PROCESSING OF THE CADASTRE INFORMATION USING POSTGRESQL-POSTGIS. APPLICATION TO THE ANALYSIS OF URBAN LAND USES IN ALCALÁ DE HENARES, SPAIN

Abstract

The Cadastre is a highly relevant source of information for urban and intraurban studies. It offers detailed and precise spatial information that is very useful to support decision-making in planning and spatial planning processes. However, many times, its use is limited by the need for more or less advanced knowledge of the structure, content, relationships between databases, etc. and, above all, due to certain technical difficulties in obtaining it, processing it and adapting it, which involve significant investments of time and resources. This paper proposes a specific methodology for a more agile and efficient use of the Cadastre’s content. Based on queries to the alphanumeric component of the cadastral data, using PostgreSQL-PostGIS, to feed the table of attributes associated with the vector cartography of cadastral parcels, it has been applied, as an example, to the analysis of land use in the city of Alcalá de Henares (Community of Madrid). The results at parcel level make it possible to identify the distribution of land uses in the city, the specialisation of areas in certain uses, the main commercial axes, etc. Despite its limitations, it is a sufficiently specific proposal, but at the same time open and applicable to any area of study, which could facilitate and enhance the use of this type of information in various areas of urban analysis, where a high level of detail of spatial information is required.