Legal and Technical Aspects of Decisions on Property Boundaries ­ The Case of Austria

Legal-technical systems like cadastral systems combine technical and legal aspects. Decisions are an important aspect of a system. Decision-making processes in legal systems have other principles than those in technical systems. The processes may even have different results. In combined legal-technical systems this will cause problems. The paper discusses legal and technical aspects of decision making processes. The discussion reflects that the Austrian Supreme Administrative Court (VwGH) in 1983 ruled that a distance of 3.96 m from a building to the boundary of the neighbouring parcel was insufficient if the law demands a distance of 4 m. The context of this ruling includes that the Austrian cadastre records boundary coordinates and stipulates a 15 cm deviation limit as acceptable since 1969. Furthermore, once the coordinates are recorded, the cadastral prescripts do not allow for changes even if later measurements of better quality warrant this. Investigation of the legal and technical approaches suggests that the technical process is capable of improving the quality of continuous data, whereas the legal approach adopted in Austria can only deal with discrete data and prevents gradual improvements. The paper demonstrates the need for further investigations into the issue of determination of property boundaries

A Concept of Geo-Facts for Online Discourse in “Postfactual” Times in the Context of Spatial Planning

The paper discusses geo-facts and their importance in discussions. The context of the examples is spatial planning. It is assumed that geo-facts should be the basis for modern (trustworthy and reliable) e-participation in spatial planning processes. This is discussed in comparison with “alternative facts” and some ideas about necessary data on facts are presented. Starting from an intuitive definition of facts we develop the concept of geo-facts, show their usefulness for discourse in a spatial planning environment, and points out some technical details. The paper discusses ideas and aims at presenting a vision rather than present a detailed evaluation and solution that is ready to be implemented. The goal of this paper is starting a discussion how expertise can be stored and used

The Austrian land cadastre - from the earliest beginnings to the modern land information system

The objective of this discussion is the Austrian land\ud cadastre, which forms the basis of the Austrian land\ud information system, together with the land registry. From\ud a data structure perspective, the Austrian land cadastre is a\ud traditional parcel-oriented system and includes a geometric\ud description of land plots linked to other records describing\ud the nature of the land plots. The changeable institutional\ud (legal) framework was shaped the continuous development\ud of the Austrian land cadastre since the first systematic land\ud survey and cadastral mapping at the beginning of the 19th\ud century. With the progress of information technology in\ud recent decades, it has been developed into a contemporary\ud land information system, which (together with the land\ud registry) provides up-to-date land information. It has to\ud be emphasized that the current land cadastre still contains\ud some data from its very beginning and, for this reason, the\ud historical development of this evidence, including data\ud sources, is of great importance for users of these data. The first\ud part of the article provides an introduction to the historical\ud development of the Austrian land cadastre, followed by\ud the presentation of contents and procedures of the current\ud land cadastre

http://www.corp.at/archive/CORP2017_74.pdf

Land administration is a proper tool to identify the resources of a country and to document physical and legal properties connected to it. Land administration constitutes a basic requirement for land governance processes, like land management or land use planning (Mattsson and Mansberger, 2017). Therefore, development work in numerous countries of the south often includes the setup of a land administration system. During the last 20 years, the World Bank, for example, financed a large number of projects related to the implementation of land administration systems in Africa, in Asia, and in South-Eastern Europe. However, experience showed that the beneficiaries of land administration systems did not always meet to combat poverty. Due to the security of land use, also agro-industrial companies rent land, which often common land or land used by nomads. This “land grabbing” is an upcoming phenomenon that is increasingly endangering the life of underprivileged groups. Raising awareness for the problem is a significant part of dealing with the situation. However, a change can only happen, if the people making the decisions and designing the processes are aware of the problem and if they try to find alternative approaches avoiding land grabbing. Thus, the challenges of land administration have to be included into the education of experts. The paper discusses challenges connected to the implementation of land administration systems in developing countries with a focus to the situation in Africa. Afterwards the authors discuss practical experience gained from a capacity-building project in Ethiopia

Open Street Map for Multi-Modal Freight Transport Planning

Route planning for transportation of goods is an essential task. Determining a route for e.g. a truck is simple if the road network including the legal and technical limitations like truck ban or weight restriction are known. Planning of multi-modal routes is a bit more complex. The change of mode of transportation is only possible at specific locations. This change takes time and is often subjet to additional technical or legal restrictions. Thus the different networks, e.g., road and rail, need to be connected. An obvious approach for multi-modal transport planning would be the use of Open Street Map (OSM) data since it does not only contain information about roads but also about trains and rivers. In this paper we first present some existing solutions for multi-modal transport planning and then discuss the use of OSM data in such a process. We identify missing elements in OSM and show opportunities for further development and interventions

Expropriation in the Simple Cadastre

In this paper we investigate the necessary interaction between expropriation and the cadastre. We investigate first the role of expropriation in modern society and the stake holders and then analyze the interaction with land registration and cadastre. The "simple cadastre" framework allows a treatment independent of national particulars. A simple cadastre is a minimal model that satisfies the needs of the users of the cadastre and abstracts from non-essential aspects, any national legislation is full of. In this paper we investigate how a cadastre supports expropriation and what the necessary interface is. We conclude that the expropriation procedures need access to registration data and a process to register a transfer of ownership effectuated by a court judgment, but no special arrangements that would only serve expropriation procedures

Hiking Trip Selection Based On Reachability By Public Transport

Smart cities should enable the citizens to utilize available ressources. One of the goals is the reduction of individual motorized traffic. However, many citizens still use cars to get to the location of an ourtdoor activity. As a concrete example we use hiking trips and identify those that can be reached by public transport. The result is a map (and a corresponding GIS data set) showing the hiking locations for a single day hiking trip. The concept can be used for various other applications although there are still open questions, e.g., what part of the answer can be precomputed and what should be determined on demand

Curviness as a Parameter for Route Determination

Abstract The determination of optimized routes requires the stipulation of costs for various road segments. These costs can then be used in, e.g., the Dijkstra algorithm to determine optimal routes. The functions for stipulating costs vary with the goal of the optimization. Typical goals are the determination of the shortest, fastest, or simplest route. The paper discusses a parameter that has not yet received much attention: curviness of the road. Special user groups like motorbike riders or truck drivers have specific requirements. Motorbike riders try to avoid long, straight roads whereas truck drivers have to avoid sharp bends. Different approaches to model these goals and results for a specific route are presented in the paper

The Effect of Potential-based Land Tax on Land Utilization

Land as a scarce resource requires efficient allocation, which includes efficiency in producing the highest value and efficiency in consumption conforming to people’s willingness-to-pay. Thus methods for controlling proper land utilization are essential for societies to reach sustainability. Like in many countries land and property tax in Austria is based on the profit that everyone could achieve using the land. This concept of a productivity-based land tax was developed centuries ago, when land in European economies was mainly used for agriculture. The implementation was simple, because soil quality, which is the main factor for possible productivity, could be determined. However, economies changed and the profit from agricultural areas – and thus the value of agricultural land – decreased with the effect that also the utilization of former agricultural areas altered. Therefore, also an adjustment in the tax system seems to be appropriate. In the paper the effects of such a change will be discussed. Determination of land tax should be objective and fair. The value of land is an objective criterion and since it reflects the wealth of the land owner it is also a fair measure. The value of land can be defined in different ways but the obvious meaning should be the market value, i.e., the revenue that will be gained if the land is sold. The market value is based on a number of factors including general economic situation and location, but one of the most prominent factors is potential use. Areas that allow a highly profitable use have a higher market value than areas with many restrictions on the use, e.g., due to regulations on groundwater protection or monument conservation. Austria has a large number of data sources that are suitable to determine land value in a mass appraisal approach (Muggenhuber et al., 2013). The implementation would be simple from a technical perspective, even if comprehensive political discussions are required. Land and real properties are also commodities within the capital market with rather stabile asset values over time. Thus, they also can serve as parking place for investments with minimal maintenance costs.. Therefore, people may purchase land in residential areas as a financial investment without improving the land with the consequence that the municipality is forced to create additional residential areas and provide the necessary infrastructure. This stresses the budget of the municipality and has a negative effect on resource management. If land tax is based on the potential of the land, land owners may rethink their strategy. The tax causes financial losses of the potential is not exhausted. Potential buyers will have an interest in the land, because they want to utilize the potential now. In addition, the political decision makers explicitly see the monetary effect of their decisions, and the beneficiaries become visible for the public