Experts have urged estate surveyors and valuers to embrace the Geographic Information System (GIS) for easy access to locations and features of properties.

A professor of Geography at the Kampala International University, Uganda, Seyi Fabiyi, and a GIS expert, Mr David Afolayan, advised a boot camp organized by GIS Consult, Ibadan, where the participants comprising students were challenged on ways of finding a solution to human settlement problems.

The experts explained that GIS tool enables lending agents to know the owners of property before accepting the property as collateral for loans. Prof. Fabiyi, who is the GIS Consultant for Ibadan Urban Flood Management Project, said, “You can’t continue to run from place to place searching for available buildings.

The problem is that there is no database. “We are deploying an electronic property management system for the state’s Ministry of Lands. By the time we are through with it, Ibadan will be fully captured and have information about properties.”According to him, the availability of the database makes it easier for practising surveyors, valuers, property managers, even banks and lending agents to know the owners of any property.