FGE 452 – CADASTRAL SURVEYING

Dr.-Ing. David Siriba

2 Cadastral Surveying

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CADASTRAL SURVEYING
What is Cadastral Surveying?

When you buy property/land/a house, how do you know/guarantee

1) The person you are buying it from actually owns it?

2) That you will be the recognised owner after purchase?

3) The block you are buying is the one described on the documents of sale?

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What is Cadastral Surveying?

 A discipline of surveying involving the

description of land/property boundaries;

• It entails the:
• Identification - In order to survey, or measure, a
boundary, it must first be identified

• Creation - Initial creation of the cadastral parcel -

Once identified, the line may be measured, or surveyed,
subsequent changes to the boundaries of the parcel computed, and shown on a drawing.
(subdivision/amalgamation/

• description - Compilation of maps and related land

records

• recovery of property boundaries – re-establishment of

missing boundaries

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COMPONENTS OF A CADASTRAL SURVEY SYSTEM

1. Adjudication

2. Demarcation

3. Survey

4. Preparation of the cadastral record Different way of boundary description

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Boundary Description

Land parcel boundaries are legal entities and therefore

their documentation and official registration are important Why Boundary description•
- subject of legal transactions;

1) To allow for the precise location of the described parcel

Boundaries may be based on three types of features:
natural objects, manmade objects, and legal or
mathematical entities by a competent surveyor

The description and documentation of boundaries can be 2) To clearly identify a unique area without ambiguity
done in various ways with varying degrees of technical
complexity and financial costs. The approaches include:
3) To allow for determining the relationship of the
1) Textual description,
described parcel to adjoining land
2) graphical representation,

4) To be physically and mathematically accurate

3) representation by coordinates.

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Textual description (metes and bounds)

Uses landmarks as points of reference to A metes description identifies a beginning point and
describe the route for a land parcel then describes each course in sequence around the
perimeter of the tract until the point of beginning is
boundary. reached again to complete the description of the
perimeter;
This approach has been used to describe the
A bounds description defines the boundaries of a
administrative boundaries in Kenya (Districts tract of land by identifying adjoining properties but
and provinces Act of 1992). does not typically provide a direction

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Graphical Description

Graphical description uses graphical survey

techniques, for instance, photogrammetry
to survey and map land parcel boundaries,
without involving any direct geometric
measurement of coordinates. The
boundaries are plotted either directly in the
field

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Description by coordinates

Description of boundaries by coordinates entails a

mathematical description of the boundaries using
bearings and distances of the individual land
parcels determined from computations based on
actual land survey. The dimensions of individual
parcels are measured and referenced to either
local or national coordinate system. Mathematical
description ensures high positional accuracy of
boundary definition and therefore the required
coordinate accuracy can be stipulated precisely.
Depending on the survey regulations, numerical
cadastres are generally considered to be of the
best positional quality and the boundaries are
fixed.

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Cadastral Boundary Systems in Kenya

1. Fixed boundary 2. General boundary

3. Fixed general boundary.

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