Implementation of the 3D Cadastre in Israel

Rachel ADI, Anna SHNAIDMAN and Shimon BARAZANI, Israel

Key words: Israel, 3D Cadaster, LADM, 3D Registration.

SUMMARY

Cadastre can be referred to as a legal frame which connects three main components of any land
administration system: people, land and law. A functional and reliable cadastral system is a vital
factor in proper management of land, which in turn leads to sustainable development and a strong
economy of a country.
The need for a solid cadastral basis becomes more acute when land is a scarce commodity, much
like in the case of Israel. Furthermore, over the past few decades due to urbanization, accelerated
pace of living and rapidly emerging complex construction situations, among other factors, the
necessity for utilizing the space above and below the surface and expanding the existing 2D
cadastral system became more and more compelling. Consequently, this topic has been
researched and investigated for quite some time. Several agencies joined forces in order to
defined and implement 3D cadastre, while considering latest technological developments as well
as international land administration standards such as LADM (Land Administration Domain
Model).
This paper offers a conceptual as well as a technological overview of a 3D registration process,
following the proposed amendments to the existing Israeli Land Law suggested and developed by
the Survey of Israel 3D cadastre project team.

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 Implementation of the 3D Cadastre in Israel

Rachel ADI, Anna SHNAIDMAN and Shimon BARAZANI, Israel

1. INTRODUCTION

Israel is a small country with a constantly increasing population, hence the need for open
spaces is constantly rising as well.
Planning and development needs have become more and more complex over the years from
the aspect of utilizing space both above and below ground, and thus the need for an ability to
administer registration of accurate multi-level and coordinate-based three-dimensional
cadastre significantly becomes apparent.
The issue of 3D Cadastre has been investigated in Israel starting in the late 90s, and has been
addressed by several researchers (Benhamu & Doytsher, 2001; Forrai & Kirschner, 2001;
Grinstein, 2001; Sandberg, 2001, Benhamu & Doytsher, 2003; Sandberg, 2003). The work
came to fruition by means of an R&D project which was carried out during 2002-2004. The
conclusions the R&D research team has reached, as well as the detailed analysis of the legal
and special elements of 3D cadastre, can be found in several publications (Shoshani et. Al.,
2004; Shoshani et. Al., 2005, Benhamu, 2006).

Currently, one of the objectives alongside development and implementation of a 3D cadastre

in Israel is the correlation between LADM ISO standard and the realization of a 3D country
profile. Since more and more countries around the world adopting the principles define within
the Land Administration Domain Model, which addresses both the legal and the technical/
spatial aspects and enables a mutual platform for all land authorities throughout the globe. In
their paper, Felus et. al (2014) summarize previous activities in the field of 3D cadastre, offers
an overview of current legislation and regulations and underlines the steps to be taken for
creation of the 3D country profile.

Until now, Israeli law has not enabled registration of three-dimensional cadastre. Due to a
mixture of uses in various spatial levels, registration of three-dimensional cadastre is required
to enable taking a part of the realm of ownership and transferring it to others.
In the next section the main points of the law, difficulties and path to a solution: Legislation –
Israel Lands Law are described.

2. 3D REGISTRATION – A NEW APPROACH

Cadastral system embodies a variety of components; the legal and the administrative
components manifested in land registration, and the spatial element revealed within the
cadastral mapping (Lemmen and van Oosterom, 2004). However, the registration is merely
the last step in the Registration Chain, though the most crucial one from land rights point of
few. The process starts with a planning map, depicting zoning areas and land use
designations, which usually indicate changes in the current boundaries of the registered

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parcels, therefore changes in land rights and ownerships. For the process to be complete, new
lots need to be transformed into registration units, meaning parcels by means of a parcellation
plan and finally be registered at the Ministry of Justice.
Each element of the chain is under the responsibility of a different agency and governed by
particular laws: zoning plans are prepared and approved by the Israeli Planning
Administration, parcellation plans are the domain of Survey of Israel, whereas the registration
is performed by the registration office.
Currently the main challenges in implementing 3D cadastre in Israel stem from several
definitions as they are outlined in the Land Law. Nonetheless, the planning aspect needs to be
addressed as well and correlate with the other element in the registration chain.

2.1 The Israeli Land Law

The land ownership as defined in the Israeli land law - the ownership spreads over the ground
parcel in the depth below and lofty space above it - poses several difficulties, such as:
 It is not possible to carry out a land transaction and transfer of ownership of a part of
the space defined as land ownership, meaning it is not possible to register a house to
one person and an underground tunnel to another.
 Land registration is defined as two-dimensional
 The vertical split for various spatial levels requires 3-dimensional registration

Therefore, the law needs to be amended to enable registration of vertical division of the space
to various levels and designations.
The new approach as developed at the Survey of Israel, suggested several amendments to the
Law. First and foremost a 3D Parcel is defined. Secondly, it enables registration of various
ownerships in various levels of the space, provided it complies with the planning map and as
such provides a basis for the establishment of three dimensional cadastre. The draft passed the
first reading in the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) and awaits a second and a third readings to
become valid.

2.2 The Principles of 3D Cadastre Registration

In order to enable three-dimensional cadastre in Israel as soon as the amendment to the law is
ratified, a pilot program was conducted for implementation of three-dimensional cadastre at
the railroad station in the city of Modi’in.
As part of the applied pilot, a market examination of technological availability that supports a
process of creating three-dimensional cadastre was performed.
Hereafter, the principles of three-dimensional cadastre and all the stages undertaken for
implementation of the pilot, software used and results of the pilot are presented.
In order to understand which principles and data the pilot incorporates, one must understand
the principles for creating three-dimensional cadastre.

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 Work Process Framework

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The three-dimensional model erected as part of the pilot is of the railway station in the city of
Modi’in within the boundaries of CBP (city building plan) no. 1/23/MD. Below are presented
the topographical features of the pilot area – the railway tunnel.

A comparison between the existing land coverage and the 3-dimensional model which was
created from the planning map is shown below:

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2-4 October 2018, Delft, The Netherlands
As can be seen from the images presented, that the 3-dimensional model created during the
project corresponds with the elements in the area.
Once a careful examination of the 3-dimensional model is performed and it is established that
the model in fact reflects the reality, a process of producing a 3D parcel begins. A review of
step-by-step procedure is detailed below.

Step 1: Preparation and assimilation of planning data

 Preparing planning points file for configuration enabling assimilation in AutoCAD Civil
3D software
 Uploading the planning points and their names to the software
 Creating an outline of the three-dimensional lines (object)

Step 2: Creating Parts of Solids

 Creating surfaces in accordance with the form of the 3-dimensional planning/object
data
 Creating a solid with the help of the surfaces
 Solids produced
 For every SOLID entity one can see its properties, such as volume, bonding box and
other data

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Step 3: Creating One Solid Spatial Parcel (Creation of Full 3-Dimensional Model)
 Unification of all solid entities to one solid entity
 The solid entity created is a spatial parcel that represents the three-dimensional object

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Step 4: Spatial Cutting
 Creating volume for each ordinary parcel representing the sphere of ownership of the
parcel’s owner(s)
 Creating volume in this case was done by using the “Extrude” command
 In this case I created volume representing the parcel’s sphere of ownership only for
parcels in which I saw that the spatial parcel spans their vertical boundaries

Note:
 Split screen into 2 windows of equal size.
 In the right window one can clearly see for which parcels the volume was created
representing the sphere of ownership.
 In the left window one can see that the spatial parcel spreads out over these parcels.
Step 5: Creating Spatial Parcels
 Splitting the spatial parcel representing the spatial object into spatial parcels per
boundaries of each of the ordinary parcels
 Creating separate solid entities per each ordinary parcel boundary done in this case by
use of the “Intersect” command
 The command enables production of a solid that is a part shared between sphere of
ownership space of the ordinary parcel and the spatial object

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2-4 October 2018, Delft, The Netherlands
  Calculating volume of each of the spatial parcels created was via use of the “MassPro”
command.

Note:
 Split screen into 2 windows of equal size.
 In the right window the 3-dimensional parcels created in accordance with the ordinary
parcels are displayed.
 In the left window we can see the hatch filling the ordinary parcel with the same color
as the spatial parcel spreading over its borders.

Step 6: Create a spatial parcel within a block

 Union of spatial parcels located in same block in order to create one spatial parcel per
block
 Union of spatial parcels effected via use of “Union” command

 We see that the spatial object has spread out over three different blocks
 Each color represents a spatial parcel in another block
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Step 7: Creating Property (Characteristics) Cuts
 Creating a planning plane in any direction desired and placing it in the desired location
within the spatial parcel
 The diagram contains three types of cuts: Length, width and position
 In each cut we can see the cut section itself in the color blue.

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  In the cut, the colors read and white represent the projection of the 3-dimensional
parcel over the cut section
 The cuts can be exported to a separate *.dwg file in addition to a PDF file

Step 8: Creating dimensions for the spatial Parcels

Creation of dimensions by setting a temporary coordinate system in the relevant directions
and utilization of the DimAligned command to draw the scale on the screen or another option
is to use the plugin.

Step 9: Exporting Information Entities to 3D PDF Fil

In this picture we can see the numbers of the parcels and their blocks Unified and Divided.

Exporting the
information as a
3D PDF file is
done using a
software plugin

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Step 10: Creating Union and Distribution Tables and Producing Registration Texts

Union and distribution effected according to blocks over which the spatial parcels are spread
out (the 3-dimensional model).

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Step 11: Exporting the Information to Three-Dimensional Formats

The following figure portrays an example of converting information to DAE (Collada)

Format via FME:

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Step 12: Uploading Model to 3-Dimensional Data Base and Displaying Model from Data Base
 One option that was examined – use of ESRI tool.

 Additional option examined – use of PostgreSQL data base with PostGIS spatial
additive. This product is Open Source

 Connecting to PostGIS data base and displaying information stored there via use of the
FME Data Inspector tool.
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  .

 Additional Properties stored in DB and brought up and displayed by FME Inspector

2.3 3D models in VIEWER called FME INSPECTOR

 On the right side are all the properties stored in the data base for each of the models.
 As part of the properties there is also a list of turning point coordinates for the models.
By pressing any one of the coordinates, we can see the placement of the point in the
diagram on the screen, the point selected appears as a blue circle in the diagram itself.

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  When we press on the model that we want to examine more in depth or on the name of
its table, we see how the model is divided into triangles (MESH) in the same manner
in which the model is stored in the data base, and in the properties we can see which
triangles were stored in each of the model’s planes and what the coordinates are of
each point.

If we wish to download some of the models from the VIEWER, we can download the
checkmark beside the tables representing each of them, and thus the display of that model will
be removed.

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3. SUMMARY AND FUTURE WORK

The technology existing in today’s market enables creation of 3-dimensional cadastre.

Several authorities take part in creating three-

dimensional cadastre (planning director, Survey of
Israel and Ministry of Justice - “Tabo”); in order to
enable an automated process with a minimum of
manual input, adjustments need to be made to the
shelf products used to facilitate a quick process
with minimum human error.
Each authority participating in the process has
systems conforming to their own needs. These
systems currently allow only a 2-dimensional
capability.
In order to enable these three authorities to
continue their daily and orderly work, as well as to
enable a process of 3-dimensional cadastre
registration, the 3-dimensional capability must be
added without creating numerous changes in
existing systems and without imposing
developments and tests on these systems.
The solution is creating a shared 3-dimensional
data base and “3-dimensional” portal that meets
the demands of the three authorities involved. The
portal will display information that each authority
needs (sub-folders, links between data bases etc.);
its visual display will be 3-dimensional, and 3-
dimensional services will also be provided to
various entities and citizens. Authorizations will be
allocated according to need. In this manner,
minimal changes will be required in the current
systems as well as coordination of
development/adaptation of current products in one
project that meets the needs of all the entities. In
this manner, there will be no duplicate
development of the same capabilities, and each
entity also works with its current system with the
addition of the three-dimensional capability.

Unified Platform for Use by All

Entities
1) Three-dimensional data base
2) Three-dimensional portal
3) Three-dimensional services

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REFERENCES

Moshe Benhamu and Yerach Doytsher (2001). Research toward a multilayer 3D Cadastre: Interim
results. In proceedings International Workshop on 3D Cadastres, 2001, Delft, pp. 35-51.

Moshe Benhamu and Yerach Doytsher (2003). Toward a spatial 3D cadastre in Israel. In:
Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, Volume 27, July 2003, pp. 359-374.

Moshe Benhamu (2006). A GIS-Related Multi Layers 3D Cadastre in Israel. In roceedings XXIII
FIG Congress, Munich, Germany, October 8-13, 2006.

Yaron Felus, Shimon Barzani, Alisa Caine, Nimrod Blumkine and Peter van Oosterom: Steps
towards 3D Cadastre and ISO 19152 (LADM) in Israel. In
Proceedings 4th International Workshop on 3D Cadastres 9-11 November 2014, Dubai, United
Arab Emirates.

Joseph Forrai and Gili Kirschner (2001). Transition from two-dimensional legal and cadastral
reality to a three-dimensional one. In proceedings International Workshop on 3D Cadastres, 2001,
Delft, pp. 9-23.

Armi Grinstein (2001). Aspects of a 3D Cadastre in the new city of Modi'in, Israel, in proceedings
International Workshop on 3D Cadastres, 2001, Delft, pp. 25-33.

ISO-TC211 (2012). Geographic information – land administration domain model (LADM).

ISO/IS 19152.

Christiaan Lemmen and Peter van Oosterom, (2004). In: Cadastral systems III. Computers,
Environment and Urban Systems, 28, 435–442.

Uri Shoshani, Moshe Benhamu, Eri Goshen, Shaul Denekamp and Roy Bar (2004). Registration
of Cadastral Spatial Rights in Israel – A Research and Development Project. In proceedings FIG
Working Week 2004, Athens, Greece, May 22-27, 2004.

Uri Shoshani, Moshe Benhamu, Eri Goshen, Shaul Denekamp and Roy Bar (2005). A Multi
Layers 3D Cadastre in Israel: A Research and Development Project Recommendation. In
proceedings FIG Working Week 2005 and GSDI-8.

Haim Sandberg (2001). Three-dimensional division and registration of title to land: Legal aspects.
In proceedings International Workshop on 3D Cadastres, 2001, Delft, pp. 201-209.

Haim Sandberg (2003). Three-Dimensional Partition and Registration of Subsurface Space. In:
Israel Law Review, Volume 37, 1, 2003, pp. 119-167.

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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

Rachel Adi received her BSc degree in Mapping and Geo-Information Engineering
(Geodesy) from the Technion (Israel Institute of technology) in 2009 and an MA in
geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing from Tel Aviv University in 2014.
Certified as a QA – software tester. Worked as business process monitoring for two years and
lead mapping projects for three years. Currently is a 3D Cadastre project manager at the
Survey of Israel.

Dr. Anna Shnaidman is a former Geophysical Surveys and Research Administrator in the
Research Division at the Survey of Israel and a Part-time Lecturer in the Department of Civil
Engineering at the Technion - Israeli Institute of Technology. She received her BSc (2008,
Cum Laude) and MSc (2010) and PhD (2016) degrees in Mapping and Geo-Information
engineering from Israeli Institute of Technology. Dr. Shnaidman is a Licensed Surveyor as
well.

Eng. Shimon Barazani graduated from the Technion Haifa, Israel with a BSc. in Geodesy
(1995), and Civil Engineering (1994). He is a Licensed Surveyor in Israel Since 1997. He was
a Department Head in D.E.L, a private surveying and engineering company. A Section Head
of Surveying in the Ministry of Construction & Housing of Israel, a Director of Mapping
Technologies in The Survey of Israel and currently he is the Deputy Director General for
Cadaster in the Survey of Israel.

CONTACTS

Rachel Adi, Shimon Barazani

Survey of Israel
1st Lincoln Street
Tel-Aviv
Israel
Tel. +9723-6231911; Fax +9723-5610866
E-mail: rachela@mapi.gov.il, shimon@mapi.gov.il
Website: http://mapi.gov.il/Pages/default.aspx

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