Dr.-Ing. Winfried Hawerk (Germany)
ABSTRACT
Cadastral data are a basic information system for an increasing number of users. These data are representing an economic good of high value. Marketing strategies and a fair pricing policy are necessary to keep playing an important role in the market for cadastral data, to find out customers’ demands and chances for new products. The paper describes some of the first steps in practising marketing strategies for cadastral data in Germany particularly in Hamburg.
ZUSAMMENFASSUNG
Die Daten des Liegenschaftskatasters bilden das Basisinformationssystem für eine steigende Zahl von Nutzern. Diese Daten stellen ein Wirtschaftsgut von erheblicher Bedeutung dar. Marketingstrategien und angemessene Gebührenregelungen sind nötig, um am Markt für Daten des Liegenschaftskatasters weiterhin eine entscheidende Rolle zu spielen, Kundenwünsche und Chancen für neue Produkte zu ermitteln. In diesem Papier sollen einige Ansätze dieser Überlegungen aus der praktischen Anwendung in Deutschland und speziell in Hamburg dargestellt werden.
RESUME
Les données du cadastre forment le système de base d'information géographique pour un nombre d’utilisateurs qui monte. Cettes données représentent des biens économiques d’une importance considérable. Des stratégies de marketing et des règlements raisonnables de droits sont nécessaires pour enquêter le marché de données du cadastre, des demandes des clients et des possibilités pour des nouveaux produits. Ce papier doit décrire quelques débuts de cettes réflexions de l’utilisation pratique en Allemagne et particulièrement à Hambourg.
INTRODUCTION
The European Union (EU) started the program Info2000 to develop a European multimedia-industry. An important part of this program is to establish Geographic Information Systems for different purposes. Corresponding to this program the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany published a paper "Info2000 - the German Way into the Information Society" [2]. Some of the major objectives in this program of developing computer science, entertainment electronics, audio-visual media and telecommunication are
The EU predicts an increasing number of 6 million new jobs in this economic section for the next 15 years with a potential of 1.5 million jobs until 2010 only in Germany if this market will be developed consequently. In this field Geographic Information Systems (GIS) play a more and more important role for different purposes. So our profession has the chance to save jobs in this business with our products -GPS, remote sensing, GIS and digital cadastral data.
Cadastral data in form of the Real Property Map (ALK) and the Real Property Register (ALB) are representing a basic information system for a great number of users in a wide variety of applications in spatial planning, traffic management and other parts of a growing information society. The cadastre is the only basic graphic and descriptive register in Germany that covers the whole nation in a parcel-based system. So it is an ideal information system for private and public purposes. In most states regulations have been established defining the cadastre as the standard basic data base for all GIS applications in the public sector. Especially in public services it is very useful to have only one standardised system so it is much easier to combine different data of different sources. This is the only way in this field to reach the aims of an efficient public administration. The task for the cadastre is to fulfil most of the demands concerning accuracy, actuality, content and accessibility.
This is the position of the cadastre in the market of growing information society today. The importance of the digital cadastre will increase in developed countries in the next twenty years but more for the purpose as a basic Land information system than an instrument to secure ownership to land.
The establishment of digital cadastral data in Germany is still going on. The Working Committee of the Survey Administrations of the states of the Federal Republic of Germany (AdV) is going a new important step to be prepared for future demands. So cadastre in Germany will be changed into an integrated Official Cadastral Information System (ALKIS). The most important project in AdV in these days is the definition of ALKIS. The draft of ALKIS is already available, developed by AdV expert groups. Together with the GIS industry based on international standards AdV plans to implement the system in the next ten years.
So the German cadastre is going one step more ahead on the historical way from a cadastre for taxation purposes via a multipurpose cadastre to a modern basic Land Information System.
Marketing
Before starting a view on marketing digital cadastral data it is very useful to know the meaning of the word "marketing".
In this paper "marketing" encloses all decisions, actions and strategies of an enterprise going into a market to offer goods or services. Marketing includes as well answers to the questions
Marketing includes as well all activities to analyse the market for finding out chances for new products. A major aim in marketing is to design strategies for acting in the market, which means planning of suitable activities to take the actual chances given in the specific market in the most efficient way regarding the objectives given by the management of the enterprise [7].
Before starting marketing strategies for cadastral data it is very useful to have a look at
These reflections have a realistic background. Some activities of marketing cadastral data in Hamburg show the success of these strategies.
The "enterprise" cadastre in germany
The constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany accords responsibility for legislation around the land register to the Federal Republic under the Ministry of Justice whereas each of the 16 states is responsible for the laws concerning the real property cadastre. The different tasks are therefor not carried out by a central surveying authority responsible for the Federal Republic of Germany, but essentially by the Surveying and Mapping Administrations of the states. Tasks to be attended to at a federal level are partly performed by the Federal Office for Cartography and Geodesy (BKG), an agency under the authority of the Federal Ministry of the Interior. BKG has nothing to do with cadastre, so in this field we have to do it with 16 Ministries in 16 states. In the terminology of this paper these are 16 independent "companies" under the supervision of their Minister co-operating under the roof of AdV to handle more or less a monopoly in the market - the real estate cadastre. These 16 "companies" are operating a great number of local branches in cities and districts, the cadastral agencies.
AdV is responsible for
In these days cadastre fulfils all legal demands and demands of the public and the private sector. It is a basic Land Information System (LIS) of great variety and flexibility for planning, environmental protection and a lot more issues. Maps and cadastral records in most urban parts of Germany are stored in digital form. The digital cadastral data bases ALK and ALB are unique in the whole Republic except some features varying from state to state.
The interface to the customers' data base is represented through the Unique Data Base Interface (EDBS), an interface developed by the Surveying Authorities, not established as an international standard but accepted by a great number of users of cadastral records in Germany.
Through AdV as an interstate body the uniformity of the property cadastre is ensured so that customers buying cadastral data may get the same product no matter in which state they are operating -more or less.
Organisational reforms in public services and especially in the Surveying Authorities on all levels took and still are taking place in order to create a slim administration like demanded as well by the Federal Government [2]:
Some states have already changed their organisation of cadastral services into state owned and controlled quasi-companies like in the Netherlands, others are on the way to it. Which organisational form will be the most efficient one to guarantee best services for the users of cadastre cannot be predicted in the moment. Discussions are going on in expert-groups and in policy.
The German cadastral authorities are prepared to fulfil most of their customers' demands, offer their data in a customer-oriented format and are working to hold a key position in the market for geographical data.
Products of the german cadastre
The Land registration system in Germany is a duplex system. The legal situation of each parcel is described in the land register called "Grundbuch". The geometric description of all boundaries in maps (ALK), field records and textual records in ALB is in the hand of the cadastral authorities. With some parts of its contents the cadastre enjoys the "public faith" of the land register, like parcel-identifier in maps and records. Only both systems in combination are able to give a complete overview about legal and de facto land tenure. Both registers must be constantly updated and kept in correspondence with each other [3].
The real property cadastre in Germany is a parcel-based system, i.e. information is geographically referenced to unique, well-defined units of land (parcels). These units are defined by formal boundaries marking the extent of land. Each parcel is given a unique parcel-number.
The real property cadastre is the official register of all parcels and buildings in a state, in which all parcels are described with graphical and textual data. The real property cadastre is designed to show the de facto status of property. As far as legal property titles are concerned, the cadastre shows their scope and the part of the surface to which they extend. All relevant facts, such as designation, location, size and use, plus the boundaries as surveyed by authorised government agencies and licensed surveyors are therefor described. It contains additional information, like the results of the official soil assessment, links to other parcel-based data bases etc.
The surveying and cadastral agencies are working as well in the field of maintaining the nation-wide grid of revision points and height control points. Additional tasks linked to the cadastre are the valuation of land and buildings, the maintenance and updating of the collection of purchase prices, giving expertise on the market value of any kind of land property and the publication of standard values for different kinds of land prices. Further tasks in most states are land management activities, like formal procedures for (re)organising building land in course of development planning.
This paper highlights the two major products of the cadastre in the moment, ALK and ALB.
Real Property Register (ALB)
ALB contents data for each parcel in Germany about
Real Property Map (ALK)
The analogue cadastral maps exist generally in form of grid-maps scale 1:1000 based on Gauß-Krüger-coordinates. Most of these maps are now replaced by digital maps (ALK) containing geographical information about
ALK is accepted by a wide range of users to be the basic parcel-related GIS in Germany. In most communities these maps fulfil the requirements of users in planning, environmental protection and other sections of public and private services.
Future Products and Services
ALK and ALB have been developed in the eighties. The limited capacities of the data processing equipment of that time was causing this separate data maintenance as well as the different software solutions. Both factors did not allow an integrated approach. Owing to the technical progress, integrated processing and maintenance of all cadastral data in one system is not a big issue from a technical point of view. Since 1996 an AdV expert-group is working out a technical concept for ALKIS, the integrated Official Cadastral Information System. The descriptive data language being used is EXPRESS, considering all relevant ISO and CEN standards. A meta data base is being set up including specifications on the data quality.
AdV plans to establish ALKIS in the next 10 years. The GIS industry is asked to develop the appropriate software tools. The migration of data will be a major task for the Surveying Departments in the whole Republic because ALK and ALB software will be maintained only for the next 10 years.
ACTUAL STATE OF THE DIGITAL CADASTRE IN Germany
Security of land tenure in Germany has a tradition of some centuries. At the beginning of the 19th century in most of the kingdoms cadastral systems have been established for taxation purposes.
Since 1900 a common private law exists for the whole nation. In the following years the land registration system "Grundbuch" for the whole nation has been established containing all rights of ownership and other rights on land and buildings. In combination with Grundbuch the importance of good working cadastral system grew very fast. Cadastre developed from a system for taxation of land to a register to guarantee the right of land tenure.
After 1934 the results of the official soil assessment are recorded in the cadastre. This was the first step into a multi-purposed cadastre now with modern features like ALB and ALK [8].
Real Property Register (ALB)
As mentioned before land registration in Germany is a duplex system. The land register still is a analogue register of files and updating cadastre and Grundbuch is still an act of manual work.
In these days a project has been set up to transfer the land register into a digital form. In Hamburg this digital Grundbuch has been completed by the end of 1997. Data links between cadastre and Grundbuch are discussed in the moment. A working-group of experts from both sides is working on that subject.
ALB is in operation in all states except in Schleswig-Holstein since many years. Even the states in former East-Germany have implemented ALB but with less contents. ALB contains detailed information of approximately 61.3 million parcels in Germany.
Real Property Map (ALK)
The establishment of ALK has a history of more than ten years. The basic concept of ALK dates back to 1975. Following the theoretic guidelines of this concept will have the consequence to create a very long-term project because in many cases the resurveying of parcels is necessary to generate geometrically accurate information.
The objectives of ALK are that the data should be
The pressure of user groups to get ready with digitising motivated most states to create a basic version of ALK. The status of ALK in Germany is shown in picture 1. Experiences particularly in big metropolitan areas show that the opportunities in marketing digital maps increase immediately in the moment the data are available for the whole area. The experiences in marketing these data in Hamburg will be described later in this paper. In Hamburg this version is called DSGK and covers the whole state since a few years [6].
IS THERE Any MARKET FOR CADASTRal data?
In the last few years big changes in the field of GIS have taken place. In the beginning only a few suppliers of very expensive GIS hard- and software existed and a few agencies and companies were able to digitise maps, to administrate and to analyse these data. Today we are looking at a market on which a great number of GIS suppliers sometimes with very competitive low cost PC-based software solutions are acting under very hard conditions. Low cost GIS-systems are opening barriers to new customers that were not interested in this part of IT a short time ago. The potential of new customers for digital maps has grown enormous. Especially in Hamburg and other big cities we are now observing that not only the traditional users of cadastral maps are demanding digital data more and more. A lot of companies in the private sector are dealing with cadastral data for their own purposes (e.g. housing companies establish geo-referenced data bases to administrate their buildings, taxi companies and courier-services need coordinates of house-numbers to allocate their customers). A market exists, even for cadastral data, we call it the geodata market.
Basing on the actual structures in legislation and administration we have to take in consideration that we have only one supplier of cadastral data in a specific area and a number of potential customers. This is the classic structure of a monopoly market. This is a priori not a bad market situation, especially not for the supplier, but these circumstances have a great impact on pricing policies. Prices are created by fixing of fees for cadastral data in this case instead by the balance of supply and demand. This is one of the major problems for the Ministries in the moment that are responsible for fixing fees for digital cadastral data.
The market for geodata is booming. This is concerning more the field of digital topographical maps but as well in cadastre like it is noticeable in Hamburg. Geographical information became an economic good of high value. Some marketing experts are talking about a change that is going on in the moment in this field from a demander-oriented market to a supplier-oriented market. This affects marketing strategies and pricing policies of hard- and software suppliers as well as the strategy for the cadastral data supplier. Even the market for data is changing from a monopoly to a normal market with more than one supplier, not for the fundamental cadastral data but for additional information like house numbers (Telekom), buildings, roads etc. These changes are noticed in the metropolitan areas in Hamburg and some other big communities. Concurrence vitalises the business and helps cadastral agencies think about the quality of their work!
According to the status of ALK (picture 1) in most of the states in Germany these changes in the market are not yet taking place because of a lack of supply in these areas. ALK is not completed yet means less interested customers who are looking for other suppliers or are thinking about other solutions, which means that they are lost customers for the cadastre. Some energy suppliers who need state-wide completed and up to date maps act like this. So the task for these states should be to complete their data base as soon as possible.
TARGET GROUPs FOR CADASTRal data
The classic market for cadastral data has been very clear -some surveying engineers, planning authorities and the land market. The target group for digital cadastral data with extended contents is not as clear as the user group of analogue data mentioned before. Without knowing the exact outlines of this market we assume this group will be much wider, but because of the booming market for digital data a clearly marked group of potential users of digital cadastral data cannot be fixed. The task of the professionals in this field will be to find out those customers who yet do not know that they will be customers of digital cadastral data. Maybe they even do not notice that they are using data from cadastre because these data look much different or it is just a small subset of the cadastre.
To be successful in winning new potential customers the data should be easy accessible, simple to handle and comfortable to install at a low-cost-level on a PC with standard-software. It should be possible in a simple way to link these data to an own data base. The task for the professionals in surveying will be to transfer data of ALK or ALB via an interface into data suitable for these users as well as a good consultancy for customers.
One possible market in the near future will be consultancy and production of individual software solutions for customers without that know-how. The keyword is the individual package solution as a package of hardware, software and data distributed by cadastral agencies.
PRICING policy
Most states including Hamburg are following the advice of FIG [5] with relatively low fees for the first access to the data to keep the psychological and fiscal barrier for potential customers as low as possible to enter the market. The fees for updates should be fixed under aspects of cost recovery for the service of updating the cadastre.
Because of the federal structure of Germany all states are allowed to fix fees for cadastral services on their own. AdV gives recommendations for a pricing policy and most states are following these principles. In the field of digital cadastral data the recommendations of AdV allow a lot of freedom in fixing fees. This affects that customers acting in more than one state have to pay different prices for comparable data.
A second fact is that the users of data in an area bigger than a district have to go to from district to district to buy these data -not very customer oriented. In the field of topographical data AdV implemented a service centre called "Geodata Centre" at the BKG where it is possible to buy data from the whole Republic. In the moment this problem is not so evident in cadastre because not so many potential users ask for cadastral data from the whole Republic.
MARKETING OF GEODATA IN HAMBURG
The city and state of Hamburg is one of the 16 states in Germany (picture 1). The state covers an area of 755 km². Hamburg is the most important harbour-city in Germany, commercial metropolis (Germany's largest foreign trade and transit centre) and centre of service industries (media branch, banking, insurance etc.). The city has a population of approximately 1,7 million. In the environs lives another million, from which a great number of people work in Hamburg.
Additional features in cadastre, like more topographical contents in cadastral maps and additional descriptive data in cadastral records have been part of cadastre since more than 150 years. Cadastre was and still is a basic information system for many purposes in planning and other administrative tasks. The technical features of ALK and ALB in Hamburg are a little bit different in order to fulfil the demands of a big number of users of these data [6]. Hamburg implemented a digital cadastral map called DSGK with a lot of additional topographical features in comparison to ALK. The textual records in ALB have been replaced through a data base with additional contents called HALB. Both DSGK and HALB represent the basic Land Information System (FIS) in Hamburg covering the whole area of the state [6].
The cadastral act in Hamburg establishes the cadastre as a basic Land Information System called "FIS" for specific Information Systems of users in different fields in the public and the private sector [6]. Additional contents like e.g. a road data base for traffic planning and navigation, statistic blocks, administrative boundaries and a lot of additional topographical features lets the traditional cadastre act only as a subset of FIS.
One regulation in this act says that FIS has to be used by all institutions of the public sector and digitising of official contents of FIS is allowed only to the central Surveying Department. This regulation assures the opportunity to create interrelations between different data from different sources.
To make sure that these regulations are respected the Surveying Department is involved in all processes of planning information technology in the Hamburg administration, especially in those processing geometric data. This opens a big market dealing with consultancy in the public and the private sector as well as designing software solutions for customers in addition of selling digital data.
In cadastre approximately 220.000 parcels with 290.000 land titles are booked. Every year more than 35.000 updates are registered in HALB and a lot more in DSGK because of changes of the topography.
Like in all other states in Germany the complete access to data is restricted by data protection regulations which do not allow public access and distribution of personal data like e.g. the name of the land owner. Marketing of cadastral data can be practised only with anonymous data. This fact restricts the opportunities of cadastral services a lot. To liberalise these regulations will be a task for legislation in order to fulfil the Info2000 program of the federal government [2].
Meta data
Marketing geographical data of different scales and features can be successful only if the market is well informed about these products. The available geographical products and their quality of the whole public sector in Hamburg are described in a meta data base maintained by the Department for Geoinformation and Surveying. These data are accessible to everybody on CD-ROM or diskette and in a second step via Internet. The access to not person-related cadastral data via Internet will be possible in the near future.
HALB - the descriptive component of FIS in Hamburg
Since 1988 the Real Property Register is operating under the software solution ALB like in the rest of Germany. Data in ALB are kept in parcel-related form. Besides the original cadastral contents (parcel number, area, land owner, land use) in Hamburg a lot more information about the parcel are stored like soil pollution, historical monuments, dud bombs of world war II etc., all together more than 40 additional descriptive data. The land use is recorded very detailed in a three-figure-code to fulfil the requirements of statistics and planning authorities.
To allow direct access to ALB and to link other data with ALB the development of a new software product was necessary. In Hamburg the surveying department modified ALB and created a more modern cadastral data base called HALB with features like
HALB is operating since 1997. In order to prevent misuse of personal data it fulfils all requirements of the Commissioner for data protection. With this new product the market for descriptive cadastral data has been opened to the public. Promoting HALB in the public and private sector in different ways (individual demonstrations, presentations on trade fairs like INTERGEO or CeBIT) has been very successful so that now, a short time after the implementation of HALB, a great number of institutions are demanding direct access to these data. The next step will be to transfer subsets of HALB into PC based relational data bases like MS Access to allow an even wider access to data than before. An increasing number of users ask for both graphical and textual information of FIS with easy to handle standard software for their own additional data base in the business of land management, housing projects etc.
DSGK - the graphic component of FIS in Hamburg
The analogue cadastral maps existed in form of grid-maps in the scale of 1:1000. Along with parcel-boundaries, parcel-numbers and buildings these maps contented more topographical details like kerbs, cycle tracks, road trees, embankments for a wide range of communal users in e.g. planning, environmental protection.
Around 1985 the companies for gas and water and electricity planned to convert their analogue documentation of cables and pipes into digital form. The Surveying Department therefor was forced to establish ALK in a very short time because the companies wanted to avoid double-work and cost for digitising. Hamburg carried out a digital base map called DSGK simplified in some features compared to the concept of ALK. The elements of the analogue map have been coded in more than 160 different object-codes stored in more than 35 defined layers of DSGK. Some of these basic graphic elements were linked to each other to define so called graphical objects. These objects are parcels, buildings and statistical blocks. These graphical objects can be linked to textual information like HALB via these objects. In order to fulfil the individual requirements of different users the contents can be extracted by layers or object-codes and given to the customers as plots in different scales or in digital form. Digital data are available in most industry-standard formats like DXF, ArcInfo or TIFF.
Hamburg now looks back on four years of experience in marketing a complete digital cadastral map. DSGK became very interesting for a big number of users of GIS systems in Hamburg. These professional users are operating the digital cadastral data for their own planning purposes on expensive hardware and software platforms with well educated stuff. These market segment is rather small. Even in big city like Hamburg not more than approximately 100 potential users are acting in this market.
To open the market to a wider range of potential users of geodata not being able or willing to spend time and bigger amounts of money in hardware, software, education and basic geographical data Hamburg went a new way. A marketing project was set up to analyse the requirements of this target group and the chances of new cadastral products, cadastral data on CD-ROM. In two pilot projects the product was developed together with partners from the private and public sector. The result of this project was a low-cost solution with a cadastral map in raster data, overlays with vector objects (parcel, street and house numbers) and a data base module for developing data base solutions with a simple structure and corresponding to the graphical information.
Raster data in different scales and resolutions in combination with the software-package VISOR (a megatel product) are now available and represent a very simple but efficient tool for an increasing number of users in the private and public sector. The number of users is increasing day by day. More than 50 different institutions in administration and the private sector are using DSGK-data, e.g. private planning agencies, the local traffic company, police, the harbour authorities for a control-system of the transport of dangerous goods. In the near future a combination of DSGK on CD-ROM and a GPS-tool will allow surveying of contents of FIS much more efficient than today.
The increasing income by selling digital data (picture 2) indicates the success of marketing geodata in Hamburg.
CONCLUSION
Digital cadastral data are playing a major role in most processes in spatial planning, statistics and is an important tool for sustainable development of the world we live in. Marketing cadastral data means to open the cadastre to a bigger circle of customers even under the restrictions of the protection of private data . To be successful in the future the days of simply offering take-it or leave-it pre-packaged sites are over [10]. The authorities responsible for cadastre should be ready to improve the quality of their services to open their eyes and minds for new products and rationalise costs of their services.
REFERENCES
[1] AdV Arbeitskreis Liegenschaftskataster: Verwendung des Liegenschaftskatasters als Grundlage für Arbeits- und Fachdateien anderer Bereiche (Internal paper of AdV)
[2] Deutscher Bundestag: Bericht der Bundesregierung Info 2000 - Deutschlands Weg in die Informationsgesellschaft Drucksache 13/4000 vom 7.3.96
[3] Deutscher Verein für Vermessungswesen: Organisation of Surveying and Mapping in the Federal Republic of Germany, Schriftenreihe 10/1993, Verlag Konrad Wittwer GmbH Stuttgart, ISSN 0940-4260
[4] DIDINGER, Otmar: Bereitstellung von Basisinformationen, ALB, ALK, ATKIS (Vortrag anläßlich des 3. AdV-Symposiums ATKIS am 29.,30.10.1996 in Koblenz) veröffentlicht in „Das Geoinformationssystem ATKIS und seine Nutzung in Wirtschaft und Verwaltung" des Landesvermessungsamts Rheinland-Pfalz
[5] HAWERK, Winfried: FIG-Darstellung des Liegenschaftskatasters (German translation of the FIG Statement on the Cadastre), Zeitschrift für Vermessungswesen 1996, p. 32, Verlag Konrad Wittwer GmbH Stuttgart
[6] HAWERK, Winfried: Requirements and Quality Standards for Geographical Information Systems in Densely Populated Areas; XX. FIG Congress 1994, Papers for Commission 7, No. PP723
[7] JACOB, Herbert: Allgemeine Betriebswirtschaftslehre, 1981, Betriebswirtschaftlicher Verlag Dr. Th. Gabler GmbH, Wiesbaden; ISBN 3 409 32733 9
[8] SCHENK, Emil: Das Liegenschaftskataster in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland - Stand und weitere Entwicklung (Paper for FIG-Commission 7 to XIX. Congress 1990 No. 701.3)
[9] STÄUDLE, Günther: Surveying and Mapping in Germany, GIS Europe, No.1/1997 p. 22
[10] WELZEL, Rolf-Werner, von Rimscha, Sheila: GIS gets the go-ahead in Hamburg, GIS Europe, No.7/1996, p. 40
[11] Working Committee of the Survey Administrations of the states of the Federal Republic of Germany (AdV): National Report to the CERCO General Meeting in Nicosia 1996/97, not published
| Author: | Dr.-Ing. Winfried Hawerk c/o Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg Amt für Geoinformation und Vermessung Postfach 10 05 04 20003 Hamburg Germany Tel. +49-40-2375-5440 |
| Age: | 47 |
| Studies: | University of Hanover, Degree: Doctor Engineer |
| Practice: | since 1979 working for the administration in the city and state Hamburg in several positions, now in the central Department for Geoinformation and Surveying responsible for cadastre and Land Information Systems in Hamburg |
| FIG: | Chairperson of Working Group 7 in DVW (German Association of Surveyors) and German delegate to FIG Commission 7 since 1993 |