On the Use of ISO Standards in Cadastral Information Systems in

Germany

Markus SEIFERT, Germany

Key words: ALKIS, AdV, ISO, OGC, Feature Catalogue, Data Encoding, Unified Modeling
Language, Application Schema.

ABSTRACT

Germany is a classic example of a country that takes great pride in it’s highly accurate maps
and cadastral data. In the last three decades several independent geoinformation systems has
been developed in the field of cadastre and topographical mapping. Right now a redesign of
the German digital cadastral information system ALK (Automated Real Estate Map) is under
development. The new approach - called ALKIS (Official Cadastral Information System) -
was launched in order to harmonize the structures of ALK and the topographic database
ATKIS on the one hand and to integrate the cadastral map and the land titles into one single
model which was usually separated for historical and technical reasons.

For that reason the Working Committee of the Surveying Authorities of the States of the
Federal Republic of Germany (AdV) has started developing a new conceptual data model
based on international GIS standards which help to fulfill this task. This paper identifies the
key items of a cadastral information system which have to be considered in the context of
applying GIS standards and reports on the first results.

ZUSAMMENFASSUNG

Deutschland ist ein klassisches Beispiel für ein Land, das schon immer Wert auf genaue
Landkarten und Katasterinformationen gelegt hat. In den letzten drei Jahrzehnten wurden
mehrere unabhängige Geoinformations-Systeme im Bereich des Katasters und der
topographischen Karten entwickelt. Derzeit wird die automatisierte Liegenschaftskarte ALK
grundlegend überarbeitet. Der neue Ansatz - genannt ALKIS (Amtliches
Liegenschaftskatatser-Informationssystem) – wurde notwendig, um zum einen die
Datenstrukturen (Semantik) der ALK und die des topographisch-kartographischen
Informationssystems ATKIS aufeinander abzustimmen und zum anderen die Informationen
der Liegenschaftskarte und der Liegenschaftsbeschreibung in einem einzigen System zu
integrieren. Aus historischen und technischen Gründen mussten diese Systeme bislang
getrennt voneinander entwickelt und gepflegt werden.

Aus diesem Grund hat die Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Vermessungsverwaltungen der Länder
der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (AdV) die Entwicklung eines neuen konzeptuellen
Datenmodells auf der Grundlage internationaler GIS-Standards begonnen, um diese
Integration zu erreichen. Dieser Bericht beschreibt einige wesentliche Kernpunkte, die im

JS4 Standards – ISO/TC 211 and FIG 1/10

Markus Seifert
On the Use of ISO Standards in Cadastral Information Systems in Germany

FIG XXII International Congress

Washington, D.C. USA, April 19-26 2002
Zusammenhang mit der Anwendung internationaler GIS-Standards beachtet werden müssen
und gibt einen kurzen Überblick über die hierbei gewonnenen Erfahrungen.

CONTACT

Markus Seifert
Bavarian Organization for Surveying and Cadastre
Bezirksfinanzdirektion München
Alexandrastr. 3
80538 München
GERMANY
Tel. + 49 89 2190 2468
Fax + 49 89 2190 2459
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.bayern.de/vermessung

JS4 Standards – ISO/TC 211 and FIG 2/10

Markus Seifert
On the Use of ISO Standards in Cadastral Information Systems in Germany

FIG XXII International Congress

Washington, D.C. USA, April 19-26 2002
 On the Use of ISO Standards in Cadastral Information Systems in
Germany

Markus SEIFERT, Germany

1. INTRODUCTION

In many countries a major field for applications is cadastre. This field has a long tradition
also in Germany. Right now a redesign of the German digital cadastral information system
ALK (Automated Cadastral Map) - which has been in use for approximately one decade – is
under development. Besides the ALK, which mainly represents geometric features like
parcels, buildings and so on, a separate database (ALB – ‘automated land register’) with all
the titles of the land records exists.

The new model called ALKIS (Official Cadastral Information System) was launched in order
to harmonize the structures of ALK and the topographic database ATKIS (Official
Topographic-Cartographic Information System) on the one hand and to integrate the cadastral
map and the land titles into one single model which was usually separated for historical
reasons.

The former ALK system was originally used mainly within the surveying organizations,
performing as a central information system to fulfill all tasks that have to be carried out
relating to cadastral issues. Besides that from the very beginning the aim of the ALK has
been also to provide basic geographic data for many GIS applications in various fields in
local governments, utilities and so on. Right now there is also a great demand on having
access to these valuable data from others like banks, lawyers, notaries .... All of them in
general need for up-to-date data for their applications. So a fast data transfer or even an
online access to these data could be very helpful in future. Currently, a lot of projects are
established in order to build up a national geographical data infrastructure. That will help to
ease the access to the public geodata and reach interoperality between different
geoinformation systems within various state administrations.

Therefore the approaches aiming at GIS interoperability like the ones which are coming up
from the concepts of the international standardization organization ISO (International
Organization for Standardization) and from the OGC (Open GIS Consortium) are very
interesting in this field and have to be taken into account by modeling the new application
schema ALKIS.

The concept of the Cadastral Information System ALKIS was developed by the Working
Committee of the Surveying Authorities of the States of the Federal Republic of Germany
(AdV) called AdV. This conceptual data model is completely object based and describes
geographic and non-geographic features as well as their relations (associations). In order to
describe this model in a standardized way it has been based on the ISO draft standards in the
field of geographic information.

JS4 Standards – ISO/TC 211 and FIG 3/10

Markus Seifert
On the Use of ISO Standards in Cadastral Information Systems in Germany

FIG XXII International Congress

Washington, D.C. USA, April 19-26 2002
2. THE BENEFITS OF USING GIS STANDARDS

ISO standards may specify, for geographic information, methods, tools and services for data
management (including definition and description), acquiring, processing, analyzing,
accessing, presenting and transferring such data in digital/electronic form between different
users, systems and locations [ISO, 2001].

ISO has formulated some objectives that are also valid for ALKIS:
− Increase the understanding and usage of geographic information
− Increase the availability, access, integration, and sharing of geographic information
− Promote the efficient, effective, and economic use of digital geographic information
and associated hardware and software systems
− Contribute to a unified approach to addressing global ecological and humanitarian
problems.

The AdV has adopted these aims and decided to take into account the ISO standards within
the new application schema ALKIS as far as possible.

3. APPLICATION OF THE ISO/TC 211 FAMILY OF GIS STANDARDS IN ALKIS

ALKIS applies a lot of ISO standards which are generally issued as draft international
standards (DIS). In detail the conceptual application schema ALKIS is based on the following
specifications:

− ISO 19101 Geographic information - Reference model

− ISO 19103 Geographic information - Conceptual schema language
− ISO 19105 Geographic information - Conformance and testing
− ISO 19107 Geographic information - Spatial schema
− ISO 19108 Geographic information - Temporal schema
− ISO 19109 Geographic information - Rules for application schema
− ISO 19110 Geographic information - Feature cataloguing methodology
− ISO 19113 Geographic information - Quality principles
− ISO 19115 Geographic information - Metadata
− ISO 19118 Geographic information - Encoding.

The following report will highlight three main issues in detail. Figure 1 shows an overview
about the ALKIS application schema as a package combined with some packages from ISO
containing the specification for feature cataloguing, spatial schema and encoding rules.

JS4 Standards – ISO/TC 211 and FIG 4/10

Markus Seifert
On the Use of ISO Standards in Cadastral Information Systems in Germany

FIG XXII International Congress

Washington, D.C. USA, April 19-26 2002
 <<Application Schema>>
ISO 19118
Encoding ALKIS application schema
Rules

ISO 19109
Spatial Schema

ISO 19110 Feature

Cataloguing

Fig. 1: ALKIS application schema in the ISO model

3.1. Feature Catalogue

As mentioned in the previous sections the ALKIS application scheme is based on real world
phenomena which are called features in this paper.
The main characteristics of features defined in ALKIS are:

− They have a unique identifier

− They belong to a class of features
− They have - semantic and other - properties (attributes), especially quality
information has to be mentioned here. These properties also have codes and
definitions.
− They are spatially referenced or not (geographic or non-geographic features)
− Spatial objects have a spatial reference (2D or 3D-coordinates)
− are based optionally on a geometrical sub scheme or a topological sub scheme
− Features are simple (atomic) or compound
− Relations / associations between features have to be maintained
− Features have a life cycle (they appear and disappear), for some features or even the
relations the history has to be documented.

These properties characterize ALKIS features which have to be described in a formal

structure. ISO offers an appropriate standard to do this (ISO DIS 19110 “Feature cataloguing
methodology”).

JS4 Standards – ISO/TC 211 and FIG 5/10

Markus Seifert
On the Use of ISO Standards in Cadastral Information Systems in Germany

FIG XXII International Congress

Washington, D.C. USA, April 19-26 2002
 FC_FeatureAtt ribute
FC_FeatureType name : LocalName
0.. n definition : CharacterString
ftname : LocalName
code [0..1] : CharacterString
ftdefinition [0..1] : CharacterString
valueDataType : CharacterString
ftcode [0..1] : CharacterString
valueMeasurementUnit [0..1] : UnitOfMeasure
aliases [0. .*] : CharacterString
valueDomainTypeEnumerated [0..1] : Boolean = False
valueDomain [0..1] : CharacterString

AC_FeatureType << Enumerati on>>

isSpecifiedAs [1] : AC_ObjektTypenBezeichnung AC_ObjektT ypenBezeichnung
requirementForDataCollection [1] : CharacterString A tomi c Spati al Fe at ure
requirementForConsistency [1] : CharacterString A tomi c Non-Spa tial Feat ure
assemblyInstruction [1] : CharacterString Compoun d Feat ure
LifeCycleDescription [1] : CharacterString

Fig 2: ALKIS feature catalogue structure

Figure 2 shows an extract of the feature catalogue structure derived from ISO. The classes at
the top were defined by ISO. But not all requirements needed in ALKIS are provided by this
standard (e.g. requirements for data consistency). In figure 2 the highlighted classes below
contain additional feature specifications that are needed in ALKIS. These specifications were
defined as an extension within the application schema ALKIS.
The ALKIS application schema is completely described by using the conceptual schema
language UML (Unified Modeling Language). In addition the feature catalogue can be
converted from the UML data model into RTF or HTML data formats automatically. So users
are able to read the specification without buying an expensive UML tool.

3.2. Spatial Schema

From a cadastral point of view there are a lot of geographical features (like parcels, buildings
...) but also non-geographical features (like persons, land titles ...) which have also to be
considered. Spatial aspects are specified in ISO 19107 “Spatial schema”. Figure 3 shows an
abstract of spatial attributes which has been adopted in ALKIS.

The spatial view of the data can either be described by using geometric primitives or
topological primitives. Some parts of the ALKIS scheme are described by geometric
primitives but in many cases full topology based on an orientated graph structure is required.

JS4 Standards – ISO/TC 211 and FIG 6/10

Markus Seifert
On the Use of ISO Standards in Cadastral Information Systems in Germany

FIG XXII International Congress

Washington, D.C. USA, April 19-26 2002
 <<Feature>> <<Feature>> <<Feature>>
TS_SurfaceComponent TS_CurveComponent TS_PointComponent
(from Simple T opology) (from Simple To pol ogy) (from Simple Topology)

+ surface() + curve() + point()

<<Feature>> <<Feature>>
AA_REO AA _ObjektMi tG eteil terLini engeometri e
(from ALKIS-ATKIS externes

+elem ent

Complex

Line and point geometry of the elements of a +curv etheme

'Linienthemas' belong to the same GM_Complex. Linienthema TS_Th eme
Area geometry is not part of the complex. ( from Simp e
l

Fig. 3: Extract of the ALKIS spatial schema

The classes at the top partly represents the ISO standard on spatial schema, the other classes
specifies the additional requirements of ALKIS. Actually, no serious problems were
identified by using this draft international standard. The only difficulties lay in the selection
of the necessary spatial elements from the huge list of various possibilities.

3.3. Application of ISO Encoding Rules in ALKIS

At present the technical contents of the data interchange interface of the AdV (Uniform Data
Base Interface – EDBS) is very variously due to heterogeneous country realizations in the
federal states of Germany. Primarily nationwide data users strongly demand a standardized
data interface, because the data interchange is considerably aggravated. Due to the federal
structure in Germany only the AdV is able to develop obligatory solutions within the field of
official geospatial data. However, the AdV doesn’t have any authority order at this and can
only express recommendations. By corresponding decisions the AdV member countries
commit themselves to these concepts. The AdV has decided to achieve this standardization
finally with ALKIS to fulfill today’s and tomorrow’s needs.

Besides the standardization of the data interchange the definition of the data interface itself
(encoding rules) is of great importance. Concrete samples for the data encoding have to be
defined. The users must be able to interpret the data without extensive conversions and it
must not be developed an “exotic”. Therfore a data interface has to apply the concepts of
standardization bodies in the field of geographis information. Only this way a vendor
independent readability can be guaranteed. The AdV exactly goes this way and bases the
interface definition for the data interchange (XML interface) on the appropriate concepts of
ISO 19118 ”Encoding Rules”. Therefore the AdV data interface is called NAS (Normbasierte
Austauschschnittstelle - Standard Based Data Interface).

JS4 Standards – ISO/TC 211 and FIG 7/10

Markus Seifert
On the Use of ISO Standards in Cadastral Information Systems in Germany

FIG XXII International Congress

Washington, D.C. USA, April 19-26 2002
This chapter describes the situation and the difficulties by defining a data interface based on
the ISO 19118 encoding standard. The following requirements for the data interface has been
identified and determined:

− Avoid consequences on the technical UML application schema

− The structure of the data interface should be as simple as possible to enhance the
acceptance of ALKIS by potential users
− The data interface should avoid unnecessary complexity not to build up an
unnecessary barrier for the use of geographic data in Germany
− The data interface should be based on international accepted basic standards as far as
possible
− Examine and test the encoding rules at concrete instances starting a prototyping
before establishing the data interface
− Requests for an update mechanism have to be taken into account.

But also some problems were identified by using the ISO 19118 XML encoding rules within
the specification of NAS. This document is still a draft standard and there are parallel
developments at OGC (Open GIS Consortium) on the standardization of a data interchange.
The OGC interface specification bases on GML (Geographic Markup Language) that is
currently available in version 2.0. Actually, both developments aren’t coordinated in detail.
First attempts for harmonization are recognized, but probably a complete harmonization can’t
be expected at present. Saying it shortly: GML 2.0 and ISO 19118 encoding rules aren’t as
compatible as needed for the NAS.
Missing standardized XML-schemas for all ISO 191xx basic standards published in UML is a
further problem. So you don’t know how to encode the UML specifications correctly using
the XML schema definition language for a concrete data transfer specification. If these
schemas aren’t specified and public available, the users of the ISO standard family will have
to define specific encoding rules themselves which certainly causes the loss of
interoperability.
Regarding the current situation at OGC’s GML specification, there are also problems coming
up by using GML 2.0 instead of ISO encoding rules. No exactly defined references to the ISO
standards are given. Furthermore it doesn’ t exist an update mechanism and either topology
nor splines and arcs are supported.

Well, what is the right strategy to define data encoding rules? The AdV will use the ISO
19118 Level 1 in ALKIS, what means that an ISO compliant documentation of “NAS
encoding rules” will be produced. This documentation maps the conceptual ALKIS data
model to a GML 2.0 encoding schema (see figure 4). However, the NAS encoding rules will
be defined as simple as possible and largely compliant to ISO 19118 XML encoding rules.
The main objective is ISO and OGC conformance of the NAS encoding rules.

JS4 Standards – ISO/TC 211 and FIG 8/10

Markus Seifert
On the Use of ISO Standards in Cadastral Information Systems in Germany

FIG XXII International Congress

Washington, D.C. USA, April 19-26 2002
 NAS
NAS FeatureCatalogue
Feature Catalogue
(XML-Schema)
(XML-Schema) (HTML, RTF)
(HTML, RTF)
GML 2.0
GML 2.0 FeatureCatalogue
Feature Catalogue
19118 Level
Level 11 (XML)
(XML)
19118
19109
19109 19110
19110
ALKIS Application
ALKIS Application Schema
Schema (UML)
(UML)

19107 –– 19111
19107 19111
19112 –– 19115
19112 19115

19103
19103

Fig. 4: Derivation of the NAS encoding rules

The NAS encoding rules can be derived from the UML application schema automatically as
well as the feature catalogue mentioned above. Geometric elements not spezified in GML 2.0
so far has been defined in consideration of the GML 2.0 compliant extension mechanism (e.g.
arcs). The challenge is to consider the upcoming GML daft standard as far as possible and
use the existing ISO geometrical elements (surface, spline, ...), if these items aren’t provided
by GML 2.0 or 3.0. Missing elements needed for cadastral applications should be added at
the GML 3.0 specification if possible. If necssary, the NAS encoding rules will be adapted to
the final GML specification.

ISO and OGC have recognized the differences between both data interchange specifications
and recommended a new work item proposal for harmonization, which will be strongly
supported by the AdV.

4. CONCLUSION

The public geospatial data in in the field of cadastre is already used variously. By integration
of various datasets in ALKIS, still managed with several systems at present as mentioned
before, the use and further processing of the public geospatial data will be simplified
substantially. The main reason is the consistent application of the ISO standards in the field
of geographic information. So some essential advantages will arise for the users by the new
conception:

− The implementation of the concept under consideration of international standards will

ensure investment safeguarding, vendor independence and standardization of public
geoapatial data.
− Definition of a universal, browser readable interface (XML encoding) for all public
geospatial data.
− ALKIS becomes a core dataset that can easily be combined with other data from
various administration in order to build up a spatial data infrastructure in Germany.
JS4 Standards – ISO/TC 211 and FIG 9/10
Markus Seifert
On the Use of ISO Standards in Cadastral Information Systems in Germany

FIG XXII International Congress

Washington, D.C. USA, April 19-26 2002
Therefore ALKIS will standardize the cadastral datasets in various ways in Germany. For the
actual realization of ALKIS some further efforts are still necessary. Besides the
implementation especially the migration of the datasets requires considerable efforts.
The application schema ALKIS has proved that ISO geographic information standards can
largely be used without problems. If the GIS vendors will finally implement these standards
as well, the objectives formulated by ISO, which were mentioned above, will soon become
reality.

REFERENCES

WWW-Links:

Working Committee of the Surveying Authorities of the States of the Fedaral Republic of
Germany, AdV: http://www.adv-online.de
International Organization for Standardization, Technical Committee 211, ISO/TC 211:
http://www.statkart.no/isotc211/
Open GIS Consortium, OGC: http://www.opengis.org

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

Markus Seifert is head of the working group that is modeling the conceptual schema
ALKIS. Furthermore he represents the Bavarian Organization for surveying and cadastre in
serveral national working groups concernig the standardization of public geospatial data. On
behalf of the Working Committee of the Surveying Authorities of the States of the Fedaral
Republic of Germany (AdV) he is member of national and international standardization
bodies.

JS4 Standards – ISO/TC 211 and FIG 10/10

Markus Seifert
On the Use of ISO Standards in Cadastral Information Systems in Germany

FIG XXII International Congress

Washington, D.C. USA, April 19-26 2002