Collaboration Mechanics with AR/VR for Cadastral Surveys—A Conceptual Implementation for an Urban Ward in Indonesia

Synchronous interactions from different locations have become a globally accepted modus of interaction since the COVID-19 outbreak. For centuries, professional cadastral survey activities always required an interaction modus whereby surveyors, neighboring landowners, and local officers were present simultaneously. During the systematic adjudication and land registration project in Indonesia, multiple problems in the land information systems emerged, which, up to date, remain unsolved. These include the presence of plots of land without a related title, incorrect demarcations in the field, and the listing of titles without a connection to a land plot. We argue that these problems emerged due to ineffective survey workflows, which draw on inflexible process steps. This research assesses how and how much the use of augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) technologies can make land registration services more effective and expand collaboration in a synchronous and at distant manner (the so-called same time, different place principle). The tested cadastral survey workflows include the procedure for a first land titling, the one for land subdivision, and the updating and maintenance of the cadastral database. These are common cases that could potentially benefit from integrated uses of augmented and virtual reality applications. Mixed reality technologies using VR glasses are also tested as tools, allowing individuals, surveyors, and government officers to work together synchronously from different places via a web mediation dashboard. The work aims at providing alternatives for safe interactions of field surveyors with decision-making groups in their endeavors to reach fast and effective collaborative decisions on boundaries.