EuroGeographics has named Jolien Neckebroeck from Belgium and Vents Priedoliņš from Latvia as new Co-Chairs of its Cadastre and Land Registry Network. 

Jolien, who is Head of the Valuations Department at the Belgian Cadastre, and Vents, who is Cadastre Development Manager at the State Land Service, Latvia, succeed Dr Daniel Steudler from the Federal Office of Topography (swisstopo) who has held the role since 2015.

Known as the CLR KEN, the expert group is part of the extensive knowledge exchange programme organised by the not-for-profit membership association for the European National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registry Authorities. Together, Jolien and Vents will lead EuroGeographics’ collaboration with the EU Permanent Committee on Cadastre (PCC), the European Land Registry Association (ELRA), the European Land Information Service (EULIS) and the Council of European Geodetic Surveyors (CLGE) to establish a common vision for cooperation on cadastre and land registry.

Patricia Sokacova, Membership and Communications Manager, EuroGeographics and the Association’s contact for the CLR KEN said: “We are delighted to welcome Jolien and Vents as Co-Chairs of our expert group that provides the European platform for networking and sharing best practice. We would also like to sincerely thank Dr Steudler for the significant progress made under his leadership and his commitment to demonstrating the value of cadastral data.”

“Cadastral authorities and land registries fulfil an essential role by providing official, detailed, secure and reliable data on property rights and registration, and we look forward to working with Jolien and Vents to further our aim of meeting user needs for this fundamental information at both national and European levels.”

Members of EuroGeographics are working together to deliver pan-European open data through the Open Maps For Europe interface, including an Open Cadastral Map prototype. This currently provides large-scale coverage for six countries and is being enhanced by the Open Maps For Europe 2 (OME2) project, which is co-funded by the European Union.

The map takes INSPIRE open data and allows the user to find out what is available from national sources in one place before obtaining the data from the official provider. The cadastral map comprises four layers: Administrative Units, Cadastral Parcels (and Cadastral Zones), Buildings (and Building Parts) and Addresses.

EuroGeographics is an international not-for-profit organisation (AISBL/ IVZW under Belgian Law. BCE registration: 833 607 112) and the membership association for the European National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registry Authorities.

The OME2 project is co-funded by the European Union. It is being delivered by a consortium comprising: EuroGeographics, the not-for-profit membership association for Europe’s National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registration Authorities; National Geographic Institute, Belgium; National Institute of Geographic and Forest Information, France; Hellenic Cadastre; General Directorate for the Cadastre, Spain; and Cadastre, Land Registry and Agency, The Netherlands.

Open Maps For Europe was co-financed by the Connecting Europe Facility of the European Union and ended in 2022. It was coordinated by EuroGeographics, the voice of European National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registration Authorities, in partnership with the National Geographic Institute (NGI) Belgium.