Land

The land thematic module has been co-developed with the Land Portal research team to understand the state of data on land around the world and to contribute to overall Global Data Barometer assessments of data for the public good.

There are a wide range of sub-themes and datasets that might be covered by the topic of land data, and land issues are often highly interconnected, with consequences for many different fields including socioeconomic development, environmental protection, and anti-corruption efforts. In order to manage the scope of this Barometer module, we focus specifically on land tenure and on land use, as well on uses of land data to support work on gender and inclusion.

This focus supports continuity with past Open Data Barometer measures on land registers, extends analysis into an area (land use) where it is reasonable to expect some degree of data availability, and positions the land module in relation to a number of other modules in the Barometer (notably climate action and the various modules that speak to corruption).

Our selection of specific datasets and our prioritization of within those datasets is designed to capture different aspects of data availability and use, including issues of personal and non-personal information, the application of data to address anti-corruption and environmental challenges, and the distinction between country-level coverage and local data.

To find out more about the development of this thematic module, you can consult our research handbook.

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Land data for the public good
How granular local studies enrich GDB

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Land indicators

Availability of Land Tenure Data

To what extent is detailed land tenure information available as open data?
Existence
  • Is this data available online in any form?
    • Data is not available online.
    • Data is available, but not as a result of government action.
    • Data is available from government, or because of government actions.
Elements
Kinds of data:
  • Datasets have information regarding indigenous people or marginalized populations. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • The data covers land tenure involving natural persons. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • The data covers land tenure involving legal persons. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • The data covers land tenure involving state land. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • The data covers land tenure involving communal lands. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • The data covers land tenure involving open access lands. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • The data covers urban and rural tenure, and other relevant forms of tenure. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • The data covers and has information on land concessions and/or leases. (No, Partially, Yes)
Data fields and quality:
  • Each record has a geospatial reference that allows to assign features to a spatial extent. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • The data contains information on land transactions and sale-values. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Each tenure record contains information about the rights held over the land (freehold, lease, etc.). (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Data includes information about individuals’ sex and/or gender. (No, Partially, Yes)
Data openness, timing, and structure:
  • Dataset is available free of charge. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Data is openly licensed. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Data is available in all the country’s official or national languages. If the country has no official or national languages, data is available in the major languages of the country. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • There are accessible and open official tools available to help users explore data. (No, Partially , Yes)
  • Data is timely and updated. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Historical data is available that allows users to track change over time. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Data is provided in machine-readable format(s) (No, Partially, Yes)
  • The machine-readable dataset is available as a whole (No, Partially, Yes)
Negative scoring:
  • This information is missing required data.
  • The availability of this data has been affected by government response to COVID-19. (No, Partially, Yes)
Extent
  • Do the datasets available cover the tenure data of the majority of land?
    • The datasets available cover a small proportion of land tenure in the country.
    • The datasets available cover a big proportion of land tenure in the country, but not all.
    • The datasets available cover all forms of land tenure in the country.

Availability of Existing Land Use Data

To what extent is existing land use information available as open data?
Existence
  • Is this data available online in any form?
    • Data is not available online.
    • Data is available, but not as a result of government action.
    • Data is available from government, or because of government actions.
Elements
Data fields and quality:
  • Each record is categorized according to a standardized land use dictionary. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Forested areas can be identified in available data or in a related dataset. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Protected areas can be identified in available data or in a related dataset. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Each record includes a geospatial reference. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Metadata provides information about the source(s) from which the data was built. (No, Partially, Yes)
Data openness, timing, and structure:
  • Dataset is available free of charge. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Data is openly licensed. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Data is available in all the country’s official or national languages. If the country has no official or national languages, data is available in the major languages of the country. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • There are accessible and open official tools available to help users explore data. (No, Partially , Yes)
  • Data is timely and updated. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Historical data is available that allows users to track change over time. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • Data is provided in machine-readable format(s) (No, Partially, Yes)
  • The machine-readable dataset is available as a whole (No, Partially, Yes)
Negative scoring:
  • This information is missing required data.
  • The availability of this data has been affected by government response to COVID-19. (No, Partially, Yes)
Extent
  • How comprehensive is the data assessed for this question?
    • The data assessed covers one or more localities, but there are many other localities without available data, or with data of a lesser quality.
    • The data assessed covers one or more localities, and is a representative example of the kind of data that can be found for most but not all localities.
    • The data assessed provides national coverage.
  • How comprehensive is the data available in terms of types of land uses?
    • The dataset(s) available cover one or a very limited number of land uses.
    • The dataset(s) available cover a wide range of land uses, but not the majority of them.
    • The dataset(s) available cover the majority or all relevant land uses in the country.

Use of Data to Influence Policy for Gender and Inclusion

To what extent is there evidence that land data is being used to influence policy in the interests of equitable and inclusive land tenure and use?
Existence
  • Is there evidence of this data being used to influence policy in the interests of more equitable land tenure and use?
    • No evidence of actors or entities using this data to influence policy in the interests of more equitable land tenure and use.
    • There are isolated cases of actors or entities using this kind of data to influence policy in the interests of more equitable land tenure and use.
    • There are a number of cases of actors or entities using this kind of data to influence policy in the interests of more equitable land tenure and use.
    • There are widespread and regular cases of actors or entities using this kind of data to influence policy in the interests of more equitable land tenure and use.
Elements
User groups:
  • There is evidence of civil society organizations using data in this way. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • There is evidence of media using data in this way. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • There is evidence of academics using data in this way. (No, Partially, Yes)
  • There is evidence of the private sector using data in this way. (No, Partially, Yes)
Specific features:
  • At least one of the examples identified describes using artificial Intelligence or machine learning to process data (No, Partially, Yes)
Extent
  • Is there evidence that these uses have had or are having meaningful positive impacts on land policy?
    • No
    • Partially
    • Yes

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