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NLA Embarks on New Marketing Thrust

September 20, 2004

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The National Land Agency (NLA) is embarking on a new thrust to market its maps and other value-added products to their customers and other members of the public, who require land information.
Garfield Knight, Director of Business Development and Technology at the NLA, told JIS News, that the marketing campaign began in early September and would continue for some time. “This effort is centred on our e-government initiative, which is geared toward expanding the type of map products available for purchase, and also to improve the ease of access to land information,” he stated.
Over the last three years, the NLA has been preparing digital maps under the government’s cadastral blitzing programme, and is now in a position to sell these maps and encourage greater use of them. Digital road maps and other selected digital records can now be purchased under a “permitted use licence agreement”.
“We can provide a customised map to meet most if not every type of need. For example, we can prepare a custom map that would provide directions for most places in Jamaica,” Mr. Knight informed.
He disclosed that the NLA also had available, the only digital road maps of Jamaica, with street names and addresses, which were ideal for fleet management and vehicle tracking or any application in which road and address navigation was important. “This we think is very critical at this point because it will help to address security companies’ concerns and persons who are managing fleets of vehicles or physical assets island wide,” he pointed out.
These road maps are also available for sale in printed form, but only for the areas of Kingston, St. Andrew and Portmore. Printed maps for the other major towns were currently being prepared, Mr. Knight said.
The other value-added service, which the NLA will aggressively market, is its eLandjamaica e-commerce service, which allows customers to carry out searches of land records to get information on property value, location, and title, for example.
The NLA is also working to improve its customer service mechanism, by allowing the public easier access to information about its services and products; ensuring a more timely response to requests for answers to queries; and by being more responsive to general land-related queries.
“This is easily and readily available by visiting our website at www.nla.gov.jm where any person can send e-mails to us asking for general information related to land issues; request the status of their title transfers if they are purchasing property; and use our online service, eLandjamaica, to do searches on our land records,” informed the Technology Director.
The NLA’s decision to launch the marketing campaign at this time is in direct response to the numerous land-related issues island wide, particularly in the rural areas, and the sustained expansion in the real estate market in terms of new housing and infrastructure development projects, stated Mr. Knight.
“The answers to these types of questions will help to resolve many property-ownership issues, plan housing and sub-division developments properly thus reducing time and cost,” he declared.
The public is therefore being encouraged to visit the Land Agency’s website and make full use of the services offered there. Persons can also visit the NLA’s Business Services office at Hanover Street in downtown Kingston, the regional offices in Mandeville, Montego Bay and at 8 Ardenne Road.
“Additionally, consistent with the government’s GIS [Geographic Information System] in School’s programme, we provide information at discounted prices to students, especially those doing research using GIS that would help the country as a whole in terms of national development,” he said.

Last Updated: September 20, 2004

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