Case study

Airbus (Dakar City) Maintenace of Property Database

Satellite Image Analysis for Operational Maintenance of a Property Database for Dakar City.

Image of the city of Dakar.

Aerial view of the city of Dakar, Senegal, by the coast of the Atlantic city.

Target Country

Republic of Senegal

Project Lead

Intelligence Programme Line, Airbus Defence and Space Ltd (Airbus DS), Compass House, 60 Priestley Road, Surrey Research Park, Guildford, GU2 7AG

International Partner

New Africa Consulting, Dakar.

Project Description

The Dakar City government has a requirement to generate revenues for developing and maintaining city infrastructure and services. The legal framework for property taxation is already in place, but the City lacks the resources to collect and maintain the information needed to calculate the tax due. Through the operational project in Mauritius called LAVIMS (Land Administration and Valuation Information Management System) and other projects, Airbus DS has developed expertise in the management of information about properties. Our systems link specific textual information such as ownership and address with location and building characteristics, including size and value; all essential data for generating municipal revenues based on property taxation.

Using very high resolution satellite data the land parcels and building extents (and heights) can be effectively monitored through a combination of image analysis and field data collection. Change detection through satellite imagery analysis can greatly improve the efficiency of the monitoring process.

This project is designed to work with the partner in Dakar to develop an operational system for creating and maintaining a parcel reference map, whose accuracy can be further improved through GPS-based field survey, and, mapping new buildings and changed building heights through 3D monitoring based on satellite imagery.

These will provide the framework for field teams to collect and maintain accurate property characteristics enabling tax calculations to be made within a fully operational system to support sustainable and transparent revenue generation for the City. The Dakar City authorities are working with the national revenue authority to ensure that the city and its citizens will benefit from enhanced services and enhanced economic opportunities.

Objectives

The principal objectives of the project are to:

  • Demonstrate and prove that change monitoring of land and buildings from satellite data can be fully incorporated into a procedure for generating property-based tax revenues.
  • Assist development of an operational revenue system for Dakar City that will be self-financing.
  • Develop a process that is embraced by the city and leads to the generation of revenues that will bring social and economic benefits to all citizens.
  • Focus on training and knowledge transfer to ensure that future operations can be fully implemented by a local technical team.
  • Develop a methodology that can be rolled-out to similar cities where city infrastructure and services can be improved and enhanced by local revenues generated from a property-based tax system.
Published 26 January 2017