The backlog of cadastral records of older cases conducted by the land consolidation courts in Norway

This article aims to elucidate the reasons for the lack of cadastral registration of older cases conducted by the land consolidation court in Norway. The cadastre’s increasing role in society requires the cadastre to be updated, among other things, after a land consolidation process. To assess the reason(s) for the backlog, a questionnaire survey was conducted and statistically analyzed. The current study revealed that many Norwegian municipalities don’t have an overview of how many older cases conducted by the land consolidation court there are within the municipality. Furthermore, the reason for the lack of cadastral registration of older cases conducted by the land consolidation court seems to be that the cases were never handed over to the municipalities for their cadastral records. In addition, it is a time- consuming, as well as highly complex, process to register these cases in the cadastre. The article’s contribution to the field is twofold. Firstly, the study provides insight into Norwegian conditions regarding land consolidation and cadastral records, which might differ from other Nordic countries. Studies were found that linked geodata to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the INSPIRE directive from Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. Fewer similar studies were found from Norway. Thus, a gap in the literature was revealed. To contribute to filling the gap the foundings of this article were discussed considering the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and the INSPIRE Directive, as “land should be protected and sustainably managed for social cooperation, security and order”. Secondly, the article contributes to an ongoing debate in Norway about improving the quality of the cadastre. The study has limitations, as the survey sample was not a result of randomized sampling. Nevertheless, the data obtained give a picture of the current backlog in the registration of older cases carried out by the land consolidation court and how it effects the society and the public in general.