Innovative Remote Sensing Methodologies for Kenyan Land Tenure Mapping

Remote Sensing, vol. 12, pp. 273

Abstract

There exists a demand for effective land administration systems that can support the protection of unrecorded land rights, thereby assisting to reduce poverty and support national development—in alignment with target 1.4 of UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is estimated that only 30% of the world’s population has documented land rights recorded within a formal land administration system. In response, we developed, adapted, applied, and tested innovative remote sensing methodologies to support land rights mapping, including (1) a unique ontological analysis approach using smart sketch maps (SmartSkeMa); (2) unmanned aerial vehicle application (UAV); and (3) automatic boundary extraction (ABE) techniques, based on the acquired UAV images. To assess the applicability of the remote sensing methodologies several aspects were studied: (1) user needs, (2) the proposed methodologies responses to those needs, and (3) examine broader governance implications related to scaling the suggested approaches. The case location of Kajiado, Kenya is selected. A combination of quantitative and qualitative results resulted from fieldwork and workshops, taking into account both social and technical aspects. The results show that SmartSkeMa was potentially a versatile and community-responsive land data acquisition tool requiring little expertise to be used, UAVs were identified as having a high potential for creating up-to-date base maps able to support the current land administration system, and automatic boundary extraction is an effective method to demarcate physical and visible boundaries compared to traditional methodologies and manual delineation for land tenure mapping activities.

Authors 18

1. Mila Koeva corresponding

   International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation · University of Twente

   Affiliation as printed

   Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, 7514 AE Enschede, The Netherlands

2. Claudia Stöcker

   International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation · University of Twente

   Affiliation as printed

   Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, 7514 AE Enschede, The Netherlands

3. Sophie Crommelinck

   International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation · University of Twente

   Affiliation as printed

   Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, 7514 AE Enschede, The Netherlands

4. Serene Ho

   KU Leuven

   Affiliation as printed

   Public Governance Institute, 3000 KU Leuven, Belgium

5. Malumbo Chaka Chipofya

   University of Münster

   Affiliation as printed

   Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Institute for Geoinformatics is part of the Geosciences department of the faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, 48149 Münster, Germany

6. Sahib Jan

   University of Münster

   Affiliation as printed

   Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Institute for Geoinformatics is part of the Geosciences department of the faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, 48149 Münster, Germany

7. Rohan Bennett

   Swinburne University of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   Kadaster International, 7311 KZ Apeldoorn, The Netherlands

   Swinburne Business School, University of Technology Swinburne, Hawthorn campus BA1231, Australia

8. Jaap A. Zevenbergen

   International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation · University of Twente

   Affiliation as printed

   Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, 7514 AE Enschede, The Netherlands

9. George Vosselman

   International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation · University of Twente

   Affiliation as printed

   Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, 7514 AE Enschede, The Netherlands

10. C. Lemmen

    International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation · University of Twente

    Affiliation as printed

    Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, 7514 AE Enschede, The Netherlands

    Kadaster International, 7311 KZ Apeldoorn, The Netherlands

11. Joep Crompvoets

    KU Leuven

    Affiliation as printed

    Public Governance Institute, 3000 KU Leuven, Belgium

12. Ine Buntinx

    KU Leuven

    Affiliation as printed

    Public Governance Institute, 3000 KU Leuven, Belgium

13. Gordon O. Wayumba

    Technical University of Kenya

    Affiliation as printed

    Technical University of Kenya, Nairobi P.O. BOX 52428–00200, Kenya

14. Robert Nilson Wayumba

    Technical University of Kenya

    Affiliation as printed

    Technical University of Kenya, Nairobi P.O. BOX 52428–00200, Kenya

15. Peter Ochieng Odwe

    Technical University of Kenya

    Affiliation as printed

    Technical University of Kenya, Nairobi P.O. BOX 52428–00200, Kenya

16. George Ted Osewe

    Technical University of Kenya

    Affiliation as printed

    Technical University of Kenya, Nairobi P.O. BOX 52428–00200, Kenya

17. Beatrice Chika

    Technical University of Kenya

    Affiliation as printed

    Technical University of Kenya, Nairobi P.O. BOX 52428–00200, Kenya

18. Valérie Pattyn Aachen Institute of Public Administration Faculty Governance and Global Affairs

    Leiden University

    Affiliation as printed

    Institute of Public Administration, Faculty Governance and Global Affairs, Leiden University, 2511 DP The Hague, The Netherlands