New technology brings land information to hand

A pioneering technology has revolutionised work carried out by one of the country’s leading land agencies.

Perth-based Bell Ingram has been working closely alongside Registers of Scotland to test and aid development of their new Land Information Service, ScotLIS.

ScotLIS allows both business users and the general public to search the map-based Scottish Land Register at the same time as searching for information on the Sasine Register – a chronological list of land deeds, which contain written descriptions of properties.

Designed to be fully responsive and interactive, the new ScotLIS service is accessible on both desktop and mobile and provides users with a wealth of land and property information.

Highlighting the importance of working alongside its stakeholders, Registers of Scotland has used customer interaction as a key part of the development of new features and improvements to the service.

Marcus Humphrey is Geographical Information System (GIS) technician at Bell Ingram

Geographical Information System (GIS) technician at Bell Ingram, Marcus Humphrey said: ‘ScotLIS is incredibly useful and much more user-friendly than previous services.

‘It has already brought savings in terms of both times and costs, and this should only increase over time.’

Bell Ingram has been integral in the early development of this service, providing feedback which has been taken on board by the ScotLIS team at Registers of Scotland, such as suggesting the addition of an option to search by grid reference.

Marcus added: ‘As surveyors the map functionality is a brilliant addition. It allows us to see the area surrounding our searches – this contextual information is often very helpful.

The ScotLIS website

‘Another great feature is the ability to save a whole Sasine search sheet, it lets my colleagues and I note important information for later use.

‘Moving forward, ScotLIS will greatly improve how we access Registers of Scotland data, and deliver cost and time savings as well.’

Established 112 years ago, Bell Ingram has 130 professional staff across 11 UK offices, including chartered surveyors, estate and forestry managers, GIS and mapping specialists, architects, building surveyors, Tourism and green energy specialists.