Mobile Cadastral Application with Open-Source Software in Colombia

This article presents social research, conducted through interviews with experts involved in land administration in Colombia, on the possibility of using the Fit-For-Purpose methodology, combined with indirect methods, to accelerate the capture of cadastral data. The experts were asked about the design of a data capture system, using a mobile application, to acquire data on properties and their approximate coordinates, as well as the data of their owners, where the owners themselves are the ones who declare these data. A functional prototype has also been developed and tested in Spain. Results: The design is well received, understood as a declaration by owners, especially in rural areas; further processing of the information by technicians of the competent authority is necessary; involving the population has a positive impact on the perception that owners have regarding cadastral processes; some technical and training challenges must be taken into account, to ensure consistency and quality in the data collected; and the prototype tests demonstrate, due to the low GPS accuracy of mobile phones, that the identification of boundaries over a base map is possible in properties of one hectare or more.