A new global benchmark for land administration

After more than a decade in development, the first five parts of the Land Administration Domain Model (LADM) Edition II have been published as ISO and CEN standards – marking a significant milestone for the global land administration community.

The completion of LADM Edition II is the result of an extensive international effort that began in 2017, drawing on input from national agencies, academic institutions, international organizations and the UN-GGIM Expert Group on Land Administration and Management. Over the following years, expert workshops and meetings were held across five continents, from the Netherlands and Croatia to Malaysia, Sweden and Brazil.

Building on a proven foundation

LADM Edition II builds on the first edition of the standard, which has already been adopted or profiled in more than 50 countries. The new edition represents a substantial expansion in both scope and ambition. Where the original standard focused primarily on land registration, Edition II extends its reach to cover land valuation, spatial planning and maritime areas – supporting tenure security, fair taxation, access to credit, disaster management and environmental protection within an integrated digital ecosystem.

The modular structure of LADM Edition II allows countries and organizations to implement components separately or in combination, while maintaining semantic consistency and interoperability across institutional boundaries. The standard also improves semantic modelling and implementation guidance, providing a solid foundation for digital land management systems that can contribute directly to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

A collaborative achievement

The project was led by FIG and supported at various stages by Kadaster Netherlands, Delft University of Technology and the University of Twente. Researcher Abdullah Kara from Turkey played a central role alongside Peter van Oosterom and Christiaan Lemmen at Delft. Between 2024 and 2025, the FIG Foundation provided targeted support to bring the final parts of Edition II across the finish line.

The successful completion of the project underscores the value of sustained international collaboration in developing standards that address real-world challenges in land management – and demonstrates the FIG Foundation's ability to facilitate impactful, globally relevant work over the long term.

For those interested in exploring how LADM is being introduced in academic settings, the recent article 'Bringing the Land Administration Domain Model to the Classroom' by Malumbo Chipofya, Andre da Silva Mano, Abdullah Kara and Christiaan Lemmen makes for recommended reading.