Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good Morning,

I am pleased this morning to launch the Integrated Land Information Service or INLIS (IN-LIS) in short. This electronic service, developed jointly by five departments within MinLaw, will be accessible to the public at a fee, using the Internet or the Singapore ONE network. It is MinLaw’s way of going high-tech so as to deliver new IT services on the cyberway.

At a touch of a button, INLIS will provide a range of useful and timely land information. This includes data such as land ownership, land tenure, land area and even the last transacted price of a house or a plot of land. The public can also access more technical data such as survey plans and geographic locality maps. They can purchase these land documents via Electronic Commerce, from the comfort of their home or office, without the need to make a trip to the land departments.

The convenient access is possible because MinLaw has leveraged on Information Technology or IT. Over the past few years, MinLaw departments have meticulously captured, stored, managed and integrated a full spectrum of essential land data. We made good use of state-of-the-art Geographic Information System (GIS) to construct the digitised databases and integrate the land information comprising texts, numbers, survey co-ordinates and graphics. Singapore is amongst the few countries in the world that have developed such a nation-wide system of land data on an integrated and holistic level and made the data accessible via Electronic Commerce on the Internet

INLIS is a fore-runner of the larger land data system that MinLaw is building up. INLIS is one of the three key components of the Singapore Land Data Hub, the first phase of which has been completed. Over time, we will enhance the scope of INLIS to provide more and better IT products and services.

The second component of the Land Data Hub is the underlying encyclopaedia of land databases that form the substance and body of the hub. Since 1991, some 15 government agencies and statutory boards have worked closely with the Land Systems Support Unit (LSSU) of MinLaw to build up these databases. By standardising the exchange formats and making data available to all statutory boards and government bodies for planning purposes, the Land Data Hub under MinLaw helps agencies to save IT costs, and reduce duplication of data capture. More significantly, the hub greatly facilitated the development of many critical land systems in the public sector. These include the Integrated Land Use System (ILUS) of URA and the Road Information Management System (RIMS) of LTA. The sharing of data through Land Hub has helped more than 40 government agencies and statutory boards to transform the physical and urban landscape of Singapore through efficient planning and development activities.

The third component of the Land Data Hub is the web of cyber highways and multi-linkages that inter-connect the scores of digital databases and their parent organisations. Phase I of this crucial component is now complete: the land data have been consolidated and the infrastructure and procedures for data exchanges have been established.

MinLaw’s LSSU is now undertaking the build-up of Phase II of this component to be called LandNet for short. This is an intelligent and highly complex IT network which will facilitate the flow of digitised land data. It is in effect the central nervous system of the Singapore Land Data Hub. When completed in year 2000, LandNet will enhance the Data Hub’s technical capability, and enable it to effect on-line electronic exchange and updating of land data on a real-time basis. It will do away with the current need for each data agency to maintain its own digital map information bases.

MinLaw aims to fulfil 3 key objectives in implementing the island-wide Land Data Hub. Firstly, to support public sector agencies to plan and carry out key infrastructural projects such as urban redevelopment and land transport projects. The Land Data Hub can be an important instrument of planning, both in policy and operations.

Secondly, to enable various land agencies, especially MinLaw’s land-related departments, to further exploit IT so as to move up the technology value-chain and create new applications in knowledge-based systems. This will have economic spin-offs as new IT land services and land-data derivative products or applications become viable businesses.

Thirdly, to enable more non-confidential or non-sensitive land information to be made available to the general public to meet their needs. This morning’s launch is a direct demonstration of MinLaw’s intent to meet such needs.

To achieve these objectives, MinLaw will collaborate and consult with all the relevant agencies to develop the INLIS and LandNet projects. It has set up several committees to work with public sector agencies such as URA, LTA, JTC and HDB as well as private sector professional associations. In addition MinLaw will chair a Land System Committee (LSC) to steer and co-ordinate the multi-agency effort to deliver these systems.

Since 1995, MinLaw has released non-sensitive land data to the private sector to develop commercial products. Following this launch, MinLaw will sign MOUs with LTA, JTC, HDB, PWD and Singapore Post to jointly format land data for release to the private sector and the general public to enable them to develop and market derivative products. This underlines MinLaw’s resolve to release relevant digitised land information to the private sector.

By the year 2000, besides an enhanced INLIS service, MinLaw anticipates that the private sector will be able to ride on the Land Data Hub to develop many commercial applications using map-based information from the LandNet. I understand that logistics and transportation companies are already developing such applications, for example, coming up with systems that conduct real-time tracking of delivery vehicles, or that optimise the distribution networks for goods.

The future scope of IT applications beyond INLIS depends largely on how well the private sector seizes the initiative now to exploit land data that is made available. Land data in digitised form is a precious IT resource. Those with IT expertise and an entrepreneurial spirit can start thinking about possible applications, so that when the economy picks up, you will be ready to exploit and reap the potential of such niche growth areas.

On this note, I am pleased to launch the Integrated Land Information Services (INLIS).

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