1.

0 INTRODUCTION
Land
Platform for human activity, supporting life in physical and cultural environment.
Basis of economic life and continued existence of human life. It is regarded as one of the
most valuable commodity and important element of economic and social developments.
Not merely the surface, include everything which is fixed to it, the air above up to the sky
and whatever lies below it right down to the centre of the earth.
Two main characteristics;-
i) It is immovable
ii) It is finite - unchangeable.

1.1 PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF CADASTRAL SURVEYS

1.1.1 Purpose
Cadastral Surveys are made for the purpose of delineating of property boundaries and the
compilation of data required for the registration of titles to land. Survey is the link
between ground boundaries and boundaries in the land registries.
The cadastral maps/plans forms a fundamental component of cadastre hence compliments
registration of rights to land.
If the boundaries already exist as in the case of adjudication surveys, the surveyor picks
the boundaries to be included in a plan and to be referred to during the registration of the
parcels. If the area has been planned and allocation is to be done to individuals as shown
in the plan, it is the responsibility to reflect demarcate on the ground the parcels or plots
of land as they appear on the development plan.
Cadastral Surveys may be required for the purpose of other transactions e.g. change of
use, Extension and renewal of leases, transfers (after subdivision), mortgages etc.

1.1.2 Scope
Cadastral surveys though always wrongly thought of as only the rigorous and accurate
survey regulated by the Survey Act (Cap 299) and the Survey Regulation, encompasses
even the general boundary surveys normally referred to as the mutation surveys.

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1.2 CADASTRE:
1.2.1 Definition
Derived from the Greek word katastikon (note book) , the Latin word capistastrum
(register), Roman –cadastrum ( register)
A cadastre is the official register of the quantity(size), value, ownership and legal rights
of real estate within an area administered by a government unit. It may consist of several
volumes, eg numerous books for the land within a province of a nation or for the land
within a country administered by a local authority. Such properties are systematically
identified by unique identifiers and the outlines of the boundaries shown on large scale
maps which together with the registers form the principal source of information that is
parcel related. The basic unit of the cadastral record is the land parcel.
The principal function of cadastre is the provision of data concerning such matters as land
ownership, value, size, location, rights and use which compliment land registration.

Forms of land recording systems have been known to exist for years. The oldest known
record is the chaldaic table from 400 BC. Some form of land recording existed in ancient
Greek, Egypt, Greece ,Rome and China. However modern cadastres began in Europe-
where the view of the Physicrates was accepted that the land is the basis of all richness,
and therefore funds for the maintenance of society should be obtained by taxing this land.
For this reason, splitting up land into parcels, measuring of boundaries, calculating
acreage, name of holdres of real rights, large scale maps and other tax data became
necessary.
With time the importance of legal protection of real property became dominant factor
and this brought about the legal cadastre. With increase in population, industrialization
etc, the society became more complex and therefore more complex tasks had to be
performed. For this to be done, more and more information was required. We now are in
the information age, and to meet the needs of the society, land recording systems in
several countries have evolved to multipurpose cadastres.

1.2.2 Types of Cadastres

Three categories of cadastre are commonly recognized,

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i. The juridical cadastre
This serves as a legally recognized record of land tenure.

ii) Fiscal cadastre

This was developed primarily for property valuation and used in some countries for the
purpose of payment of tax.

iii) Multipurpose cadastre

It encompasses both the fiscal and the juridical with the addition of other parcel related
information.
Purposes of cadastre
The principal function of cadastre is to provide a public inventory of real property which
gives parcel related information thus complimenting land registration. Other functions
may include:-
i) Legal security of real properties
ii) Conveyancing becomes easier, faster , cheaper and safer.
iii) Provides required information for governments to exercise control on land use,
land development, valuation etc
iv) Forms the basis of a land information system (LIS)
v) Increased land markets
vi) Less boundary disputes

1.3 CADASTRAL SYSTEM IN KENYA

In Kenya legal cadastre is mainly in use. It is a systematic register containing information
about land parcels and consist of two parts:-
I) A written record or register containing information about each parcel, such as the
name of the owner and the rights which appertains to the land. Specifies
ownership and the conditions under which it is held.
II) Cross-reference to the first and contains a detailed description of the parcel in the
form of either maps /plans with survey measurements. This part contains detailed

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 description of the parcel in the form of the preliminary index diagrams (PID),
registry index maps (RIM) or deed plans.
The two parts are linked by unique identifiers for each parcel.
Cadastral survey and land registration started way back in1923 to provide security of
tenure to the European settlers after they were given grants on 999 years lease.

Within a juridical cadastre there are four main operations each of which provides land
information.
a) Adjudication: This is the official determination of rights in land
b) Demarcation; this is the marking of the limits of each parcel on the ground
c) Survey which entails measurements and mapping
d) Description: which entails entering relevant information into the official recording
system such as the register.

1.4 BOUNDARIES
The four processes of adjudication, demarcation, survey, and parcel description are
closely influenced by the nature and definition of boundaries.

1.4.1 Legal Boundary

In a legal sense a boundary is (except in strata titles) a vertical surface that defines where
one land owner's territory ends and the next begins.
The legal boundary is an infinitesimally thin surface extending from the centre of the
earth to the infinite in the sky. This is an abstract concept.
In practice there are two types of boundaries which determine the type of the survey to be
executed. These are the 'fixed' and the 'general' boundary.

1.4..2 Fixed Boundaries

A fixed boundary is one which has been accurately surveyed (mathematically
determined) so that a surveyor can, from the survey measurements, accurately re-
establish any corner monument that might get lost. All surveys of titles registered under
Registered Title Act (RTA) are to this standard.

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Parcels registered under Registered Land Act (RLA), but are accurately surveyed as
provided under section 22 of the Act, shall be noted in the register as fixed and reference
made to the survey plan, authenticated by the Director of Surveys.
1.4.3 General boundaries
These are boundaries defined by physical feature which form the actual boundary. The
feature could be a hedge, a fence, a wall, or any other feature that can be used to make
the limits of a parcel of land. The boundary is neither the centre of the feature or any side
but the feature itself. This require great maintenance, which is a great disadvantage to the
absentee land owner. The survey is approximate hence the survey plan resulting from the
General boundary surveys can not be depended on in resolving boundary disputes.
The plan is just one of the evidences used.
1.4.4 Merits and demerits of fixed and general boundaries
Cost Surveys are costly and time Cost of survey is low and
consuming can be carried out very fast.

Guarantees The extent is guaranteed by The plan, RIM is just an

the Government as indicated index evidencing the
in the surveys plan, hence existence of the parcel but
the rigorous surveys does not guarantee the
extent

Disputes re-establishment The surveyor can re- So many disputes arise as

establish the boundaries the boundaries are meant to
from the given be maintained jointly by
measurements or co- neighboring owners. Any
ordinates. discontentment by one party
results in lengthy disputes

Isolated surveys The need to have the No need for control points,
surveys controlled makes it so long as the area had been
difficult to carry out isolated adjudicated.
surveys for area sparsely
controlled

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Registration Registration of the title take Registration of most of the
time as the authentication of titles is carried out at the
the survey also take time. District land registries
Most titles are under RTA, which are decentralized
the registration of which are
centralized at the
Commissioner of Lands
office which is another
lengthy process

Value Plots that are fixed have The value of land is

higher land value generally low

1.5. Development plans and Part development plans.

The above operations are generalized assuming that the land owners already exist whose
land need to be surveyed for the purpose of registration. However for the purpose of
survey of land subject to Land Planning Act. i.e land within the urban area and generally
the Government lands which may be leased to individuals, land is leased out through a
letter of Allotment from the Commissioner of lands. The letter of allotment contains a
plan that indicates the land that has been alloted to the individual. The plan called a Part
Development Plan, is normally extracted from a larger plan of an area of town.

Development plans, full or part are produced by the Department of Physical Planning.
From planning up to draft circulation stage. As soon as there is an intention to prepare a
part development plan for any part of an unknown centre, townships or municipality a
draft plan circulated for comments to various authorities eg the local D.C.., Clerk of the
County council, Clerk of Municipal Council, Ministry of Health, Works Education, Water
Development, Director of Surveys etc.

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1.6 Land subdivision
1.6.1 Subdivison Plans
Sudivison is done for already registered lands as per the approved scheme plan and given
conditions. Approvals include:-
i) Approved scheme plan-
ii) Commisioner of lands letter ( provisional and final approvals)
iii) PPA II Form duly signed
Approving authorities are mainly the commissioner of lands, local authority( city council,
county council, municipal council) , Physical planning department, Director of surveys,
NEMA, land control board.

CADASTRAL COMPUTATIONS
Cadastral surveys may include
i) original surveys- measure the unknown lengths and bearings of boundaries which
no earlier survey has been done.
ii) Resurveys- Reestablish the boundaries of a parcel for which survey has previously
been done.
iii) Subdivision surveys- subdivide land into smaller parcels in accordance to an
approved subdivision plan.
iv) Consolidation / Amalgamation of parcels as per an approved plan.
NB: always move from known to unknown.
2.1 THEORETICAL COMPUTATIONS
2.1.1 Datum orientation computations
Before carrying out any survey, the surveyor shall provide himself with all available
information in respect of all previous survey of the plot of land to be surveyed and of any
adjoining plots. From this information, selection of the points from which to start and
end the control survey is made.
Co-ordinates of the selected points are extracted from the lists shown on the survey plan.
Join computations of these points are done for orientation bearings. At the starting points,
minimum of two opening orientation rays are required and another two rays at the ending
station.

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2.1.2 Search data computations
Following this orientation computations, further joins are computed to give bearings and
distances for the other points.
This is to enable the surveyor to look for other old underground survey points (I.P.C.U's)
in the area. Also surface beacons can be searched in this manner.

Two points must be identified in the survey area from which orientation can be made in
order to search for the other points. The theodolite is then set up over one of the points
and an orientation made with other visible station. By directing the telescope in the
direction of each point to be searched, the point can easily be found by its bearing and
distance from this station.
Sufficient points are required to be found both at the start and end of the traverse

2.1.3 Layout data computations

-Computation of theoretical coordinate values of new boundary points
-Part development plan (PDP) or subdivision scheme plan is used for these computations.
The surveyor must make sure that his survey lies in the correct locality shown by this
PDP/ scheme plan. Together with the datum plans, the surveyor plans his way of
computations.
NB: New survey will always be tied to the old survey.
a) Given a part development plan of the area only, in case of new grant, the surveyor
can get information on nearest surveyed plots from the Registry Index Map of the
town/area/block from the Survey Headquarters, from which the F/R numbers of
the surveyed plots can be obtained.
b) Given the Deed Plan number or plot number ( Land reference no. or parcel no.) of
the plot to be surveyed in case of subsequent survey of an already surveyed plot,
the surveyor can be the F/R (Folio / Reference) number of the plot from the
Survey Records Office at the Survey Headquarters (Ardhi House).
c) Given the Folio/Registration F/R No.) of a plan that contains the plot to be
surveyed, the surveyor needs to get the plan and the other relevant plans which

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 are cross-referenced on the plan. It is important that the surveyor SEES THE
QUOTED PLANS as they may contain information that may influence the
mentioned of computation.

Some of the common theoretical computations that one would apply in computing the co-
ordinates of the plots are:

1. Road secant computations

a) Roads of equal width: to co-ordinate D from B

Let
• Bearing BA and BC be θ2 and θ2 respectively
• width of the road = d
θ1 - θ2 =α
angle ABD = angle CBD = ½α
r=dCosec½α : Brg BD = θ2+ ½α
r = dCosec ½α : Brg BD = θ1- ½α

b) Roads of Unequal widths: to co-ordinate D form B

Let

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let
• bearing BA and BC be θ1 and θ2 respectively
• width of the roads are d1 and d2 respectively
θ1 - θ2 = f = α + β............................. (i)
angle ABD = α angle CBD = β
r = d1 Cosec α = d2 Cosecβ.......................(ii)
Brg BD = θ1 - α = θ2 +β
form (i) : β = f- α
in (ii) : r = d1 Cosec α = d2 Cosec(f- α )
or d2 Sin α = d1 Sin ( f - α )
d2 Sin α = d1 ( Sin f Cos α - Cos f Sin α )
d2 = d1 (Sin f Cos α - Cos f)
Cot α = d2 + d1 Cos f from which can be found
d1 Sin f
and β =f - α

ii. Subdivision of area

a) Subdivision of plot into two equal parts by a line of a known bearing

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Required to sub-divide area ABCDEFA into two by a line XY parallel to AF
1. Calculate total area
2. Draw line from one co-ordinate point dividing the approximately into two line
BE1 with BE1 // AF
3. Determine bearing BE, EE1 and BA hence angle α, β, γ
4. Calculate EB from known co-ordinates hence determines EE1 and BE1 using line
rule
EE1 = EB = BE1
Sinα Sinβ Sinγ

( notes: co-ordinates of E1 by intersection method gives the distances and

bearings EE1 and BE1)
5. Determine area ABEE1FA
6. Required area = AXYEFA = area XBE1YX
hence XBE1YX is found
XBE1YX = area PBE1QP + area QE1Y = area PBX
= d*BE1+ ½d*(d*Tan(β-90))- ½d*(d*Tan(90-δ))

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 All terms are known except for d, so problem can be solved.

b) Subdivision of a plot into two equal parts from a given point.

Required to subdivide area from a definite point (midways between F and E so that
specific area is excised)
1. Calculate area of plot from co-ordinates
2. find turning point on the boundary where the area bound by a line from it to H is
approximately required. Point A in the figure below. (This done best on an
accurately drawn plan of the plot).
3. Calculate bearings and distances HA and AG
4. Calculate bearings and distances HA and AG
5. Area of triangle AHI where I is required point is Z-Z'
Z1-Z = ½AH* AISin(HAG)
6. With AI known the co-ordinates of I can be calculated

Distances can be set out on the

ground and are of sub-divided
portion recalculated

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2.1.4 Placing data computations
once main control traverses as well as the subsidiary traverses have been computed and
acceptable accuracies obtained, the surveyor can compute the joins placing data. Working
from the whole to the part, traverses control points are selected which are close to the
block corners.
Joins are then computed to give bearing and distance for each corner beacon to be place.

2.1.5 Computations of area by mathematical method (from co-ordinate of corners).

The various methods of determining area from co-ordinates all utilize the same genert
formula

Consider a figure whose verticals have co-ordinates as shown in the figure below

Area of triangle A = ½(N1E2 + N2 En + Nn E1)

− ½(N1 En + N2E1+ N3 E2 )

Area of triangle B = ½(N2E3 + N3 En + Nn E2)

− ½(N2 En + N3E2+ Nn E3 )

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Similarly for each succeeding triangle and the area of the whole polygon will be given by
A, where
A ½(N1 E2 + N2 E3 + N3 E2 =...... + Nn-1 En + Nn E1)
- ½(N1 En + N2 E1+ N3 E2 + …........+ Nn-1 E1n-2 + Nn En-1 )

In tabular form, for a triangle this may be written.

The oblique full line i.e should be multiplied and the products added, the
difference between this quantity and the sum of the products of the oblique lines will give
the area.

This particular form of treatment holds good with any polygon, the essential point so note
are that the first station is repeated in the tabular layout and that twice the area is give

2.2 ORDER AND SEQUENCE OF COMPUTING THEORICALS

When computing theoretical.
• Diagrams should be employed as much as possible, bearing in mind that the
computations will be computed from the whole to the part.
• The required area should be maintained during computations and as per the part
development plan/ approved subdivision scheme.

The order bearing boundary of the scheme in case of a large scheme survey
1. The perimeter boundary of the scheme in case of large scheme survey
2. The block corners of each block in the scheme

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 3. The corner points of each plot of land
4. The area of each plot.

2.3 POST FIELD WORK COMPUTATIONS

After field work placing, further computations are carried out, namely
• Demonstration of placing and the checks of placing
• area computations
• derivation of boundary data and
• The consistency check once the plan has been drawn.

2.4 Demonstration of placing and checks

Having computed the bearings and distances for each of the points to be placed , there
each of them placed on the ground on its predetermined bearing and distance.
During the placing, a traversing tripod is set up in the direction of the point to be fixed
slope, sag, combined temperature and sea level corrections have to be applied to the
computer distance. The points are then placed or set out from a traverse point. These
placed points must be checked from an independent point.
A convenient check point, preferably along the traverse leg is selected from where
observations and measurements are made to the placed point or points.

All the field data both for he placing as well as checking must be written in the field notes
These field notes are reduced as usual and the data used for the demonstration/checks
computations of the placed points. The co-ordinates of the corners as computed must
agree with theoretical co-ordinates.
After the block corners have been placed and checked, on-line points are placed from one
of the corner beacons. These are then checked from the corner beacon on the other end.
If difference between the theoretical co-ordinates of a beacon and its ground co-ordinates
from the placing differ by more than 0.030m, then the placing ought to be repeated.
If this difference equal 0.03m, then the ground co-ordinates are quoted for the beacon.
If this difference is less than 0.03m, then the theoretical co-ordinates of the beacons is
assumed.

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2.3.2 BOUNDARY DATA COMPUTATIONS
Boundary data is derived from the final co-ordinates of the block corners. This is done by
computing joins of block corner beacon to the other.
Road alignment is very important whereby parallelism of the roads should be maintained.

2.3.3 Area Checks

Areas are re-computed to ensure that they tally with those computed from theoretical
coordinates.

2.3.4 Consistency check

This computation is made in order to ensure that the data which appears on the cadastral
plan is consistent with the final theoretical co-ordinates of the corner beacons. Co-
ordinates computed directly from the bearings and distances are compared with the final
plan values and are shown to be correct to the last decimal place i.e +0.03m for rural
survey, + 0.003m for townships.
Where greater discrepancies than these arise, the computation of the relevant bearings
distances and theoretical computations must be checked thoroughly and the necessary
amendments made to the plan data.
Boundary data for any plot must represent a closed figure in any case, co-ordinates of
truncation points are not normally quoted on the plan.
The consistency check must be error free and the procedure to be adopted is as follows;-
a) The order of computing selected, the co-ordinates of the starting point are copied
from the plan together with the bearings and distances.
b) After computing the appropriate ∆E and ∆X, the co-ordinates of the next point are
obtained. These are immediately checked against the co-ordinates shown on the
plan.
c) Differences, if any, are noted in a different coloured ink, and the true co-ordinates
written underneath the erroneous ones.
d) Using the true co-ordinates, the co-ordinates of the next point are computed and
compared with those quoted on the plan and the procedure is continued until all
lines have been checked.

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