Automated web GIS mapping service hailed

MANILA, Philippines - Accurately locating and determining the classification or attributes of a piece of land anywhere in the Philippines may no longer be a problem with the recent deployment of the country’s first fully-automated web GIS parcellary mapping service at www.mapsys.ph.

Congressman and former Mindoro Oriental Governor Rodolfo G. Valencia, author of the Abot-Kaya Pabahay Fund Law and other laws related to housing and real estate, hailed MapSys.Ph as a revolutionary, potent tool not only for the private land sector but also for local government units (LGUs) nationwide.

For any given parcel anywhere in the country, the MapSys web service generates an accurate lot plan and information-packed vicinity map which is immediately downloadable by the internet user.

Addressing real estate industry practitioners at the membership meeting of the Chamber of Real Estate and Builders’ Associations (CREBA) last Jan. 28, Valencia said the pioneering system used by Mapsys.Ph may be adopted to help resolve, among others, decades-old contentious issues on land classification and conversion.

The colorful and professionally laid-out MapSys map output displays the parcel polygons plotted on a vicinity map that contains multi-layers of spatial information, such as the road networks, waterways networks, LGU-approved land use, strategic agriculture and fisheries development zones (SAFDZ), land cover, administrative boundaries from the provincial down to barangay level, elevation and slope, fault lines, Ecozones, banks, schools, churches, hospitals, commercial/industrial and tourist establishments, power/ water facilities, and many others.

Valencia said that with thiswealth of information about the parcel and its vicinity, the map would serve many various purposes, among which is determining the economic value of the land and its suitability for either agricultural or non-agricultural purposes.

Valencia said this particular issue has been a bone of contention among private land owners, LGUs and the Department of Agrarian Reform in the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

The MapSys map output could provide a reasonable or factual basis in helping resolve such issues, Valencia said, particularly since the use of official geodetic control points by MapSys ensures the accuracyof the relative geographic position/ location, configuration, boundaries and attributes of the parcels in question.

Valencia also said that given the wealth of information that the map output speedily and conveniently provides to potential land buyers, investors and lending institutions, the MapSys service would go a long way towards facilitating the inflow of domestic and foreign investments into the country.

Hailing CREBA’s pioneering initiative, Valencia said he will personally spearhead legislation towards adoption by LGUs and government institutions of similar systems that would not only help imbue integrity into land transactions, but would also improve governance and considerably increase the pace of local development nationwide.