Digital land survey and the use of coordinates

Survey is the process of collecting information on a particular subject by observing,   asking a series of questions, taking photographs and satellite snaps as records to be used for various purposes. There are many types of survey i.e. land survey, population survey, mine survey, commercial survey, sex survey etc. Land survey is a careful examination of the condition and structure of a real estate property. Finally, the detailed information collected on land is used for preparing a land record ledger and a map for future use.
In the land survey process land is examined in details such as the condition, structure, price location, govt. record and the present owner of land in order to provide information to buyers or banks in the event of mortgage. The familiar reflection of a land survey is land schedule or topshil. The word 'topshil' means description or schedule of a property, which is used in the deed of sale or mortgage. The schedule of a property is a  legal land description consisting of the written words, which demarcate a specific piece of real property. A legal land description is based on (i) different types of land survey i.e. Cadastral Survey (CS), State Acquisition (SA) survey, Provisional Survey (RS) and City Survey, and (ii) state land ledger. Legal Land Description or 'topshil' is the record of land ledger/volume book (Balam). Every owner of a property has the right to have his property recorded in the State Land Ledger which is called the record of right. The record of right is the evidence of ownership of a
property.
Ownership (customary) of land was seized from the general people of Bengal in 1793 through the Permanent Settlement Regulation (PSR) of the East India Company. Zamindars then became owners of land permanently for the purpose of collecting rent for the East India Company through adverse methods. Through many struggle and bloodshed, the people of East Bengal, now Bangladesh, got back the customary ownership right to land vide the Section-17 of the State Acquisition and Tenancy Act, 1950 that was proposed by Sir Francis Floud. Since then people are maintaining the right to record their ownership of land in the state land ledger. The Record of Right also was a settlement process to pay revenue/tax (khajna) to the government directly.  Although the land tax is not an important source of income for the state, the land record remains important, because this is a register of rights and liabilities. Therefore, the Record of Right is the most important right as well as evidence for securing the citizens' properties. For preparation of a correct land record ledger and a map, a good investigation or survey is required. Interested parties want to do two types of investigation such as primary investigation for primary decision making and final investigation for final purchase or mortgage decisions. The final investigation is a process of collecting detailed information from Land Record Office, Land Office, Registry Office and the local people.
CREDIT DECISION: In the initial stage of credit decision, it is required to do primary investigation quickly. Detailed investigation is cost-intensive and time consuming, which is usually done by private surveyors, credit intelligence agencies or lawyers. For creating a preliminary agreement it is required to do a quick investigation for obtaining information on land such as location, character, nature, construction, measurement etc. In this situation, the use of Coordinate System may help us to do quick investigation. To understand the coordinate system we have to discuss the issue of Land Survey, Topographic Map, Land Ledger, Certified Copy of Khatian, Land Schedule etc.
Land Survey is a scientific technique of collecting information on a particular piece of land by careful examination of the condition, structure, price, location, government record, present owner, present possessor,  land character etc, in order to keep a topographic map and a land ledger.
A map is a visual representation of an area by a symbolic representation highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as objects, regions, and themes.  A topographic map primarily concerns the topographic description of a place, including the use of contour  lines showing elevation. The CS, SA, RS and City Survey topographic maps are very well known to us.
COORDINATE SYSTEM: The coordinate system is a geometrical system, which is used to determine the position of a point or other geometric element. A coordinate map is essentially a coordinate system for a subset of given space with the property that each point has exactly one set of coordinates. A set of number are used for locating the position of a place such as the coordinates 23°45'41.87´´N, 90°22'43.27´´E  for Jatya Sangshad Bhaban and coordinates  23°43'25.16´´N, 90°25'05.83´´E for Bangabhaban. As per the present government's vision of digitalisation, the initiation of Digital Survey has been taken through a circular issued by the Ministry of Land on November 10, 2013. The digital survey will make us more transparent. In the process of Digital Survey, the coordinate system might be used.   
There are several types of coordinate systems such as: (i) Cartesian coordinate system, (ii) Polar coordinate system (iii) Cylindrical and spherical coordinate systems (iv) Homogeneous coordinate system, (v)  Geographic coordinate system.  
The geographic coordinate system enables every location on the Earth to be specified by a set of numbers. The coordinates are often chosen in such a way that one of the numbers represents a vertical position, and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation.
A line passing near the Royal Observatory, Greenwich (near London in the UK) has been chosen as the international zero-longitude reference line, the Prime Meridian. In 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference and attendants from twenty-five nations agreed to adopt the location of Greenwich as the zero-reference line. Places to the east are in the eastern hemisphere, and places to the west are in the western hemisphere. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E.
The combination of these two components latitude and longitude specifies the position of any location on the planet, but does not consider altitude or depth. This latitude/longitude "webbing" is known as the 'conjugate graticule'. The 'World Geodetic System' is a standard for use in cartography, geodesy and navigation. It comprises a standard coordinate frame for the Earth, a standard spheroidal reference surface for raw altitude data, and a gravitational equipotential surface (the geode) that defines the nominal sea level. As an easy geodetic map we may use Google Earth and Google Map.
Google Maps (formerly Google Local) is a web mapping service application and technology provided by Google powers many map-based services, including the Google Maps website, street maps, a route planner for traveling on foot or by car or public transport and an urban business locator for numerous countries around the world. Google Maps satellite images are not in real time; they are several months or years old.  Google Maps provides high-resolution satellite images.
Google Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographical information programme that was originally called Earth Viewer 3D, and was created by Keyhole Inc, a company acquired by Google in 2004. It maps the Earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite imagery, aerial photography and GIS 3D globe.
It was available under three different licences - (i) Google Earth-a free version with limited functionality, (ii) Google Earth plus-which included additional features, (iii) Google Earth Pro-which is intended for commercial use. Google Earth displays satellite images of varying resolution of the Earth's surface, allowing users to see things like cities and houses looking perpendicularly down or at an oblique angle (see also bird's eye view). The degree of resolution available is based somewhat on the points of interest and popularity, but most land (except for some islands) is covered in at least 15 metres of resolution. Google Earth allows users to search for addresses for some countries, enter coordinates, or simply use the mouse to browse to a location.
USING COORDINATES:
A. Identification of the coordinate points
01.    Open the site - http://www.google.com/earth
02.    Browse the location of your desired point
03.    Fix your cursor on the point of North-East of the specific land
04.    Google earth provides the coordinate point against any location
05.    Coordinate point to be noted down for future use
B. Identification of location through coordinate point
01.    Open the site - http://www.google.com/earth
02.    Browse the searching box
03.    Put your coordinate point
04.    Get the location by pressing the 'enter' button
For quick land investigation and making quick preliminary decisions, some proposals are given below:
l Coordinates of the land may be considered as a marker of the land
l Coordinates may be determined by GPS or Google Program
l Coordinates may be included in legal land description/Schedule
l Coordinate position might be included in state Topographical Map
l Northwest corner may be considered as Basic Position of every land
l Coordinate points may be tagged with CIB report of a central bank for avoiding double mortgage
l All Abandoned and Vested (Enemy) Property may be identified by coordinates numbers to avoid forgery
Land Location is a critical and boring piece of work. However, it is very much important for making any credit decision on mortgage. Every lender has to depend on the schedule of land, i.e. sale deed or certified copy of Khatian. There are so many chances of fraud in the description of land, especially description of boundary. Therefore, for quick investigation from the desk level, the Coordinate System may help us take an instant credit decision as well as prepare a digital survey.
The writer is Manager, Credit Administration, Country Office,
Bank Alfalah Ltd.
qazi.mahmudur@bankalfalah.com.bd