THE CADASTRE AND RELATED PROBLEMS IN TURKEY Osman DEMİR and Mehmet ÇETE (TR)

INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON MODERN TECHNOLOGIES, EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE IN GEODESY AND RELATED FIELDS Sofia, 04-05 November 2004 THE CADASTRE AND RELATED PROBLEMS IN TURKEY Osman DEMİR and Mehmet ÇETE (TR) ABSTRACT In turkey, cadastral works have been speeded up after 1950 s. Today, while 97% of the cadastral works has been completed in urban areas, this figure is 67% in rural areas. Different measurement methods, coordinate systems and scales have been used in these works. Used methods are photogrammetric, orthogonal, tachometric and graphic methods in general. The most common of them is graphic method. 37% of the whole cadastral maps of Turkey has been produced by this method which has not a coordinate system. In addition, only 7% of the produced cadastral maps is in digital format which is a basic requirement for land related information systems. Also cadastral maps have been produced with different coordinate systems. While some of them are in local coordinate system, the others are in national coordinate system. Because of such factors, it seems that forming of digital cadastral maps from these bases is very difficult. After 1990 s, the different studies have been carried out to digitize these maps in required accuracy. But, these studies have not given needed results. So, nowadays, the need for renewing cadastre has become a current issue. However, existing legal structure is not giving permission to renew cadastre. For this reason, it is a need for legal arrangement at first. Secondly, a new cadastral concept should be formed in multipurpose cadastre context. It maybe includes gathering land use related data in re-cadastre. The main purpose of this study is to present Turkey s existing cadastral situation and encountered problems. Effective solutions for these problems will also be stated. 1. INTRODUCTION In Turkey, the cadastral works have been started with local-based works in 1924. From that time to now, these works have been carried out with different regulations and technological tools. So, the cadastral maps produced with these studies have different coordinate systems, scales and base types. About 37% of them have been produced by graphic method (having no coordinate system). The bases of these maps are cartoons. Most of them have incompatibility in the context of field, sheet and surveys. In addition, when thought that rural areas transform to urban areas in time, it is obvious that these cadastral maps are insufficient. So, today, most of the cadastral maps produced in different times are unusable. After 1980 s, as a result of developing technology, some important studies have been started by the General Directorate of Turkish Land Registry and Cadastre to provide computerization of the cadastral works. One of them is the Land Registry and Cadastre Project. With this project, problems of the Turkish cadastre and requirements for solving these issues have been identified in detail. As a consequence of this project, the Turkish Land Registry and Cadastre Information System project was started in 1990 s. However, especially because of the current problems of cadastral maps, realizing of this project s goals throughout the country seems very difficult. As a result of these studies, three important requirements have been determined for constitution of digital cadastral bases. One of them is constitution of the whole cadastral bases digitally in national coordinate system via adaptation and transformation processes. The second one is realization of the current 388

cadastral works in national coordinate system and in required accuracy and the third one is constitution of geodetic network in required structure. In this paper, structure of the Turkish cadastral system, the methods used in cadastral works, accuracies of the cadastral maps, current situation of the cadastral works and problems of the Turkish cadastre will be presented. 2. THE PROCESS FOLLOWED BY THE TURKISH CADASTRE There is a need for reviewing legal and technical processes of the Turkish cadastre from 1924 to today for understanding of its current situation. 2.1. Legal Process After the foundation of the Republic of Turkey, cadastral works were started in 1924. In 1925, cadastral organization was founded, under the General Directorate of Land Registry. The foundation purpose of this organization were determining of owners and boundaries of real estates and classifying of its position and economical situations. In this context, some works were realized in some cities. After that, firstly, the Cadastre and Land Registry Law was put into practice in 1934 and then respect to this law, regulations put in to practice in 1935. While cities had priority for cadastral works in this period, the Land Titling Law (numbered 5602) put into practice to accelerate cadastral works in rural areas in 1950. So, cadastral works had been carried out with two different laws between 1950 and 1987. In 1987, the Cadastre Law (numbered 3402) put into practice to eliminate problems originating from two different laws and to put cadastral regulations into a law. However, forest cadastre still is carrying out with respect to the different law numbered 6831 by General Directorate of Forest. 2.2. Technical Process From technical perspective, the Turkish Cadastre have two different cadastral period. These are textual and graphical periods. 2.2.1. Textual Cadastre Period The meaning of textual cadastre is expression of the cadastral information with words and numbers instead of graphical data. This type of cadastre was used in the time when there was no adequate information, techniques or qualified personnel for transformation of some surveying data into visual graphical presentation. In textual cadastre, boundaries of parcels being defined with the neighbouring features (like, there is a road in its south and a river in its north) were being registered into land registry. After this registration, a land title was being formed. Such studies had been continued till 1934. These documents are still used as a proof where there is no cadastral work. 2.2.2. Graphical Cadastre Period Graphical cadastre is to define cadastral parcels with graphical data as well as textual data. Graphical cadastral works were introduced in early 1900 s in Turkey. This graphical period can be divided into four groups; graphical, classical, photogrammetric and electronic tachometry. a) Graphical Methods In Turkey, the first cadastral works were realized by graphical method. In this method, parcel corners are surveyed successively based on the traverse points existing in the field. However, these traverse points have not coordinate values. In addition, the surveying values calculated by this 389

method have not control stages in general. So, the bases produced from these surveying values have not required accuracy. In other words, most of these bases have considerable field-sheet incompatibility. The cadastral bases produced by this method are about 37% of the whole cadastral bases of Turkey. b) Classical Methods The applications use orthogonal and tachometric methods are known as classical methods. While orthogonal method was used in urban areas, tachometric method was used in rural areas. The cadastral maps produced with these methods before the year 1968 are based on traverse points, after that time are based on localized triangulation points. Basing on the national triangulation points was become widespread after 1974. Production of cadastral maps in national coordinate system was become after 1993. c) Photogrammetric Method After 1950, photogrammetric method was used densely to accelerate land cadastre works. This become more densely used method after 1955. Photogrammetric method was used for land titling works in the areas where plant cover and topographical structure is convenient for this method. These areas were especially in interior parts of Turkey. Today, these maps are very inadequate to determine property boundaries in required accuracy where there is a transformation from rural to urban areas. d) Electronic Tachometry Method After 1980 s, because of its speed and accuracy, electronic tachometry method has been used in cadastral works as a ground surveying method. Besides, it has been much popular after integration with computer technology. Especially in the areas where because of the high slope and plant cover, photogrammetric method is inconvenient, electronic tachometry method has been a very useful method. Electronic tachometry method still is used in digital cadastral works. 3. CURRENT SITUATION OF CADASTRE 3.1. Surveying Methods, Coordinate Systems, Scales and Sheets Until now, cadastral works have been constructed with lots of different laws, rules and regulations put into force in different periods. Therefore, different surveying methods, coordinate systems, base types and sheet scales have been used in producing cadastral maps. Five different surveying methods have been used in cadastral works. These are graphical, polar, orthogonal, photogrammetric and digital (X,Y,Z) methods. The number of the maps produced with these methods and their percentages are given in Table 1. Table 1. The cadastral maps of Turkey with respect to production methods (Köktürk, 2002). No Surveying Method Number % 1 Graphic 113.499 36.51 2 Polar 63.733 20.50 3 Orthogonal 62.846 20.22 4 Photogrammetric 46.191 14.86 5 Digital 24.585 7.91 Total: 5 different map surveying methods 310.854 100.00 390

While majority of the cadastral maps produced in Turkey are in local coordinate system, some of them are in national coordinate system. Since the introduction of digital cadastre in Turkey, the maps have been produced and updated in national coordinate system. Cadastral maps are in 10 different scales range from 1/200 to 1/10.000. These scales, their sheet numbers and percentages are seen in Table 2 (Köktürk, 2002). Cadastral sheets of Turkey can be classified in three main groups: transparent, aluminium and paper-carton maps. The percentage of these bases is shown in Table 3. Table 2. Cadastral maps in according to scales Number Scale Sheet Number % 1 1/200 206 0,07 2 1/250 7-3 1/500 26.688 8,59 4 1/1000 90.648 29,16 5 1/2000 101.584 32,68 6 1/2500 17.890 5,75 7 1/3000 30 0,01 8 1/4000 397 0,13 9 1/5000 72.430 23,30 10 1/10000 974 0,31 Total: 10 different scales 310.854 100 Table 3. Existing situation of the cadastral maps with respect to sheet bases (Demir, 2000). Base Type % Transparent 25 Aluminium 31 Paper-Cartoon 44 Total 100 3.2. Realization Situation of Cadastral Works In the Turkey s third five years development plan (1973), the total cadastral area was stated as 430.000 km 2. While 410.000 km 2 of its in rural areas, 20.000 km 2 is in urban areas. Until 2001, in the 85% of these areas, cadastral works were completed. As a result of these works, 32.321.764 parcels were registered to the Turkish Land Registry. Today, cadastral works still are carrying on rapidly. Realization rates of Turkish cadastral works between 1925 and 2000 are seen in Table 4 (Çete, and Yomralıoğlu, 2004). 4. CADASTRAL ISSUES IN TURKEY 4.1. Geodetic Network Issues National geodetic networks are constitute a base for mapping services of countries. So, building, sustaining, upgrading and closing together of national geodetic networks have great importance (DPT, 1995). 391

Period Table 4. Realization of the Turkish cadastre (1925-2000). Total Area of Turkey (km 2 ) Production of The Turkey Cadastre Total Target (km 2 ) (A) Completed Area (km 2 ) (B) B/A (%) Producted Parcel Number 1925-1984 226.522 52,7 22.458.928 1985-1989 26.220 6,1 3.100.502 780.000 430.000 1990-1994 52.537 12,2 3.473.851 1995-2000 57.838 13,5 3.288.483 Total 780.000 430.000 363.116 84,5 32.321.764 Today, most of the traverse points used in graphic land surveying are lost, because, traverse point stones were not used in these works. Because of such issues, application of cadastral bases to field is very difficult. In addition, nowadays, constitutions of digital cadastral maps in national coordinate system and transformation of the bases which were locally coordinated to this system are also very difficult (Demir, 2000). 4.2. Sheet Issues Most of the plans and documents are inadequate, non-standardized or worn-out as a result of densely using. In addition, the other important issue is that some changes on parcels have not updated on maps and documents timely. Therefore, in some areas, cadastral maps and documents have lost their currencies (TÜBİTAK, 1985). The researches done with respect to location errors up to now indicated that some points on some bases have many location problems. One of the results of these studies is given in Table 5. Measurement Method Table 5. The accuracy criterion used in digitizing cadastre maps (İnam, 1999). Scale Test Points- Parcel Numbers Orthogonal 1/1.000 225-42 0,37 Graphic 1/5.000 87-34 2,79 Photo plan 1/5.000 187-59 13,30 Photogrammetric 1/5.000 384-59 1,52 Digital (X,Y,Z) 1/1.000 412-88 0,32 Mean Root Squared Error (m p ) m Paper-cartoon sheets are an important part of the whole Turkish cadastral bases. Updating of such bases and forming digital cadastral bases from these bases are very difficult. So, especially papercartoon maps have such problems. 4.3. Archive System Issues Although there are clear sentences in regulations, there is no a regular archive for map and its related data. Even General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre has not a regular archive system. So, the data for throughout the country is given approximately (Köktürk, 1998). 392

In current application, changes and transactions are sent to the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre by Directorates of Cadastre periodically. However, because these are not updated daily in the General Directorate, the archive is losing its currency. So, there is a need for reengineering of the archive system in digital context. In addition, technical, legal and institutional arrangements are required. 5. CONCLUSION The Turkish Cadastre has different process from the foundation of the Republic of Turkey to today. These are respectively textual, graphical and digital cadastres. Therefore, cadastral bases have produced with different methods, sheet types, coordinate systems and location accuracies. However, today, the cadastral bases, except orthogonally and digitally produced ones, have lost their currencies. In other words, there are important conflicts between sheets and fields. In addition, required for applying of maps to the field and transforming of the bases into different coordinate systems, ground control points are mostly lost in field. Also the archive data for these ground control points are inadequate. When such problems are taken into consideration, it seems that forming of cadastral bases which is basic component of land information systems in digital environment is very difficult. In this context, there is a need for re-cadastre where such problems are in reality. However, before recadastre, there is also a need for re-arrange of cadastre s content with respect to cadastre related information system requirements. REFERENCES Çete, M. and Yomralıoğlu, T., May 2004, Cadastre: The Key Component In Urban-Based Information Systems, FIG Working Week 2004, Athens, Greece. Demir, O., 2000, Ortogonal Yöntemle Şehir Kadastrosu Yapılan Yerlerde Kadastro Bilgi Sistemi Temel Altlığının Oluşturulması (Trabzon Örnegi), KTU Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü, Doktora Tezi, Trabzon. Demir, O., Atasoy, A., Aydin, C. C., Biyik, C., 2003, A Case Study For Determining The Turkey s Cadastre Contents, 2nd FIG Regional Conference and 10th Anniversary of Onight, Marrakech, Morocco. DPT, 1995, Harita Tapu ve Kadastro Özel İhtisas Raporu, Yayın no: DPT:2417- ÖİK:476, Ankara. İnam, Ş., 1999, Türkiye de Farklı Sistemlerde Üretilmiş Kadastro Paftalarının Kullanılabilirliği Üzerine Bir Araştırma, Doktora tezi, Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü, Selçuk Üniversitesi, Konya. Köktürk, Erol., Köktürk, Erdal., 1998, Kentsel Toprak Düzenlemeleri Yapısında İyelik (Mülkiyet) Kurumu, Harita ve Kadastro Mühendisleri Dergisi, Sayı:84, Ankara. Köktürk, E., 2002, Türkiye Kadastrosunun Cografi Bilgi Sistemine Hazırlanması Koşulları, Mülkiyet Dergisi, Sayı: 47, Sayfa : 4-14. Tübitak Harita-Kadastro Reform Projesi (HAKAR) Uygulama Grubu Raporu, 1985, Trabzon. 393

Ass. Prof. Dr. Osman DEMİR and Res. Ass. Mehmet ÇETE Karadeniz Technical University, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Geodesy and Photogrammetry Engineering Department, 61080, Trabzon, Turkey e-mail: osmand@ktu.edu.tr & mcete@ktu.edu.tr Tel.: +90 377 31 24 & +90 377 27 94 Fax: +90 328 09 18 394