Era Optima Lda

As a leading land-survey and mapping company, Era Optima provides customers around the world with mapping solutions and land survey data for monitoring performance and land settlements. Equipped with the tools and GIS technology required to collect land-survey data (from the ground and from aerial photogrammetry), Era Optima’s experts have years of experience working with different mapping methods and technologies.

When it comes to surveying and mapping, errors are not an option. This is the reason why Era Optima’s professionals work based on systematic methodologies and preplanning stages. In each job, we assess the conditions of the region/country, local knowledge and available data and documentation. Once a project is completed, we gradually instill the knowledge in the customer and hand over the responsibility for the endeavor.

We share our success with our customers, and assist them with the lessons learned and the experience gained in national or local-scale projects. We ensure to provide results in each and every stages of each venture:

• Preliminary study and assessment – we evaluate the customer’s requirements and research the conditions in the field, including geodetic infrastructures, equipment, manpower and available tools. The outputs of the preliminary study are an in-depth analysis and reports, as well as conclusions and recommendations.
• Deployment – based on the project’s requirements and findings of the study, we plan and execute the deployment phase. This includes the geodetic infrastructure, establishing land-survey teams, trainings, purchase and upgrade of geodetic equipment, installation of permanent reference stations as needed, selection of the optimum strategy, schedule and implementation methodology.
• Measurements – two types of main measurements are supported:
  • Data collection:
    • Topographical survey for planning and quantification
    • Cadastral survey
    • Measurements for tax purposes
    • Ground control for aerial photogrammetry and satellite imagery using a variety of technologies, including 3D
  • Reference data stakeout, including underground data-terrain maps, for guiding construction, roads and cadastral projects

Era Optima has accumulated vast experience conducting topographic field surveys to delimit the location and configuration of parcels, blocks and cadastral sections.

Two main methodologies are implemented:

• Digital restitution of existing plans – existing parcellation/cadastral plans are digitized and integrated into the GIS platform.
• Field surveys – parcel corners are systematically identified and surveyed. In combination with airborne imagery (such as orthophotos or satellite images), parcel and urban block limits are reconstructed.

These result in a highly accurate current-state parcellation map that serves as the basis for land management, and later for the land-registration process. This final parcel structure merges data from different sources, including land ownership claims for approval during registration, declarative field surveys, and scanned documents from public archives.

Era Optima also provides solutions for unique cadastral parcel identification numbering, either by adopting existing local methods or by implementing a unique customized proprietary method.

Surveys of Occupants

In parallel to parcel and block surveying, Era Optima conducts surveys with occupants. Using the recently created parcel maps as reference, surveyors register the details of the declared land owners as well as other characteristics of the parcel. This data on land owners serves as a crucial background reference for subsequent land registration and regularization.

Questionnaires are placed in handheld mobile GPS devices, which facilitates digital data management from beginning to end.

Document Scanning and Archiving

Land record archives from different institutions, including land registry offices, cadasters or municipalities are systematically captured, indexed and interconnected with the newly created numbered parcel layer, which also includes data about the declared owners.

Preregistration Data Center (PRDC)

PRDC is a platform that merges all background information collected from the field, archives or any other source to provide decision makers with as much background data on parcels as possible. This is all done before the parcel goes to the final land-registration process.

A preregistration data center is a must in regions in which cadastral and registration systems are outdated or not up to date. Era Optima’s PRDC integrates datasets, including current state parcel maps, declared land owners, scanned and geolocalized land records, aerial imagery, historical cadastral plans, and more. This one-stop data shop centralizes data from multiple sources and provides many benefits:

• Reduces registration time
• Prevents serious legal problems like duplicate land registration or parcel-boundary conflicts
• Decreases the number of land-related court cases
• Increases transparency for the public servant and the general public

Data can be viewed via a custom-made GIS-based Internet or intranet website.

Consulting, Training and Technical Services

Era Optima provides flexible, adaptable consulting, training and technical services in close cooperation with and customized to the needs of each customer. Among these services are:

• Current state analysis of public and local institutions and internal procedures
• Needs analysis towards specific projects or general institutional modernization
• Business plans – detailed recommendations for specific projects or general institutional modernization
• IT consulting and implementation – analysis of available IT resources, recommendations for infrastructure overhauls (software, hardware, network and other communication components) and implementation
• Training of existing or newly recruited personnel and capacity building
• Postproject technical assistance to institutional staff to ensure long-term project viability

Era Optima provides a variety of municipal GIS solutions for urban planning, including:

• Addressing plans
• Field-data collection and digital conversion of documents/archives
• Database design and implementation for any kind of spatial information
• Geolocalization and linkage of documents with properties
• Establishment of a municipal GIS department, including training

Addressing Plan

Addresses are a powerful tool for local authorities to manage municipal affairs, such as tax collection, residents’ registry, and infrastructures. Using an addressing plan that designates a street number/code to each house and road axis, businesses and community organizations can locate service recipients, ultimately improving the utilities billing system and fee collection, accelerating the delivery of goods, and reducing the cost of transactions.

Era Optima creates addressing plans in compliance with international standards using existing and available data (for example, door numbers).

Municipal Surveys – Field-Data Collection

In cooperation with the customer, Era Optima creates standards for field surveys that collect up-to-date data on massive scales, which is then stored and operated through specially designed GIS solutions.

Data collected in these municipal surveys can include, among others, addresses, land use, building types, existing facilities, cadastral references, and occupant names.

Digital Conversion of Analog Documents and Archives

Different legacy analog documents, like municipal land titles, municipal property registration and commerce registration can be digitized. Once they are in digital format, their content is indexed and spatial reference added to create a link to the GIS database, from which the documents can be directly accessed.

Municipal Taxation

Era Optima’s municipal taxation solutions are designed to send information automatically to municipal billing systems. The process collects data from different sources (archives, field data) and integrates it into a solid, reliable database where taxes are then calculated based on a number of factors.

Era Optima land-registration system is based on an in-depth analysis of the existing situation and in the creation of a customized solution that comprises development of applications and workflows. Our specialists customize the solution so that it can be integrated into existing systems and exchange data with all relevant authorities and beneficiaries (cadaster, preregistration department, taxes, urban planning, municipality, banks, and many more).

The entire solution can be rapidly developed and implemented. During and after deployment, Era Optima’s IT personnel provide support throughout all stages of the process, guaranteeing smooth operation and the integrity of the hardware, software and telecommunications infrastructures.

Once implemented, the system enables authorized users to maintain and update it, as well as to keep running all daily tasks independently. As time passes, the solution becomes an information hub between all data sources and beneficiaries, serving as the most reliable and updated national database.

System features and benefits:

• Connectivity between geographic and alphanumeric data, including the ability to create dynamic reports for each unique parcel
• Wide variety of spatial analyses for various needs and users
• System interface features a cadastral GIS-based solution developed as a tool to visualize geometric parcels
• Agile cadastral information retrieval (area size, geometric limitation, infrastructure)
• Compliance with the statutory functions of zonal, regional and council land offices in many regions, for cadastral procedures, land valuation and physical planning processes

Depending of the availability of reliable and secure communication links between the branches/offices, the designed system can operate with online (centralized) or offline (decentralized) databases.

Conceptual Model Database

The conceptual model database includes all-purpose datasets and data that is exchanged and/or synchronized between them, for example:

• Land registration requirements
• Cadastral data
• Land valuation
• Urban planning
• Topographic data

Since 2001 Era Optima has been operating in Africa in the field of Cadaster and Land Registration and Management. We are part of a group of companies with a very solid financial backing and vast experience in sub-Saharan Africa.

Era Optima specialize in developing GIS based solutions and methodologies on-demand according with each project and client needs. Our multidisciplinary team is composed by high qualified professionals who are experts in a variety of fields including software developers (FLOSS, COTS, and commercial), GIS experts, field surveyors, urban planners and cadastral specialists with large experience in field management projects in Africa.

We always attribute great importance to the creation of a solid logistic support infrastructure to cater for all eventualities. According to the project needs, we team up with relevant experts and external service providers, which complement our in-house knowledge.

For more information please contact us: eraoptima@eraoptima.com

Since 2001 Era Optima has been operating in Africa in the field of Cadaster and Land Registration and Management. We are part of a group of companies with a very solid financial backing and vast experience in sub-Saharan Africa.

Era Optima specialize in developing GIS based solutions and methodologies on-demand according with each project and client needs. Our multidisciplinary team is composed by high qualified professionals who are experts in a variety of fields including software developers (FLOSS, COTS, and commercial), GIS experts, field surveyors, urban planners and cadastral specialists with large experience in field management projects in Africa.

We always attribute great importance to the creation of a solid logistic support infrastructure to cater for all eventualities. According to the project needs, we team up with relevant experts and external service providers, which complement our in-house knowledge.

For more information please contact us: eraoptima@eraoptima.com

Colonial architecture and urbanism played a pivotal role in shaping the spatial and social structures of many cities around the world during the 19th and 20th centuries. These colonial assets function today as institutions like legal courts, police, prisons, schools and other public buildings. Alongside these colonial institutional assets, there are numerous residential buildings in many countries that are considered national assets.

Era Optima helps local and national government manage their essential country assets, including:

• Assets, land, private and public housing from colonial times whose status has not yet been settled
• Assets and lands that were privately owned in colonial times and then nationalized
• Military camps and facilities
• Public buildings owned or held by the central government
• Public and administration buildings held by the local government
• Presidential facilities

These old facilities were located and constructed under the town planning and land registration methods of each past colonial system. Since then, many of these properties have been abandoned, and it is not certain all of them have been registered in today’s modern systems, transferred and/or sold.

Since most of these assets constitute the ‘roots’ of urbanization and development in colonial times, and today most of them are located in city centers or their surroundings, Era Optima has established working methods that can expose what these assets are and where they are located.

Taking into consideration today’s high population densities in urban areas, our solution for revealing these important assets include all documentation from old maps, archives and physical survey on site, including interviews the existing owners or resident. Based on these inputs, we create an updated data warehouse that supports any future decision regarding any such property.

Among our country-asset management methods are:

• Evaluation of the original limits of land property and owners restitution (preregistration)
• Analyses, scanning and adjustment of historical municipal and national archives
• Cross link with updated information sources (field surveys and air photos)
• Establishment of geographical databases to consolidate, compare and organize all data sources
• Training of relevant staff to research, analyze and take decisions based on up-to-date data
• Creation of final and reliable databases and workflows to support the final land-registration process
• Design and deployment of hardware, software, communications infrastructures and applications on demand

Since 2001 Era Optima has been operating in Africa in the field of Cadaster and Land Registration and Management. We are part of a group of companies with a very solid financial backing and vast experience in sub-Saharan Africa.

Era Optima specialize in developing GIS based solutions and methodologies on-demand according with each project and client needs. Our multidisciplinary team is composed by high qualified professionals who are experts in a variety of fields including software developers (FLOSS, COTS, and commercial), GIS experts, field surveyors, urban planners and cadastral specialists with large experience in field management projects in Africa.

We always attribute great importance to the creation of a solid logistic support infrastructure to cater for all eventualities. According to the project needs, we team up with relevant experts and external service providers, which complement our in-house knowledge.

For more information please contact us: eraoptima@eraoptima.com

Since 2001 Era Optima has been operating in Africa in the field of Cadaster and Land Registration and Management. We are part of a group of companies with a very solid financial backing and vast experience in sub-Saharan Africa.

Era Optima specialize in developing GIS based solutions and methodologies on-demand according with each project and client needs. Our multidisciplinary team is composed by high qualified professionals who are experts in a variety of fields including software developers (FLOSS, COTS, and commercial), GIS experts, field surveyors, urban planners and cadastral specialists with large experience in field management projects in Africa.

We always attribute great importance to the creation of a solid logistic support infrastructure to cater for all eventualities. According to the project needs, we team up with relevant experts and external service providers, which complement our in-house knowledge.

For more information please contact us: eraoptima@eraoptima.com

Since 2001 Era Optima has been operating in Africa in the field of Cadaster and Land Registration and Management. We are part of a group of companies with a very solid financial backing and vast experience in sub-Saharan Africa.

Era Optima specialize in developing GIS based solutions and methodologies on-demand according with each project and client needs. Our multidisciplinary team is composed by high qualified professionals who are experts in a variety of fields including software developers (FLOSS, COTS, and commercial), GIS experts, field surveyors, urban planners and cadastral specialists with large experience in field management projects in Africa.

We always attribute great importance to the creation of a solid logistic support infrastructure to cater for all eventualities. According to the project needs, we team up with relevant experts and external service providers, which complement our in-house knowledge.

For more information please contact us: eraoptima@eraoptima.com

Since 2001 Era Optima has been operating in Africa in the field of Cadaster and Land Registration and Management. We are part of a group of companies with a very solid financial backing and vast experience in sub-Saharan Africa.

Era Optima specialize in developing GIS based solutions and methodologies on-demand according with each project and client needs. Our multidisciplinary team is composed by high qualified professionals who are experts in a variety of fields including software developers (FLOSS, COTS, and commercial), GIS experts, field surveyors, urban planners and cadastral specialists with large experience in field management projects in Africa.

We always attribute great importance to the creation of a solid logistic support infrastructure to cater for all eventualities. According to the project needs, we team up with relevant experts and external service providers, which complement our in-house knowledge.

For more information please contact us: eraoptima@eraoptima.com

Since 2001 Era Optima has been operating in Africa in the field of Cadaster and Land Registration and Management. We are part of a group of companies with a very solid financial backing and vast experience in sub-Saharan Africa.

Era Optima specialize in developing GIS based solutions and methodologies on-demand according with each project and client needs. Our multidisciplinary team is composed by high qualified professionals who are experts in a variety of fields including software developers (FLOSS, COTS, and commercial), GIS experts, field surveyors, urban planners and cadastral specialists with large experience in field management projects in Africa.

We always attribute great importance to the creation of a solid logistic support infrastructure to cater for all eventualities. According to the project needs, we team up with relevant experts and external service providers, which complement our in-house knowledge.

For more information please contact us: eraoptima@eraoptima.com