LAND, PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES
Consent Scheme. During the year, 21 applications involving 10 124 units in the urban areas were approved and in the New Territories 30 applications involving 15 013 units were approved.
Land registration statistics are at Appendix 34.
Survey and Mapping
The Survey and Mapping Office is responsible for defining and recording land boundaries of all existing and new land developments, providing and maintaining the territory-wide survey control system, mapping the territory at various scales for land administration, engineering and government purposes and managing a computerised land information system.
Geodetic control systems, which are horizontal and vertical control networks covering the whole territory, have been established and maintained to a high degree of accuracy. These systems provide the necessary origin and control points for cadastral (property boundary), topographical mapping, engineering and other surveys.
There is a world-wide trend to use a Global Positioning System (GPS) in place of conventional methods to fix geodetic control points. This method makes use of signals from orbiting satellites to determine the position of any point on earth. The Survey and Mapping Office will use GPS for geodetic work in the near future.
Cadastral surveying is an important function of the office, serving the public and government by defining property boundaries. The office maintains a comprehensive graphical record of all leasehold and government land boundaries in the territory. Landowners may request the office, on payment of a fee, to supply boundary information or to reset-out the private lot boundaries on ground. Legislation will be introduced to administer boundary surveys by authorised persons in order to protect the public interest, regulate private sector practices and strengthen the cadastral survey system. Contracting out of some cadastral surveys covering small house lots in the New Territories continued in 1992.
The wide range of mapping coverage maintained by the office has always provided an important support service in the administration, planning and development of Hong Kong. The most definitive series of maps and the foundation of all other mapping is the large scale (1:1 000) basic topographical series (3 000 sheets). In addition, there are other smaller scale maps such as the monochrome map series at 1:5 000 (157 sheets) and the coloured map series at 1:20 000 (16 sheets); 150 000 (two sheets); 1:100 000 (one sheet) and 1:200 000 (one sheet). Two monochrome street map series at 1:10 000 and 1:15 000 of the urban areas in Hong Kong, Kowloon and parts of the New Territories are produced for special uses and as a base for the popular guide-book Hong Kong Guide - Streets and Places. Demand for leisure maps, in the form of the Countryside Series (seven sheets) and the Tourist Guide, has been strong and the design and contents are continually updated to make subsequent editions more attractive and informative to users.
Maps are obtainable from conveniently located outlets throughout the territory. The Survey and Mapping Office provides extensive cartographic services for many government departments. These include full-colour mapping for the geological series, base maps for weather forecasting, aeronautical charts, electoral boundary maps and pollution control plans. Its Reprographic Unit also provides services in photo-reproduction and plan copying, and serves as an essential back-up for in-house map reduction and other cartographic activities.
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