2026-06-28 –, Audition Room - 2nd Floor -80 Language: English
In a context where only 2% of Cameroon’s territory is formally titled and where traditional cadastral systems remain fragmented and disconnected from local realities, the commune of Soa has developed an innovative multi-purpose cadastre. This project combines:
Remote mapping through OpenStreetMap,
Participatory mapping with traditional chiefs and local communities,
Field parcel surveys and infrastructure inventories conducted by local and international students (in partnership with Topo Sans Frontières / ISTAO) using KoboToolbox.
Through the Simplified Unique Data Model (MUDS) and the operationalization of the Integrated Fiscal Partnership (PFI), over 25,000 points (buildings, parcels, and networks) were collected. This has enabled an estimated annual fiscal potential of 2.5 billion FCFA for the commune.
This “low-tech”, collaborative approach, rooted in the African context, aligns directly with the recent reforms of the Ministry of State Property, Cadastre and Land Affairs (MINDCAF) on the mapping of the national and public domains. By integrating multi-source data, particularly from OpenStreetMap, and accepting differentiated levels of precision, the model transforms raw geographic data into a technical, legal, and fiscal interoperable instrument. It moves away from the fragmented “case-by-case” approach to offer a consolidated database structured around three complementary pillars: technical (securing the public domain), fiscal (mobilizing local revenues), and legal (valorizing the land registry).
The session will be structured around four key pillars: the bottom-up participatory approach, the pragmatic data model (MUDS), the concrete fiscal impact through the PFI, and the replicability of the model in other African countries.
I am Jacques Landry Atangana, co-founder of OpenStreetMap Cameroon and a member of the GeOsm Family, who led the technical implementation of the SOA pilot project. I currently hold the position of Senior Cadastral Engineer and Head of the Land Affairs Department at the Cameroon Cadastral Corporation (SIC). I am also a certified and sworn land surveyor accredited to the Court of Appeal and the Tribunals, and I was recently made a Knight of the National Order of Valour by the President of the Republic for my contribution to land governance.
GeOsm Family is a Bronze Sponsor of State of the Map Africa 2026.