Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong Korea Times file

By Lee Kyung-min

The government will help Tanzania and Ethiopia with effective digital cadaster, as part of an official development assistance (ODA) program, the land ministry said Tuesday. A cadaster is a comprehensive recording of the real estate or property in a country, often represented graphically in a cadastral map.

Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong had a separate meeting with Chaltu Sani Ibrahim, Ethiopia's Minister of Urban and Infrastructure and Angelin Mabula, Tanzania's land minister.

They agreed to foster cooperation to share knowledge and experience in the effective management of spatial information, the establishment of related key databases, policymaking and administration.

Won signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Ethiopia's minister at the Korea Territorial Development Museum in Seoul.

The MOU will help Korean state-run entities and private players advance the spatial information system in the country.

The latest example of ODA in Ethiopia is a consulting project overseen by a consortium of private spatial information services providers and Korea Land and Geospatial Informatix Corp. (LX), a ministry-affiliated organization.

Won discussed ways to ensure the successful management of current and forthcoming ODA projects with Tanzania, including the construction of a spatial information innovation center and the training of spatial information experts.

The ministry said the cooperation will lead to the overseas expansion of Korea's land and spatial information policies.

"Data center construction projects overseas will create added value in the economy, also bolstered by land development strategies, urban problem-solving mechanisms using digital twin technologies," a ministry official said. The technology helps improve the accuracy of simulation models, as enabled by the fuller integration of the internet of things (IoT).

The ministry will hold the Smart Land Expo, a global forum at KINTEX in Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province, from Nov. 2 to Nov. 4.

Officials of local and global spatial information firms, governments and multilateral development banks (MDBs) will share the latest trends and new technologies at academic sessions.