Residents of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines will soon have access to more up-to-date land map information, with the launch of the Aerial Drone Mapping of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

The Land and Surveys Department will be carrying out aerial drone mapping of the country with the help of PLACE US, a global non-profit technology organization.

Chief Surveyor of the Land and Surveys Department, Keith Francis is confident that the new mapping technology will significantly enhance the single window for land and property transactions.

"What this will do is, this part of the exercise is to make this imagery available to the Land and Survey's Department to provide a digital map of the country where it is our intention to digitize each land parcel and produce a map, a base map that will be used for all other activities. We hope that eventually this will be available online and that it will at some point lead to a system of registration of titles as opposed to the system of registration of deeds which currently exist."

Francis said this new technology will ensure a more transparent and reliable process for landowners and prospective buyers

"Any of us who have had to deal with the process of land transfer know the difficulties and the extended time it takes to get a lawyer to do a title search and have all your dots lined up to get a transaction completed. When we move to the system of registration of titles it will be a government guaranteed title, so the transfer of property will be very much easier and faster and more accurate, and we are hoping that this is the foundation for us to move forward in that regard."

SOURCE: National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC Radio)