The national land and property gazetteer: addressing property properly?

In the past property research has been constrained by inadequate technology and unavailable data. In recent years, however, significant advances have been made in both of these areas. To an extent they are closely related – as technology improves the ability to collect and handle large volumes of property data becomes more achievable. This is evident as many surveying firms computerise their property files and commercial data suppliers collect, integrate and market increasing volumes of property data. Furthermore, in the public sector, the Ordnance Survey, Land Registry, Valuation Office, DETR, utilities and local authorities are custodians of substantial property data sets which are increasingly held in digital form. This paper describes the key issues that arise when property information is recorded in a database and, in particular, a geo‐referenced database. Some of the issues have been addressed in the British Standard for a National Land and Property Gazetteer but there is flexibility built into this standard which inevitably leads to disparity between gazetteers created by local authorities. There are also particular concerns when the standard is applied in a commercial rather than public sector environment. These issues are fundamental to the ability to integrate property data from disparate sources for property research purposes. The paper draws on experience of the use of the Land and Property Gazetteer in the National Land Information Service pilot in Bristol and the development of land and property gazetteers by local authorities and private practice. The impact of the National Land Use Database and the UK Standard Geographic Base initiatives are also considered.