The OICRF organisation

Welcome to OICRF
OICRF - the International Office for Cadastre and Land Records - is one of the permanent bodies of the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG). OICRF serves as a documentation and study centre for land administration and is charged with the following tasks:

• collecting and systematically filing and indexing all documentation material relating to existing cadastres and land registration systems,
• conducting comparative studies of this material and publishing the results,
• providing information and advice on all cadastres and land registration systems to all interested persons and institutions for the purposes of study or to help countries wishing to set up a cadastre or land registration system or improve an existing system,
• maintaining the documentation system on a daily basis.
  

Activities
All societies revolve around land. Regardless of whether we are seeking to promote economic growth, alleviate poverty, provide social housing, assure a secure food supply, protect vulnerable groups, or support nature conservation, the way we deal with land, access to land, and access to land-related opportunities is known to be a critical success factor. This is why land allocation is one of the main themes in policy documents and research papers, such as the poverty reduction strategy papers drawn up by many countries, reports compiled by international donors (such as the World Bank, the EU, DFID and GTZ) and policy guidelines issued by UN agencies (such as Habitat, FAO, UNHCR and UNDP).

OICRF has evolved in line with global developments and has expanded its range of activities to meet today's requirements. The cadastre (which was originally intended for taxation purposes only) and the land register (which was originally set up to help provide legal protection) have since become multipurpose cadastres that play an important part in the framework of land information systems.

OICRF has advised and continues to advise important international institutions and a growing number of governments of countries that wish to set up such a system or improve an existing but malfunctioning one.

A digital Land Administration library
OICRF maintains a digital library that currently contains approximately 6,000 publications, which include things such as conference documents, magazine articles and reports on land administration. All of the available documents and the most recent publications can be accessed electronically at www.oicrf.org and downloaded in PDF format.

The website includes a function that enables users to search for publications and documents by 'Title' or 'Author' or on the basis of an 'Abstract' or 'Keyword'. A 'Language'-based search is also possible. Users can also trace documents linked to a certain event, such as papers linked to a specific conference or seminar.

The website is a popular resource. The number of downloads averages at 100 per day.

Contact
OICRF does its utmost to provide the best possible service for anyone who requests information - not least the members of FIG and other professionals who work within the industry. In other words, OICRF is more than ready to fulfil its appointed tasks at the level required by a profession that is constantly setting higher standards. This is made possible by the support of our host, the Netherlands Cadastre, Public Registers and Mapping Agency.

OICRF Team
Paul van der Molen
Christiaan Lemmen
Anne Burghout
Pauline van Elsland

OICRF
Hofstraat 110
7311 KZ Apeldoorn
The Netherlands
Tel +31 55 52 85 695
Fax +31 55 35 57 362
info@oicrf.org