Esri Eases Access to Land Information for Rwandan Citizens and Planners

Redlands, California — March 5, 2015 — Thanks to a new website called the  National Land Use Planning Portal (NLUPP), Rwandans connected to the Internet now have easy access to land-use plans and other spatial data on the web, decreasing the time it takes to find such maps and documents. Built on Esri's ArcGIS platform by the Rwanda Natural Resources Authority with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), NLUPP is the first portal of its kind on the continent of Africa.

"Transparency and making data accessible for the public to use are an important aspect of democracy," says Emily Krunic, director of democracy and good governance at USAID in Rwanda. "Open data makes space for meaningful input from the public, civil society, and the private sector and gives those groups and policymakers access to data to inform civic discussion and policy."

Over the past several years, Rwanda has embarked on developing land-use plans at the national and district levels as well as for urban centers. NLUPP now makes this information available and accessible to all Rwandans. The portal is designed to enhance transparency and provide Rwanda's citizens with information on how best to use their land, while also providing professionals with the tools and data they need to plan for sustainable development of the country and conduct land-use analysis.

The portal eases the discovery process even for those without Internet access. Local leaders use the resource to assist residents in obtaining current maps and records, which is still much faster than the previous method of flipping through map books and rummaging through file cabinets for information and then making scans and photocopies.

Land agencies are increasingly using Esri's commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products to digitize and serve their maps and all land-related information. NLUPP serves as a model for other planned land-use portals on the African continent.

For more information, visit  rwandalanduse.rnra.rw.

About Esri
Since 1969, Esri has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in GIS, Esri software is used in more than 350,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of Web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis. Esri is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at  www.esri.com.

Esri, the Esri globe logo, GIS by Esri, ArcGIS, www.esri.com, and @esri.com are trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of Esri in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Other companies and products mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective trademark owners.

Press Information:
Matthew DeMeritt, Esri
Tel.: 909-793-2853, extension 1-2930
E-mail (press only):  Email Contact
General Information:  Email Contact