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ITC Experience with LIS/Cadastre Courses
J. Kure - F. Amer
* 9
1 Introduction
Although the LIS/Cadastre Course is only in its fifth year, the ITC was neverthe
less amongst the first educational institutes in the world to introduce formal
education programmes in the GIS/LIS field and so it is perhaps appropriate to
reflect on the experience gained at an international Seminar such as this.
2 initial Design of GIS/LIS Courses at ITC
The development and promotion of GIS was perhaps quite natural at an institute
such as ITC, which since its inception in 1951, has had as its traditional fields of
teaching and research, the phases of collection, manipulation and presentation in
map form of data related to locations above, on or under the surface of the earth.
Major developments in the early 1960’s which lead towards the rise of GiS’s were
the introduction of digital mapping technology and remote sensing systems. The
latter provided digital images that allowed the survey of a multitude of thematic
aspects of the earth’s surface, but required digital processing.
Digital mapping was initially directed towards speeding up map production and it
was not until the mid 1970’s that the information perspective began to dawn and
that the digital map data was seen to have a value by itself, besides being the
data source for the traditional printed map. However, to exploit this newly found
value, the traditional map and the relationships seen between map elements with
our human brain had to be translated somehow so that they could be handled by a
computer. This required that the digital map data be structured and that linkages
be established between map elements for specific applications. I.e. Information
systems were bom.
Thus, when the ITC started to design a GIS/LIS training programme in the early
1980’s, it was understandably technology oriented, attention being focussed on
the selection of systems to collect, store and manipulate digital map and RS im
agery data.
Three fields of specialisation were envisaged: cadastral, rural and urban applica
tions of information systems. The specific objectives of the LIS/Cadastre Course,
of most interest to this Seminar, were that it would enable the participants to:
- manage the design, implementation and maintenance of a cadastral land in
formation system for iand registration
