Future Directions for Spatial Information Management in Australia– A Land Administration Perspective

Future directions for spatial information management in Australia, from a land administration perspective, are discussed. Sustainable development, micro-economic reform, globalisation and technology are highlighted as the drivers for change. The changing spatial information environment with emphasis on land administration and cadastral issues is examined by drawing on research being undertaken at the University of Melbourne. Issues concerned with future land administration infrastructures such as the changing humankind to land relationship, cadastral reform and native title are highlighted. Specific cadastral and land administration issues and technologies which impact on spatial information strategies are reviewed, including understanding the business-infrastructure relationship in spatial information management, modelling the maintenance of cadastral systems, the changing nature of spatial data infrastructures, the spatial hierarchy problem, the importance of developing partnerships and the impact of communications and WWW technologies. The paper concludes by emphasising that any government spatial information strategy is intimately linked to land administration and is influenced by global drivers such as sustainable development, micro-economic reform and globalisation, as well as technology. Understanding the inter-dependence between these global drivers is a key to successful spatial information management strategies.