Surveying, Mapping and GIS

GIS Development magazine discusses an item on Portal Iraq - establishment of a digital registration system for land ownership in Iraq. As numerous records had been destroyed during the war, it had been crucial to re-establish commercial agricultural operations- The Iraq Ministry of Agriculture had established a framework, however they did not have adequate resources for making the system functional. According to the article, the USAID Agriculture Reconstruction and Development for Iraq gave the Ministry of Agriculture hardware, software and "digital mapping equipment, satellite imagery".

It sounds like the system goes beyond mere recordkeeping. Is it possible that this may be an opportunity for establishment of a digital, coordinated cadastre for Iraq? Between the 6 NGS CORS stations that have recently been set up in Iraq by the 175th Engineer Bn. along with the 2-300 station HARN network recently reported in American Surveyor magazine, they are well set for moving into a modern era.