Cadastral registration of cross - boundary infrastructure objects

SUMMARY In this paper the complications of current cadastral registration is outlined in case of crossboundary infrastructure objects. Traditionally, cadastral registration concentrates on parcels defined by their surface boundaries. Consequently the legal status of the subsurface and rights regarding constructions in the subsurface is established and registered by means of the surface configuration. Especially in the case of infrastructures that cross parcel boundaries this leads to problems in understanding the legal situation when querying the cadastral database. In this paper first the principles of land ownership and of cadastral registration are explained. Although we focus on the Dutch situation, we address general issues as well. In the second part we describe the way the legal status of cross-boundary infrastructure is currently secured in the cadastral registration, which meets complications. In the third part we propose and evaluate a solution to improve current cadastral registration in case of cross-boundary infrastructure without changing the basic entity of cadastral registration which is the 2D parcel. We end with conclusions in which we argue that cadastral registration can considerably benefit when the land oriented approach as only approach for cadastral registration would be abandoned.