DENMARK

Area: total: 43,094 sq km land: 42,394 sq km water: 700 sq km note: includes the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea and the rest of metropolitan Denmark, but excludes the Faroe Islands and Greenland

Land use: arable land: 60% permanent crops: 0% permanent pastures: 5% forests and woodland: 10% other: 25% (1993 est.)

Population: 5,336,394 (July 2000 est.)

1. Land Administration


The Land Registry

2. General Remarks

Since long ago the so called BBR (Building and Dwelling Register) is established. It is nationwide. Furthermore there is a computer-based Real Property Register and a Digital Cadastral Index. At present a computerized Land Register is being implemented. Within the tax administration there is also a considerable amount of land-related information, and Denmark has come quite far when it comes to computer-based assessment (CAMA). This information is to a large extent more person- than property-related.
From a privacy perspective the Danish Land Register is of greatest interest. Land registration takes place at the local courts and the Land Registration Unit of the Ministry of Justice has the responsibility for the Land Registration System. This register contains in principle the same information as the Swedish. Credit institutions, municipalities, solicitors, real estate agents and others with a legal interest in land registration have the possibility to have direct access to the computerized Land Register. The number of direct access users amounts to around 16,000. There is no possibility of selection and processing and there are no plans to develop such functions. However certain selection possibilities exist in the tax systems.
Certain limitations concerning the usage exists in legislation that surrounds these registers.
In Denmark the minister of Research and IT presented an IT White paper to the parliament, discussing providing better services and creating efficiency. Aim is a better access to government information as well.

KMS`s (Kort & Matrikelstyrelsen) Tasks
KMS?s tasks incl1ude geodetic surveying and topographic mapping of Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Greenland and charting of the surrounding waters. This includes the establishment and maintenance of national geographic databases and actual production of national topographic maps and nautical charts.

KMS is responsible for the cadastral system and the authorization of licenses surveyors. This includes the formulation and maintenance of rules applying to the cadastral system, approval and registration of cadastral system, approval and registration of cadastral changes outside the municipalities of Copenhagen and Frederiksberg and cadastral survey assignments and certain technical survey assignments in South Jutland.

KMS also performs tasks related to the real property data registers, the parcel register, the cadastral maps and the Building and Dwelling Register.

Being a government research institute for mapping and geodata, including geodesy and seismology, KMS carries out research and development tasks within the entire area of responsibility.

3. Projects
The establishment of digital cadastral maps covering the total country was achieved by the end of 1997. The process commenced with a pilot-project carried through from 1985 to 89, and the continued computerization of the maps then took place during the first eight years of the 1990.
The aim of this computerization of the cadastral maps was to establish a digital cadastral information system which would be tailored for efficient interaction with other spatial information systems; and (ii) provide an effective and secure process of land registration and land transfer.
This aim is not easy to achieve. This is due to the fact that the cadastral map has a special status as a ?legal map? which - for many reasons - may not be consistent with the topographic map.
The demand for an absolute accuracy is rather small in this ?legal map?. The cadastral process is focused on the relative accuracy between the parcel boundaries. However, the users (local land use authorities, utilities etc.) will see the absolute accuracy as necessary in order to be able to combine the legal property features in the cadastral map with the spatial features in the large scale topographic maps.
The tension between the relative and absolute accuracy of the boundaries may therefore be seen as the main problem of establishing and running the digital cadastral map. The relative accuracy must be sustained for legal reasons while an absolute accuracy should be obtained for the reasons of multipurpose use.
This is why the procedures for updating the digital cadastral map will be opposite to the procedure for updating the analogue map. In the analogue map new boundaries were adjusted graphically to the position of existing mapped boundaries. In the digital cadastral map any new cadastral measurement will be used for adjusting the position of the existing boundaries. This will establish a process of continual improvement of the accuracy of the map - a dynamic system.
It is however recognized that some problems may arise in practice when a decision has to be made on the area to be included in the adjustment. A general understanding of these problems related to the process of establishing and maintaining the digital cadastral map are essential for all users. In other words, the success of the digital cadastral map will depend on the degree of educated use of the map.

Project	Begin	End	Purpose/Sector	Assitance/Cooperation	Ministry	Organization	Contact	covered area
General remarks: Maps and registers are in nationwide digital form by the end of 1997. In the years to come efforts will be done to implement and improve the use of the digital cadastre.
Improve the subdivision proces due to the digital cadastre	1997	2000	Improving	KMS, Chart.surv.ass., Municipalities ass.	Housing and Building	KMS	KMS	national