Case Study – eLand Jamaica

The Situation

Jamaica’s National Land Agency (NLA) faced a daunting challenge. The Jamaican government had created the fledgling agency by consolidating four separate government agencies in an effort to create a modern national land information system and enable sustainable development. Through the consolidation, however, the NLA inherited multiple databases and document management systems. As a result, NLA administrators had to wrestle with various non-integrated systems; moreover, the Jamaican public lacked a single gateway for dealing with land titles, surveys and maps, and land valuation issues.

The Choice

Orion Technology Inc. of Markham, Ontario, won an international tender to provide the NLA with a streamlined and integrated system that provided a web-based point-of-access for all land-related issues.

The Challenges

The task set before Orion was not an easy one. In addition to integrating the multiple heterogeneous databases into a cohesive, manageable system, the NLA asked Orion to create a system that provided:

• Single-window access—The solution had to provide an integrated, easy-to-use web interface that combined all land-related information (existing data and scanned documents and plans). The user interface needed to make the various underlying data systems completely transparent to the user while allowing administrators to maintain the data in the original systems.
• Combined non-spatial and spatial functionality—The solution needed to allow users to search using both traditional attribute queries and visual map-based queries.
• Integrated document viewer—The user interface needed to include a document viewer to allow users to view online documents such as title deeds and plans.
• Electronic commerce—The NLA needed to have the ability to charge users based on the type and quantity of information retrieved, provide the user with an exact quote before showing the results of a query, and log charges for administrative purposes.
• Administration Tool—Perhaps most important, the system needed to be manageable and updateable by non-system personnel.

The Process

Orion began the process by performing a requirements study and analysis of the existing NLA systems and processes. Once Orion and the NLA achieved a requirements baseline, Orion:

• developed and revised prototypes, based on interaction with the stakeholders and performed walkthroughs to confirm understanding of the business logic and required functionality
• proposed and implemented a multi-level and extensible subscription and payment model that met the needs of internal and external clients
• developed a data model that integrated the data from the multiple source systems and created appropriate links between spatial and non-spatial data
• developed an intelligent customer feedback module that allows users to provide the NLA with information about any data gaps or inconsistencies
• developed processes to allow for continual automated updates of data with minimal user intervention and zero application downtime for both internet and intranet versions of the web site
• implemented the system and trained the NLA staff

By leveraging its extensive GIS experience and skills in Java and Oracle-based Internet Application Development, Orion delivered the J2EE-compliant eLandJamaica system.

The Result

By leveraging its extensive GIS experience and skills in Java and Oracle-based Internet Application Development, Orion Technology Inc. delivered the eLandJamaica system to the NLA in early 2003. In addition to fully meeting the NLA requirements and complying with the J2EE standard, eLandJamaica:

• allows NLA staff to customize the service offerings and application appearance based on marketing realities and client feedback without resorting to any software code change
• streamlines business processes and improves the overall level of service to the public by automating many NLA functions and reducing the time it takes to perform land-related queries and tasks
• provides access to NLA services to all regions of Jamaica
• positions the NLA to share land-related data with other government agencies and private-sector organizations through an online infrastructure

The Response

“The Orion team has been partners in its true sense as they worked with our specific needs and constraints while still ensuring that the project objectives were never compromised. The ease of use, flexibility, and advanced technological framework of the Orion solution will ensure that this investment not only serves our immediate needs of delivering spatial information over the Internet but will be developed in the future to offer additional services to our customers.”

Garfield Knight
Director of Information Technology, National Land Agency