From parcels to global cadastre: challenges and issues of the post-cadastral reform in Quebec
Résumé
In 1985, the Government of Quebec decided to update its cadastre by producing an accurate computer based representation of private land division in the province. The cadastral reform project is unique in terms of scale, methodology and final product characteristics. The end result of the cadastral reform will be a system no longer based on single parcel paper maps, but a global digital map. Despite the strict framework within which the Quebec cadastral reform was launched in 1992, this renovation has raised unexpected questions that still need to be answered. The aim of our study is to describe the challenges and problems that have been generated by this transition. First of all, the impacts of the new cadastral system on land surveyors professional activities have neither been fully identified nor estimated. In the past, the idea of integration into a large cadastral grid was not compulsory and land surveyors used to represent their cadastral operations on parcel plans without showing the neighbouring properties. Therefore, these plans often contained inaccuracies that were non-apparent until one tried to integrate the individual lots and then created into a global map. Discrepancies between neighbouring lots could occur at this occasion, forcing the land surveyor to make a deeper investigation of the area. The main challenge will be to ensure the improvement of the global cadastral map, by enhancing its consistency in accordance with field survey data, and by implementing correction procedures, particularly when scale or projection changes are required.