Surveying – Geodesy, Land Law and Real Estate Planning

Almost all human activities take place on the ground or in buildings. Even though we rarely think about it, our activities presuppose that we have certain rights. These rights are defined according to law or custom. Land Law and Real Estate Planning involves elements from real estate law as well as legal-economic aspects of surveying. Education and research in the field focus on the property unit, i.e. a legally bounded area, which in addition to land can also include buildings and facilities. The owner has certain property rights with regard to that property unit. But various other rights can also be connected to the property, such as easements, the right to hunt and fish, utility easements, joint facilities, the right of way, etc. Central issues include e.g. how rights associated with land use and real property can be established and/or adapted in order to facilitate desirable societal development, for example the construction of buildings with complementary infrastructure, or the conservation and protection of valuable natural areas. A significant part of our country's economic development, social and environmental well-being is heavily dependent on location-related activities. Examples include transport, community planning, environmental monitoring, defense, construction, tourism, agriculture and forestry. The location-related or spatial information describes phenomena that can be related to the Earth's surface, whether on land, in water or in the air. Vegetation, natural resources, land ownership, soil type, air quality and population distribution are examples of spatial information. There are few areas of the economy that do not rely directly or indirectly on this type of information for planning, management or rationalization of operations. Geodesy is one of the oldest natural sciences, which deals with determination of the shape of the Earth, its gravity field and geodynamic studies. Geodesy is an interdisciplinary science, which uses satellite, aerial and ground-based measuring instruments to determine with high accuracy the positions and movements of points or objects on or above the Earth's surface. One of the most important tasks is to define and realize coordinate reference systems, which are a prerequisite for creating all types of maps and geographic databases that are used in a variety of scientific and engineering applications.