Development Of A New Cadastral Model For Kenya

Abstract

The Cadastral system in Kenya was established in 1903 to support land alienation for the white settlers who had come into the country in latter part of the 20th Century. In the last hundred years, the system has remained more or less the same, where land records are kept in paper format and majority of operations are carried out on a manual basis. The lack of a modern cadastral system has contributed to problems in land planning, access and administration. The Government has expressed the need to modernize the system in order to facilitate better land administration, support the development of an integrated Land Information Management System and a National Spatial Data Infrastructure. However, one persistent denominator to these efforts has been the lack of a modern cadastral model. This paper discusses a recent study carried out in Kenya to provide solution to the problem by developing a new cadastral model, based on an Object-Relational Model. In carrying out the study, user needs assessment was carried out to support conceptual and logical design of the new cadastral database. In implementing the model, a conceptual/logical model was developed based on Multi-Value Vector Maps and Smiths Normalization procedures. The resulting Functional Dependency Diagrams were used to design tables for subsequent querying with Microsoft SQL Language. Results from the study indicated that Smiths Normalization and Functional Dependency Diagrams are suitable for the automatic generation of fully Normalized Tables and a successful query of and displayed of multi-parcel ownership. On the other hand, it has been observed by various authors that typical Cod Normalization procedures do not support the display of multi-parcel ownership and automatic production of fully Normalized tables.