furthermore, the analysis discusses the necessity of authenticating digital land documents to ensure that the resulting products can serve as valid evidentiary tools in legal proceedings. This research employs a descriptive qualitative approach. The study reveals that the execution of digitalization and authentication of land documents at the WG Land Office does not comply with Law No. 43 of 2009, Government Regulation No. 28 of 2012 concerning archiving, Head of the National Archives of the Republic of Indonesia Regulation No. 20 of 2011 on guidelines for authenticating electronic archives, and the Circular Letter of the Ministry of ATR/BPN No. 5/SE-100.TU.02.01/VIII/2019 on digitization standardization of warkah. In pursuit of legal certainty that aligns with formal legal truth, including the interests of all parties involved, the authentication of digital land documents as a source of juridical data is paramount in assessing and adjudicating a case before a panel of judges.

The prevalent perplexities and countermeasures of the survey and settlement operation of Bangladesh

Identification of land through an effective land survey ensures a secure land tenure system as well as conveys a smooth settlement of land disputes. At this backdrop, the study is framed with the objective of assessing the efficacy of Zonal Settlement System (ZSS) in Bangladesh. Using non-doctrinal data collection techniques, the study found that the prevailing settlement operation conducted under ZSS in Bangladesh is surrounded by a traditional, complex, and lengthy survey method. The study also revealed that insufficient manpower, inadequacy of technical support, administrative misfeasance, and ineffective dispute resolution arrangements worsen the situation. However, the study discovered that initiation of digital land survey and inauguration of an extensive capacitybuilding program will be instrumental in overcoming the crisis. Based on the deliberate discussion, the study also recommends for establishing a time-saving and fruitful land surveying approach, along with effective and robust supervisory administration and dispute resolution authority.

ONE SOLUTION OF DIGITIZING LAND SERVICES TO PREVENT LAND MAFIA IN NIGERIA

This research aims to analyze the solution of digitizing land services to prevent land mafia. The approach method used in this research is a sociological juridical approach. The research specifications used are analytical descriptive research. This type of data uses primary data and secondary data obtained through interviews and literature study. The data analysis method used in this research is descriptive analysis. The research results were concluded: 1). The implementation of digitization of land services is carried out through a special agrarian internet site. Currently, the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs has implemented four digital land services, including Electronic Mortgage Rights, checking certificates, Land Registration Certificates, and Land Value Zone information. There are two electronic services that will be added by the AGRARIAN Ministry, namely land sale and purchase deeds and transfer of rights. The implementation of digitalization of land services at AGRARIAN AGENCY Nigeria, apart from using a special agrarian internet site, is also carried out through the Touch application. Touch My Land is an application created to answer various community land problems. 2) The effectiveness of digitizing land services to prevent land mafia can effectively prevent land mafia practices and achieve the strategic goals of the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs.

Analysis of the dynamics of agricultural lands of the Republic of Tyva using satellite images

The analysis of the dynamics of agricultural lands of the Republic of Tyva (Russia) is carried out. Satellite images from the Landsat-8 spacecraft for the summer period 1987–2021 were used to analyze the spatial distribution of ecosystems on the territory of intermountain basins. Digital land use maps reflect the current situation and contain information about arable land, deposits of different ages, pastures. To determine the age of the deposit, field materials were used, which made it possible to identify the composition of vegetation, varying depending on the age of the deposit, which was reflected in the images. For the first time in the post-Soviet period, a comprehensive analysis of data obtained on the basis of reconnaissance and field work, land use maps using digital technologies was carried out, which allowed us to reveal the current use of more than 30% of arable land, deposits of different ages make up 17–37% of steppe territories, most of the agricultural land is pastures. The interpretation of satellite images made it possible to draw up a map-scheme of the distribution of ecosystems on the territory of the basins. Steppe vegetation is restored on abandoned arable lands. In many fallow areas, bushes of Caragana bungei Ledeb. grow. The processes of desertification and salinization are observed in the territory under consideration.

Unleashing the power of old maps: Extracting symbology from nineteenth century maps using convolutional neural networks to quantify modern land use on historic wetlands

Topographical maps from the nineteenth century hold significant historical and environmental value, providing insights into landscape changes over the past two centuries. These maps feature distinct symbols representing various land cover types, such as forests and wetlands, offering a unique historical perspective on land-use changes. For example, there has been a significant reduction in wetlands because of agricultural expansion and intensification which lead to biodiversity loss and increased greenhouse gas emissions globally. Our study uses U-net CNN to automatically segment wetland symbols from nineteenth century maps from hundreds of map sheets for an area of interest a large river catchment in Ireland. Extracted wetland extents were intersected with digital land cover datasets to estimate current land cover on former wetland (on both organic and mineral soils). Utilizing U-Net, we successfully automated the segmentation of wetland symbols from hundreds of nineteenth-century map sheets, focusing on a large river catchment area in Ireland. Our analysis achieved a very high F1 score of 98.2% and a Kappa of 89%. While it is challenging to verify the veracity of historical map content, the largely untapped information contained within these maps are important for understanding landscape change over time, and especially before the era of Earth observation & remote sensing. The data extracted from these sources can inform modern environmental management strategies, for example, in targeted rewetting of peatlands, or in habitat restoration.

Real Property Transactions in the Network Society: Platform Real Estate, Housing Hactivism, and the Re-scaling of Public and Private Power

Technology is rapidly transforming the landscape of land ownership and housing transactions, creating new types of consumer risk and new regulatory challenges. As markets, legal systems, and housing consumers navigate the new opportunities and risks of “platform real estate” (or “PropTech”), the underlying land laws, policies, and practices that produce the material context and legal framework for real property transactions, and against which consumer risk and regulation must be understood, require “re-scaling.” In this article, we offer a theoretical framework for this re-scaling project, drawing on our earlier work to develop Resilient Property Theory (RPT) for analysing complex, large-scale property questions using methods that—in a departure from liberal property theories—pay attention to the public role of the state. Against a backdrop in which narratives of private property law defined real property transactions as “private realm” activities, while consumer law and policy provided the vehicle for state-backed regulation of specifically defined transactions based on a risk-based approach, this article brings the state back into view to reflect on new configurations of risk in consumer housing transactions. In the de-materialized realm of the “network society,” networks, platforms, and innovations are recalibrating housing transactions. In this data-driven world, land transactions are financialized, depersonalized, and increasingly remote from the materiality of land and the consumption of housing. As new capabilities in digital land transaction systems reach back into the underlying law of ownership, official (state), insider (global capital markets), and outsider (social movement activists) networks have evolved to leverage their relative positionality. This article uses techniques developed in RPT to examine the re-scaling of risk in real property and housing transactions through digital network technologies. We consider the implications of resilience needs in the network society in relation to the public sovereignty of the state, the private sovereignty of land ownership, and practices of resistance to public and private sovereignty through “housing hacktivism.” Finally, we argue that conceptions of consumer vulnerability and risk and embedded ideas about the relationships between private property law and consumer law and policy in real property transactions must evolve to take account of these effects.

Digital transformation of land legislation of Ukraine as a way of its modernization: status and prospectives

The article examines the main trends in the development of digitization of land legislation of Ukraine as an important direction of modernization of the land relations in Ukraine. Each branch of law needs and perceives the tools of digital technologies differently, which is due, first of all, to the specifics of the branch of the subject of legal regulation. The need for digitalization of land relations and, accordingly, digital transformation of land legislation of Ukraine was determined by the course of land reform. Its task was the mass redistribution of land with the termination of land rights of inefficiently working farms and their transfer to the ownership or use of new market-oriented business entities. Such redistribution caused the need for massive land survey works to form a large number of new land plots. However, land survey organizations carried out the formation of new land plots by developing land management documentation in paper form, which created conditions for mass abuse. In order to overcome the problem of imposing boundaries of land plots, it was decided to transfer control over their formation from humans (land engineers, government officials, etc.) to an independent, dispassionate «arbitrator» – computer software. This purpose was achieved by the introduction into legislation of two «digital» tools: the development of land survey projects both in paper and electronic form, and the maintenance of the state land cadastre as an electronic register of land information. An important component of the digital transformation of the land legislation of Ukraine is ensuring the access of interested users to the digital information of the State Land Cadastre. Such access is carried out using special digital services which are are divided into two groups. The first group of digital services provides general access to digital information. Anyone can use them without identification of the user. The second group of digital services should include software and technical means that provide individual accessto digital information by a person, which is carried out under the condition of his identification. The task of digital land services is to accelerate the resolution of certain problems in the regulation of land relations in professional and personal life based on a higher level of availability of information about land resources. Thus, the digital transformation of the land legislation of Ukraine is based on legal provision for the transfer of a significant part of information about objects and subjects of land relations from paper form to electronic (digital) and providing access to such information online. The digital transformation of the land legislation of Ukraine is manifested in the introduction into this legislation of a system of legal norms that ensure the digitization of land information and the creation of digital services for access to such information by citizens, legal entities, state authorities and local selfgovernment bodies. The digital transformation of the land legislation of Ukraine should be considered as a process of legal development, which includes three main components: 1) transfer of a significant part of information about objects and subjects of land relations from paper form to electronic (digital); 2) creation of a large-scale system of specialized digital services for online access to land information and for implementation by owners, users and authorities of the system of land rights and land powers; 3) regular updating of information about the earth based on remote sensing of the earth, bringing its functioning (ideally) to the level of 24/7 online mode. Key words: land, land reform, land legislation, state land cadaster, digitalization, land digital services.

Women’s land ownership in India: Evidence from digital land records

Women play critical roles in agricultural operations in many developing countries, yet they have limited ownership and de facto control over agricultural lands. Literature shows that insecure land rights constrain women’s economic prospects and make them vulnerable to poverty and violence. Despite initiating women-friendly amendments in existing polices in India, the situation has remained unresponsive. Clearly, the existing patriarchal mind-set, cultural and social ethos have imposed restrictions on women land ownership. For deriving important policy pointers, ground realities on land distribution and existing iniquities is required which is lacking in available databases. In this context, the paper aims to reinforce with evidence the bias against women in land rights at different stages so that policy can be rethought in new ways. The analysis is based on sex-disaggregated data extracted from nearly 16,000 original digital copies of land records for 12 States/Union Territories (UTs) in rural India, a first of its kind of exercise. Our results show that just having a title won’t resolve the bigger challenge of different levels of inequities that women still face when they own the land in terms of limited access to single land titles, lower shares, smaller size and inferior quality of land holdings. We also analyse the extent to which the States laws and provisions related to women land rights have controlled these biases, for which State-wise laws/ provisions were reviewed. We find mixed impacts of these provisions with significant variations across States, the reasons being lack of proper implementation and prevailing social attitudes/ customs. Finally, while emphasising the need to start rethinking and reinforcing these laws and provisions in a new way, the paper suggests feasible steps in this direction.

Electronic title certificate as legal evidence

This paper analyzes the increasing use of electronic title certificates in the land administration system. On 12 January 2021, the Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/Head of the National Land Agency issued Regulation No. 1 of 2021 on Electronic Certificate. This Regulation marks a turning point in the reformation of the system of land governance and security of tenure in Indonesia. By streamlining the land registration and dispute-resolution procedures, the use of the digital land title could increase the legal certainty of the Indonesian system of land tenure. It is possible that the digital certificate might transform the present method of a negative publication system with positive elements – the present mechanism for demonstrating ownership of land rights – into a positive publication system.
 Index words: Indonesia, electronic title certificate, land tenure, land registration system, systems theory, girik rights, garapan rights

The Impact of the Platform Economy on Urban–Rural Integration Development: Evidence from China

As a new economic system composed of data-driven, platform-supported, and network-coordinated economic activity units, the platform economy provides a new impetus for the integrated development of urban and rural areas. This paper uses China’s provincial panel data from 2011–2021 to measure the development level of the platform economy and the urban–rural integration development index using the entropy weight method and empirically tests the direct and indirect effects of the platform economy on urban–rural integration development. The research finds that (1) the platform economy has a significant role in promoting the development of urban–rural integration. After introducing a series of robustness tests such as instrumental variables estimation, the results are still significant. (2) Regional innovation capability is an important transmission mechanism for the platform economy to enable urban–rural integrated development. The platform economy can indirectly promote urban–rural integrated development by improving regional innovation capability. (3) There is a significant mesomeric effect between the traditional factors of production and the platform economy and the mesomeric effect of capital, technology, land, and labor factors increased in turn. (4) The digital twin platform is a kind of digital land generated in the platform economy and has become an important place and value source for products in the digital era.

APPLICATION OF THE LATEST INFORMATION AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES IN THE MANAGEMENT OF LAND RESOURCES OF AGRICULTURAL ENTERPRISES

Introduction. Land resources as an object of management are traditionally considered in connection with land relations that determine the content of systems of interactions of economic agents that arise in the process of ownership, management and use of land – an important factor of production and the spatial basis of human life. The structural and functional complexity of the management system is due to its multi-level nature, a wide range of general and specific management functions that are implemented, the heterogeneity of subjects of land relations, and the diversity of their economic interests. Methods. General scientific and special methods were used in the work in order to achieve the goal: the dialectical method of scientific knowledge – to consider the essence of the latest information and digital technologies in the management of land resources; synthesis – to clarify the interrelationships between subjects of land relations in the conditions of digitalization; graphic – for visual display of the obtained results; abstract and logical method – for forming research conclusions and proposals. Results. The meaning and role of land resources is revealed, various approaches to determining their economic essence in the conditions of the use of information and digital technologies in land resource management are considered. The main directions of digitalization of land resource management of agricultural enterprises are highlighted. Discussion. The obtained results of the research can be used for the implementation of the latest information and digital technologies in the practice of land resource management. This will enable agricultural commodity producers to analyse large volumes of data, control the state of land resources and the rationality of their use at different levels of management, which will contribute to the transparency of the functioning of the agricultural land market. In the future, the use of digital land management systems will make it possible to: create an informational computer system for assessing the quality and location of agricultural land plots based on their inventory, assessment of productive and territorial features; to complete the formation of the introduction of free circulation of agricultural land and the improvement of land legal relations, which will contribute to attracting additional credit resources to agribusiness against the pledge of land and improving the efficiency of the industry. Keywords: digitization, information technologies, land resources, land market, precision agriculture, geoinformation system.

Assessing ecosystem services in Russia: Case studies from four municipal districts

The task of organizing ecosystem accounting and integrating the value of ecosystems and ecosystem services into the management process has been set in Russia. The municipal level is the key one in the system of ecological spatial planning. However, the analysis of the official documents on spatial planning in Russia revealed that ecosystem services are still to be integrated into them. This paper aims to develop guidelines for the formation and implementation of integrated plans for the development of rural areas in the aspect of ecosystem development. The suggested methods of ES evaluation and monetization are based on the use of open statistical data and available digital land cover maps. This way, ecosystem services were calculated in biophysical indicators by converting the area of different types of ecosystems into the demanded and supplied volumes of ecosystem services. The described approaches were approbated on four municipal districts in different federal subjects of Russia (Kiznerskiy district in the Udmurt Republic; Elizovskiy district in Kamchatskiy krai; Maikopskiy district in the Adygeya Republic; and Bobrovskiy district in Voronezh oblast). It reveals that carbon regulation makes up the major part of a total ecosystem services value in the studied districts, thus making regulating services constitute the largest share of the total supplied ecosystem services volume. Recreational and other cultural ecosystem services do not make up a considerable part of the total ES value in any district. These evaluations, on the one hand, form an incomplete and exaggerated idea of ecosystems’ value as a source of natural resources; and on the other, detract their regulating and cultural services, which are also extremely significant for the sustainable development on different spatial levels.

The Effect of Policy and Technological Innovations of Land Tenure on Small Landholders’ Credit-Worthiness: Evidence from Ethiopia

Since the early 2000s, Ethiopia has been implementing one of the largest land certification and digitalization programs in Africa, underpinned by technological and policy innovations. The reform indicates a promising avenue for increasing the collateralization of land use rights for smallholder households who have been credit constrained. However, there is scant evidence to what extent these reforms have influenced access to credit. To help generate new insights and fill this gap, the study employed administrative data generated from 11 districts’ digital land registers, survey data from 2296 households in 19 districts, key informant interviews, and policy and legal framework review. Descriptive and inferential statistics complemented by qualitative explanations are employed to analyze the results of the study. The results revealed that accessibility of information from the digital rural land registers increased the credit-worthiness of small landholders and reduced transaction costs and risks. The reform related to collateralization of land use rights also incentivizes financial institutions to establish new loan products for small landholders. The study concludes that while the two-stage land certification programs allow smallholders to possess documented land rights, their credit-worthiness may likely remain negligible without further technological and policy innovations. This implies two policy issues: the need to reform secured transaction laws and digitalizing registries for higher land rights trade ability.

A Mining Town in a Digital Land: Browser-Based Cryptocurrency Mining as an Alternative to Online Advertising

A Mining Town in a Digital Land: Browser-Based Cryptocurrency Mining as an Alternative to Online Advertising