The development of a historical digital cadastral database†

TLDR

Land information systems increasingly need to support temporal data, yet managers lack research guidance to meet this demand. The paper examines a simple method of storing and processing temporal graphical data by adding time‑encoding attributes to data elements. The authors illustrate the technique by creating a historical digital cadastral database that enables display and reporting of cadastral parcellation at any past time. The method can be widely applied to other data to assist a broad range of space/time‑related studies.

Abstract

With an ever-increasing number of land information systems being developed, there is a growing demand by users for systems which support the use of temporal data for time-based studies. System managers, however, may have difficulty responding to these calls because of the lack of available research to guide them in their task. This paper examines the simple method of storing and processing temporal graphical data by the addition of time-encoding attributes to data elements as required. To illustrate the technique, a historical digital cadastral database has been created which al lows users to display and report on the cadastral parcellation of a region at any time in the past. The method can also be widely applied to other data to assist a broad range of space/time-related studies.