Calculating real surface area of land parcels in hilly and mountainous regions

Abstract

Currently, the legal area of a land parcel in cadastral map is defined as the projected
area of the parcel on a map plane. However, in practice, the real surface area of parcels plays
important role for land use. In plain regions, the differences between real and legal areas of parcels are
negligible, but in hilly and mountainous regions, these differences are significant and must be
accounted in land management.
In this paper, the authors proposed a method for calculating real surface area of land parcels using
GIS and data extracted from digital elevation models. The method was verified against Vietnam’s
standard on cadastral map by using a simulated land parcel that is a part of a sphere, and got positive
results. The method is then applied for calculating surface area of more than 2000 land parcels in Tien
Xuan commune, Thach That district, Hanoi city. The obtained results showed that the differences
between real and legal areas of land parcels can be up to 23% for forestry land at mountain side with a
slope of above 30o. In whole Tien Xuan commune, these differences have an average value of 2.4%.
Keywords

Land parcels, Cadastral Map, Topography, GIS

References

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