Crustal Deformation Across and beyond Central Europe and Its Impact on Land Boundaries

Abstract

Land is a critical and limited natural resource. The Land Administration System (LAS) has been developed to resolve and adjudicate over any disputes that might arise concerning the rights and boundaries of land. Land registration and cadastre are types of land recording that need to be established. To secure the property rights, we must be sure of accuracy of the boundary points determining the size of the property. However, in addition to typical factors considered when determining the boundary point positions, such as accuracy of geodetic networks and measurement errors, the global and local crustal deformation, resulting, e.g., from the movement of tectonic plates, should be considered. In this work, the focus is on the movement of points inside the European plate due to tectonic movement, without taking into account local events caused by erosion, landslides, etc. The study area is Europe, and particular attention was paid to Poland, which is located in the centre of the European continent and does not have significant anomalous sub-areas, making it an authoritative research object. In this study, we analysed the velocity of point displacements and the boundary deformation, using GPS observations. For this reason, we used both global (IGS) and regional (ETRF) reference frames, to show differences in point velocities for the studied areas. Overall, for the needs of the real estate cadastre in Poland, information about parcel boundary points must be obtained with an accuracy better than 0.30 m. Within 25 years, the border mark may be shifted by 0.13 m due to tectonic plate movement, which is within the required accuracy. Pursuant to the current legal regulations, the measurements of the boundary points can be performed with any method, ensuring the required accuracy (0.30 m). The most commonly used are direct measurements (GNSS and tacheometry) and photogrammetric measurements. It is recommended that periodic verifications and update of the cadastre data in Poland be carried out at least once every 15 years. In the case of such relatively frequent verification and possible modernisation of data, the potential impact of tectonic plate movement on the relative boundary point displacement can be ignored, particularly in the short term. However, for a long time period it has an influence. We suggest “relatively frequent” cadastral boundary verification to be able to ignore such influence.

Do geographic location and historical conditions affect the quality and availability of open cadastral data? From early cadastral maps till now

“…The spatial information necessary to describe the geographic extent and the rights and interests includes surveys, legal description reference systems, and parcel-by-parcel surveys and descriptions (Apollo et al, 2023;Buśko et al, 2022;Maciuk et al, 2021;Williamson, 2001;Williamson et al, 2010;Zevenbergen, 2002). Cadastral data, also known as a cadastre, contains o cial, legal documentation concerning the quantity, dimensions, location, value, tenure and ownership of individual parcels of land (Buśko, 2017;Buśko et al, 2022;Buśko and Apollo, 2023;Dale and McLaughlin, 2000;Szafranska et al, 2020;Sobolewska-Mikulska and Cienciała, 2020).…”

Public Administration and Landowners Facing Real Estate Cadastre Modernization: A Win-Lose or Win-Win Situation?

“…One of the main goals of a modern state is to protect the property rights of its citizens [1]. Among those property rights, real estate, including land, is one of the key elements [2][3][4][5][6][7]. Securing the ownership rights to land that is owned, including a legal determination of the scope of the ownership rights, is one of the fundamental functions of the real estate cadastre [6,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15].…”

“…Tax rate for 1 comparative fiscal hectare = 93.75 PLN; 2 Tax rate per 1 m 2 of remaining land that includes residential areas = 0.47 PLN;3 Tax rate from 1 ha of forest tax = 42.7328 PLN. Source: own elaboration.…”

Active Collection of Data in the Real Estate Cadastre in Systems with a Different Pedigree and a Different Way of Building Development: Learning from Poland and Slovakia

“…One of the most important public registers maintaining information on citizens and properties is the real estate cadastre [1][2][3]. The data contained therein serve, on the one hand, to protect property rights; on the other hand, they constitute a very important reference database in the operations of state authorities and local authorities [4][5][6].…”