Surveying, Mapping and Cadastre in the Czech Lands —
History, Present State and Perspectives
by Jirí Šíma
Key words: Czech Lands, surveying, mapping, cadastre.
Abstract
1. History
Beginning of surveying and land registration in the
Czech Lands may be found around 1270 during the reign of the king Premysl
Otakar II (institution of authorised surveyors, definition of measures
of length used to survey of lots, domesday books registering the
property of nobles, free towns and church). Excellent surveyors and
astronomers were active in Prague, among them Tycho Brahe and Johannes
Kepler. The oldest maps of the Czech Lands are dated 1518 (map of
Bohemia), 1561 (map of Silesia) and 1569 (map of Moravia). The first
text-book for surveyors was edited in Prague in 1617.
After 1620 the Czech Lands became for 300 years a
part of the Austrian (and later Austro-Hungarian) Empire. Development
of surveying and beginning of cadastre were common to a group of other
lands forming this Empire, e.g. to Austria, Hungary, Slovakia,
Croatia, Slovenia and two North-Italian provinces. In 1718 the first
School of Engineering with lessons from surveying was established in
Prague. At the end of the 18th century the first military
mapping took place and the Cadastre of Lands was established by the
Emperor Joseph II. In 1912 the Society of Czech Surveyors has traced
out three basic goals: to concentrate all organisations of surveying
and mapping in one, to prolong university studies of surveying to four
years and to gain equal position of surveyors in public services with
other graduates from technical universities.
In 1918 the Czech Lands became part of the
Czechoslovak Republic. In twenties and thirties the national geodetic
reference system was formed as well as a national cartographic
projection. In 1927 Czechoslovakia became member of the International
Federation of Surveyors (FIG). In the same year the Act on the
Cadastre of Lands came in power. Together with detailed technical
instructions it gave start to dispatched forming of a modern cadastre.
During the World War II the Czech Lands became a
part of Great German Empire as its Protectorate. This epoch has
contributed to concentration of state surveying in the Land Survey
Office except for the cadastre which still remained in the sphere of
the Ministry of Finances.
Results of the World War II resulted in
incorporation of Czechoslovakia into the East Block of Socialist
Countries bringing some positive and some negative consequences. A
boon may be seen in fulfillment of the three basic goals of Czech
surveyors from 1912, integration of fundamental trigonometric, levelling
and gravimetric networks and unification of medium and small-scale map
series. On contrary, this epoch brought a suppression of the Cadastre
of Real Estates that originally registered proprietary relations to
lands, its replacement by the Land Registry recording user relations
to lands only, as well as forcible influencing the content, form and
distribution of maps caused by secrecy mania. During forty years of
communist rule the private sector of surveying and mapping became
completely extinct.
2. Present State
Czechoslovakia was divided peacefully on the 1st
January 1993 and the Czech Lands (Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia) became
the Czech Republic. At the same time a central body of state
administration was established — the Czech Office for Surveying,
Mapping and Cadastre which supervises activities of 77 Cadastral
Offices in districts, 7 Survey and Cadastral Inspectorates in regions,
Land Survey Office with nation-wide field of activity and the Research
Institute of Geodesy, Topography and Cartography.
Activities of state administration bodies are
strictly regulated by law. Other survey and cartographic activities
are carried out by private firms (about 500 enterprises) and by licensed
surveyors (about 1800), e.g., laying-out and delimitation of lots,
production of survey sketches (more than 120 thousand annually),
surveying for building construction (engineering geodesy) and creation
of thematic maps, charts and atlases.
In 1994 two basic concepts of long-time activities
were defined:
- digitising of the Cadastre of Real Estates (1994 - 2006),
- forming of the Fundamental Base of Geographic Data (ZABAGED) as
a topologic-vectorial basic layer to GIS and computer created
medium and small map series.
Till the end of 1999 a considerable part of these
goals was fulfilled: the File of Descriptive Information of the
Cadastre of Real Estates was fully digitised and ZABAGED has covered
more than 80% of the national territory. The fundamental horizontal
control was integrated into the European frame (EUREF). The Czech
Republic is a NATO member and the Military Topographic Service of the
Army of the Czech Republic co-operates effectively on creating of
unified map series in digital form (V-map).
3. Perspectives
The main task at the beginning of the coming millennium
will be implementation of the so-called Enhanced Information System of
the Cadastre enabling integration of descriptive and geodetic data of
the cadastre, their maintenance in local area networks (LAN), the
replication in the Central Data Base by the wide area network (WAN)
and remote access of end users by means of the Internet. The
Fundamental Base of Geographic Data (ZABAGED) will be updated in
four-years-intervals. Since 2005 it will represent the exclusive
source of data for computer created medium and small scale maps. In
the same period close relation between civil and military geographic
data bases will be achieved. After vectorising of all cadastral maps
(2006) the Enhanced National Geodetic Reference System (S-JTSK/95)
will be implemented into cadastre and large-scale mapping. Concept of
development of national geoinformation infrastructure will be started
in 2000. Its goal is to form legislative, standardised, organisational
and technological environment suitable to acquisition, processing and
distributing geographical information required by public
administration and private sector.
MSc. Jirí Šíma, PhD.
Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping and Cadastre
Pod sídlištěm 9
182 11 Praha 8
CZECH REPUBLIC Tel. + 420 2 8404 1210
Fax: + 420 2 8404 1204
E-mail: jiri.sima@cuzk.cz
Web site: http://www.cuzk.cz
Surveying, Mapping and Cadastre in the Czech
Lands — History, Present State and Perspectives
1. HISTORY
Beginning of surveying and land registration in the Czech
Lands may be found around 1270 during the reign of the king Přemysl
Otakar II. He introduced the institution of authorised surveyor s who
took substantial part on building towns, castles, ponds, roads and
settlements in waste lands. In the same century the measure of length was
defined to be used to survey of lots and domesday books registering the
property of nobles, free towns and church were established.
Years between 1348 and 1620 are considered today as an
epoch of important grow of science and art in the Czech Lands — among them
also of surveying and cartography. Excellent surveyors and astronomers were
active in Prague, e.g., Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler. The first text-book
for surveyors was edited in Prague in 1617. The oldest maps of the Czech
Lands are dated 1518 (map of Bohemia), 1561 (map of Silesia) and 1569 (map
of Moravia).
After 1620 the Czech Lands became for 300 years a part of
the Austrian (and later Austro-Hungarian) Empire. Development of surveying
and beginning of cadastre were common to a group of other lands forming this
Empire, e.g. to Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, Slovenia and two
North-Italian provinces.
In 1718 the first School of Engineering with lessons in
surveying was established in Prague. In 1720 Johann Christoph Müller
created his map of Bohemia at approximate scale of
1 : 132 000 based on astronomical determination of position
of larger towns and length measuring between settlements by a survey coach.
At the end of the 18th century the first
military topographic mapping took place. Cadastre of Lands was established
by the Emperor Joseph II as so called "Stable" cadastre in the
whole Austrian Empire based on triangulation and detailed survey during 1817
- 1861. Cadastral maps were compiled at scales 1 : 2 880 and
1 : 1 440. An important part of cadastre was its descriptive
and evaluating documentation which served to the taxation of lands.
In 1912 the Society of Czech Surveyors has traced out
three basic goals: to concentrate all organisations of surveying and mapping
in one, to prolong university studies of surveying to four years and to gain
equal position of surveyors in public services with other graduates from
technical universities.
In 1918 the Czech Lands became part of the Czechoslovak
Republic. In twenties and thirties the national geodetic reference system as
well as a national cartographic projection were
formed by Josef Křovák. In 1927 Czechoslovakia became member of the
International Federation of Surveyors (FIG). In the same year the Act on the
Cadastre of Lands came in force. Together with detailed technical
instructions it gave start to dispatched forming of a modern
cadastre.
During the World War II the Czech Lands became a part of
Great German Empire as its Protectorate. This epoch has contributed to
concentration of state surveying in the Land Survey Office except for the
cadastre which still remained in the sphere of the Ministry of Finances.
Results of the World War II led to incorporation of
Czechoslovakia into the East Block of Socialist Countries bringing some
positive and some negative consequences. A boon may be seen in fulfilment of
the three basic goals of Czech surveyors from 1912, in the first line by
establishing the Central Authority of Geodesy and Cartography in 1954 as a
budget organisation with own chapter in the state budget. The president has
been nominated by the government and also directly responsible to it. Other
positive features of this epoch were the integration of fundamental
trigonometric, levelling and gravimetric networks and unification of medium
and small-scale map series in all former socialist countries. On the
contrary, this epoch brought a suppression of the Cadastre of Real Estates
that originally registered proprietary relations to lands, its replacement
by the Land Registry recording user relations to lands only, as well as
forcible influencing the content, form and distribution of maps caused by
secrecy mania. During forty years of communist rule the private sector of
surveying and mapping became completely extinct.
2. PRESENT STATE
Czechoslovakia was splitted peacefully on the 1st
January 1993 and the Czech Lands (Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia) became the
Czech Republic. At the same time a central body of state administration was
established — the Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping and Cadastre which
supervises activities of
- 77 Cadastral Offices in districts,
- 7 Survey and Cadastral Inspectorates in regions,
- Land Survey Office with nation-wide field of activity and the
- Research Institute of Geodesy, Topography and Cartography.
Activities of state administration bodies are strictly
regulated by law. Capacity of 80% of 5 700 employees is dedicated to
administrative and technical activities in the Cadastre of Real Estates. The
Czech Republic belongs to few European countries where the cadastral offices
decide about entries of ownership and other material rights to real estates
and also register such rights together with technical parameters of lots,
buildings and flats.
Other important tasks of state administration are:
- care of fundamental geodetic networks (trigonometric, levelling and
gravimetric ones) and their upkeeping and modernisation,
- creation and updating of Basic Maps of the Czech Republic at medium
and small scales,
- establishing and maintenance of the Information System of Surveying,
Mapping and Cadastre,
- managing the Central Archives of Surveying, Mapping and Cadastre,
- care of geographical names and their gazetteer.
Other survey and cartographic activities are carried out
exclusively by private firms (about 500 enterprises) and by licensed
surveyors (about 1800), e.g., laying-out and delimitation of lots,
production of survey sketches (more than 120 thousand annually), surveying
for building construction (engineering geodesy) and creation of thematic
maps, charts and atlases.
In 1994 two basic concepts of long-time activities were
defined:
- digitising of the Cadastre of Real Estates (1994 - 2006),
- creation of the Fundamental Base of Geographic Data (ZABAGED) as a
topologic-vectorial basic layer to GIS and computer created medium and
small scale map series.
Till the end of 1999 a considerable part of these goals
was fulfilled: the File of Descriptive Information of the Cadastre of Real
Estates was fully digitised and ZABAGED covered more than 80% of the
national territory. The fundamental horizontal control was integrated into
the European frame (EUREF) thanks to several international GPS campaigns
during 1991 - 1994. In the large-scale densification campaign DOPNUL the
ETRF-89 coordinates of 176 stations were determined. The DOPNUL stations are
regularly distributed over the entire territory with the spacing 20 - 25 km.
The Czech Republic is a NATO member and the Military Topographic Service of
the Army of the Czech Republic co-operates effectively on creating of
unified map series in digital form (V-map). NATO standards are accepted,
especially the World Geocentric System WGS84 in its more precise version,
and the Universal Transverse Mercator Projection for creation of military
maps.
3. PERSPECTIVES
The main task of the state administration of surveying,
mapping and cadastre in the Czech Republic at the beginning of the coming
millennium will be implementation of the so-called Enhanced Information
System of the Cadastre enabling integration of descriptive and geodetic data
of the cadastre, their maintenance in local area networks (LAN), the
replication in the Central Data Base by the wide area network (WAN) and
remote access of end users by means of the Internet. The Fundamental Base of
Geographic Data (ZABAGED) will be updated in four-years-intervals. Since
2005 it will also represent the exclusive source of data for computer
created medium and small scale maps. In the same period close relation
between civil and military geographic data bases will be achieved.
Transformation of basic horizontal ground control into ETRS-89 geocentric
system in the nineties represents the end of the era of classical geodesy in
the Czech Republic. The new technology does not require dense network of
horizontal control stations any more. Therefore the future maintenance of
fundamental horizontal control will be focused to approximately one third of
existing trigonometric stations. Creation of a network of active permanent
GPS reference stations in the frame of activities of Czech private firms is
discussed.
After vectorising of all cadastral maps (2006) the
Enhanced National Geodetic Reference System (S-JTSK/95) will be implemented
into cadastre and large-scale mapping eliminating local distorsions of
existing horizontal ground control caused during its creation in twenties by
joining heterogeneous historical observations without new determination of
scale by base measurement and astronomical orientation of the network.
Concept of development of national geoinformation
infrastructure will be started in 2000. Its goal is to form legislative,
standardised, organisational and technological environment suitable to
acquisition, processing and distributing geographical information required
by public administration and private sector.
MSc. Jiří Šíma, PhD
Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping and Cadastre
E-mail: jiri.sima@cuzk.cz
Web site: http://www.cuzk.cz
7 March 2000
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