Cadastral maps play an important
part in increasing tenure security—by
providing information about the
physical characteristics of land, the
boundaries of parcels and any changes
in those boundaries. They can also
help ensure a stable source of public
revenue by supporting more complete
coverage of property taxes.7 A case in
point was the Maputo Structure Plan
in Mozambique—an initiative to collect
geographic data that was aimed
at aiding the physical development
of the capital but that also has the
potential to help further improve the
collection of property taxes.8 Today,
half of economies around the world
have a geographic information system
in place—a computerized system
that can capture, store and analyze
geographic data. While most are highincome
economies, some are low- and
middle-income economies. In Sub-
Saharan Africa, for example, South
Africa and Swaziland both have an
electronic database to record property
boundaries, check maps and provide
updated geographic information on
land parcels.