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Practitioner’s Guide:

Digital Tax Parcel Mapping

iTAX Mapping in the Philippines

Bundesministerium für
wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit
und Entwicklung
Deutsche Gesellschaft für
Technische Zusammenarbeit
(GTZ) GmbH

Copyright: GTZ Decentralization Programme, Philippines Layout Concept: Nikolaus Schall / Michael Becker
MethodFinder’s Practitioner’s Guide:

Digital Tax Parcel Mapping

Example: iTAX Mapping in the Philippines

Background

In the Philippines tax mapping is a more than twenty year old

standardized procedure to assist the real property tax assessors in a
comprehensive and homogenous field based valuation of all taxable
land parcels in a municipality. It serves as a basis for a just and uniform
taxation of real properties. Previously real property taxation was solely
based on self declaration by property owners or claimants.

Current workflows and procedures of the Philippine real property

administration system were established in the 1980s and 90s. During
this time, substantial efforts to introduce an effective local real property
valuation and taxation system were undertaken with financial and
technical support from US Aid and the Worldbank. A significant
innovation was the establishment of the present map based parcel
identification and location system as well as standardized procedures of
tax mapping.

In the Philippines the objectives tax mapping operations are defined as

follows (Department of Finance, DoF, 1978):

▶ To establish a complete inventory of all real property;

▶ To provide a permanent link between real property and office
records;
▶ To identify the ownership of every piece of real property;
▶ To account for the sum total of all land areas of provinces or cities

Part of the tax mapping operation is the production of tax maps. Key
elements of Tax Maps include:

▶ A graphic representations of a portion of the earth’s surface drawn to

scale on standard size drawing material,
▶ Having property lines and jurisdictional boundaries delineated
showing all parcels of real property and identifying each separate real
property ownership by a unique number
▶ Being constructed from a base map normally based on cadastral maps
▶ That each parcel in the tax map is being identified by a property
index number (PIN) reflecting the city/municipality, district,
barangay, and section of its location

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MethodFinder’s Practitioner’s Guide:

Digital Tax Parcel Mapping

In February 2007, the GTZ Decentralization Programme in cooperation with

the provincial government of Negros Oriental developed an Integrated
Taxation Management System (iTAX) based on an intensive analysis of local
needs and requirements, and focusing on real property tax.

iTAX is a modern computer-based assessment and collection tool for use

by the local governments. It is a computerized computing and accounting
system for local revenue (levies, taxes) which stores all relevant (credit/debit)
data of the project in individual accounts and a relational data bank and thus
helps to monitor/control all tax transactions of its citizens and tax payers.

Originally, this system was first developed by GTZ together with the national
fiscal administration of Tanzania (TRA). The iTAX software was adjusted and
modified to suit the requirements of the Philippine local tax administration.
iTAX is based on PowerBuilder as a development tool and relies on the Open
Source database INGRES. The current version used in the Philippines has
been further developed with the focus on local levies and taxes as well as
the component “digital tax parcel mapping” (graphical presentation of tax
relevant data).

An important component of the whole iTAX system is the integration of the

tax mapping process into the application. A major expected benefit is that
tax authorities as well as the tax paying public get a much better graphical
overview of the overall tax situation of the municipality through thematic tax
maps.

The primary objective of the iTAX digital mapping component was to

produce a municipal wide “stand alone” digital tax parcel mapping system to
be used by the municipal and provincial assessors to replace their traditional
paper based tax maps. To achieve this a decision was taken to opt for a
simple and straightforward solution for the digital conversion of the existing
tax parcel maps.
However, it is possible for the individual local governments to update and
improve the geographic accuracy of their digital parcel layer and to build a
true multi-purpose municipal digital base map at a later stage.

The manually drawn compulsory tax maps maintained in the assessor’s

office include:
(1) Municipal Index Map;
(2) Barangay Index Map;
(3) Section Index Map; and finally and most importantly the
(4) Property Identification Map.

The latter one shows the lot boundary with its corresponding lot or property
identification number which in turn corresponds with the section index map
of the barangay.

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MethodFinder’s Practitioner’s Guide:

Digital Tax Parcel Mapping

Digital Conversion of Hard Copy Tax Parcel Maps

Two options were used by the iTAX project in generating the municipal
digital tax parcel maps:
1. Digitizing and Georeferencing of the existing paper maps using a GIS
software.
2. Encoding the field surveyed parcel measurements (Lot Data Computation
- LDC) or technical descriptions which were secured from the regional
cadastral office, the Bureau of Lands of the Department of Environment
and Natural Resources (DENR) and converting the parcel survey data
such as coordinates, bearings, distances or the road geometry into point
coordinates through a COGO (Coordinate Geometry) programme or
script.

Using the first option of the process of converting the existing paper tax
maps of the assessor’s office into a digital format consists of the following
working steps:

▶ Digital map conversion:

1. Scanning or photo capturing of the Barangay Index Map (Basemap),
Section Index Maps and the Property Identification Maps.
2. Image Processing
3. Image Georeferencing (Image Warp)
4. Digitizing of Parcels/lots and Attribution of Property Identification
Numbers (PINs)

▶ Database synchronization:
5. Linking the digital parcel map into the iTAX application by
embedding them as an ActiveX component in the application
6. Creating Thematic Maps such as Land Use, Payment Status, Type
of Ownership, Assessed Value, Market Value, Tax Delinquents and
others

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MethodFinder’s Practitioner’s Guide:

Digital Tax Parcel Mapping

Key Steps

Step 1: Digital Conversion of Assessor’s Barangay Index

Map, Section Index Map and Property Identification
Maps (PIM)
As a low cost alternative to using a large scanner to reproduce digital copies
of all paper maps at the assessor’s office, the use of a digital camera has
proven to be an efficient and effective method. The recommendation is to
use a good quality digital single lens reflex camera mounted on a tripod. It
is very important, not only that an exact parallel camera angle is ensured
but also that the paper maps are flat and smooth. The maps can be pasted on
a wide wall, this helps to avoid camera tilt which in turn may cause image
distortions.

Fig. 1 Example of a Property Identification Map

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MethodFinder’s Practitioner’s Guide:

Digital Tax Parcel Mapping

Fig. 2 Example of a Property Identification Map

Step 2: Image Processing

Image mosaic/stitching of maps using Photoshop
During this process all digital images of the property identification maps
that have been either photographed or scanned are assembled, merged and
“photo-stitched” together to convert them into single section index map. With
the help of image processing software such as ADOBE Photoshop all section
index maps are then digitally merged into a barangay map.

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MethodFinder’s Practitioner’s Guide:

Digital Tax Parcel Mapping

Fig. 3 Individual section index maps assembled / merged to Barangay parcel map

Step 3: Image Geo-referencing (Image Warping)

The next major step in the process of creating the digital tax maps is the so
called Geo-referencing (also called geo-coding). This is a process through
which a set of data is assigned geographic coordinates, which in turn
links them to known geographic locations on a topographic map. Geo-
referencing involves defining a location in physical space by establishing
a relation between raster or vector images to known map projections or
coordinate systems. To geo-reference an image, one first needs to establish
control points, input the known geographic coordinates of these control
points, choose the co-ordinate system and other projection parameters and
then minimize residuals. Residuals are the difference between the actual
co-ordinates of the control points and the co-ordinates predicted by the
geographic model created using the control points. They provide a method of
determining the level of accuracy of the geo-referencing process.

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MethodFinder’s Practitioner’s Guide:

Digital Tax Parcel Mapping

Fig. 4 Barangay Parcel Map before assigning geographical control points

Fig. 5 After assigning of geographic control points, the image is projected to the appropriate location of the
base-map.

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MethodFinder’s Practitioner’s Guide:

Digital Tax Parcel Mapping

Step 4: Digitizing of parcels/lots and attribution of

Property Identification Numbers (PINs)

This step involves either online or screen digitizing of all parcel boundaries
and establishing a link between each individual lot to the data attribute table
in the GIS database through the unique Property Identification Number
(PIN). This is the most time consuming working step. The PIN number is
the all-important unique parcel identifier which allows linking of any given
parcel to its exact administrative location within the Philippines.

Example for Municipality PIN: 046-20-001-01-001

046 - Provincial Code
20 - Municipal Code
001 - Barangay Code
01 - Section Code
001 - Property / Parcel number

Fig. 6 Each digitized parcel is given a unique property identification code (PIN)

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MethodFinder’s Practitioner’s Guide:

Digital Tax Parcel Mapping

Second Method of Digital Conversion of Hard Copy Maps

This method is an alternative approach applied by the iTAX team to convert

the hard copy parcel maps into a digital format. The method reduces the
effort and time needed to create digital parcel maps because all the parcels
are automatically drawn and there is then no need for geo-referencing and
digitizing. An important advantage of this approach is that it creates the ex-
act position, area and shape of the lot as surveyed in the field by the geodetic
engineer.

The limitation of this approach is that it is time consuming to encode the

technical descriptions. Furthermore, in most cases the data is not available in
digital form. When numerical errors of the given coordinates exist, they have
to be corrected and computed again by a geodetic engineer. It was also found
that some figures are difficult to read because of old, crumpled or torn survey
documents. Often there is also no updated subdivision data, depending
when the cadastral survey was undertaken. Finally, the method also requires
permission to be granted by the Bureau of Lands to photocopy the original
records at the regional cadastral office.

The individual steps applied are:

1. Encoding of technical description of cadastral lots using the Northing and

Easting Coordinates in a MS Excel file.
2. Importing the Excel table into the GIS software and running the COGO
script that will then plot the parcels automatically.
3. Adding the Property Identification Number to each parcel

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MethodFinder’s Practitioner’s Guide:

Digital Tax Parcel Mapping

Fig. 7 Cadastral survey data of the official lot data computation (LDC) sheet of the Bureau of Land is encoded
into a MS Excel table

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MethodFinder’s Practitioner’s Guide:

Digital Tax Parcel Mapping

Fig. 8 Using a COGO conversion script all parcel boundaries are generated in a
single “run” by the GIS software

Once the digital parcel map have been generated, the following steps are
identical for both approaches mentioned above.

Step 5: Linking the iTAX database with the digital tax

parcel map
A noteworthy novelty of the iTAX software is the direct integration of
GIS maps into the application. In contrast many other similar attempts
to establish a digital parcel mapping system have not proven sustainable
because of the fact that the tax database is located in one system while the
spatial database to produce the digital tax parcel maps is hosted in a separate
GIS application. Experience has shown that tax officers are not inclined to
handle two separate applications, particularly when one is also a demanding
and complicated GIS software.
The iTAX database and the GIS generated maps share the common field,
which is the PIN NO.

The iTAX database contains all tax related data, including:

▶ Name and residence of the property owner,

▶ Tax declaration assessment,
▶ Real property tax registry,
▶ Kind of property,
▶ Type of ownership,
▶ Actual use of land,
▶ Payment status, etc.

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MethodFinder’s Practitioner’s Guide:

Digital Tax Parcel Mapping

The implementation of GIS functions into the iTAX application is done by

using the Developer Kernel (ActiveX version) of TatukGIS. This is done
by object linking and embedding into the PowerBuilder development
programme, which in turn is used for creating the iTAX application.
Important to note is that the PowerBuilder (Sybase) software can read the
map objects of GIS through TatukGIS (ActiveX).
The digital maps (shape files or drawing files) created from the GIS can
be integrated through the iTAX application for parcel’s subdivisions and
consolidation with the updated Municipal RPT data This is possible as there
is a direct link within the computer system that enables the consolidation
to be possible. Once the parcel is subdivided or consolidated, automatically
a new Property Identification Number (PIN) and a new Tax Declaration
Number (TD_No) is assigned. The objective of this application is to ensure
that have only one system is necessary for the assessors to update and enter
newly approved parcels, subdivisions or when these need to be consolidated.
The application is in the process of being further developed and modified so
that it will automatically generate tax related thematic maps and sketch plans
of each parcels.

Fig. 9: Sample parcel subdivision inside the iTAX system with its newly assigned PIN and TD_No.

(The taxpayers get displayed within the digital map)

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MethodFinder’s Practitioner’s Guide:

Digital Tax Parcel Mapping

Step 6: Creating/Lay-outing Thematic Maps

A major advantage of digital tax parcel mapping is the generation of both
standardized as well as custom made thematic maps. Examples are theme
maps showing land use, payment status, type of ownership, assessed
values, market values, type of property improvements etc. depending on the
variables stored in the data base.
These maps are integrated into the iTAX application which ensures that the
maps always reflect the currently valid tax data.
An important application during the build up phase of the digital tax
database is the identification of non-plausible values and the checking of the
digital database on encoding errors or faulty records of the assessor. Colour
coded maps highlight extreme and possibly faulty data records much easier
than checking long tabular registers.

Examples of Tax Theme Maps

Map 1: Type of Land Use by Parcel

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MethodFinder’s Practitioner’s Guide:

Digital Tax Parcel Mapping

Map 2: Digital Tax Parcel Map of a City indicating tax parcels by Barangay

Bunao
Bantayan

Pulantubig
Camanjac

Piapi

Motong
Daro

Looc
Candau-ay Batinguel

Taclobo
Poblacion 5

Poblacion 7 Poblacion 6

Poblacion 4
Poblacion 3

Poblacion 8
Balugo Cadawinonan Poblaci
Poblacion 2

Bagacay
Junob
Tabuctubig

Calindagan

Talay

Mangnao-Canal

Banilad

Bajumpandan

Cantil-e

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MethodFinder’s Practitioner’s Guide:

Digital Tax Parcel Mapping

Map 3: Type of Property

Map 4: Type of Ownership

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MethodFinder’s Practitioner’s Guide:

Digital Tax Parcel Mapping

Map 5: Due Tax by Tax Parcel

Map 6: Assessed Value per Square Meter (enlarged section only)

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MethodFinder’s Practitioner’s Guide:

Digital Tax Parcel Mapping

Map 7: Real Property Tax Payment Status

Map 8: Deliquent Tax Amount by Parcel

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MethodFinder’s Practitioner’s Guide:

Digital Tax Parcel Mapping

Map 9: Number of Years with Non-Paid Taxes by Parcel

Map 10: Comparative Tax Collection by Barangay

107% 97%
100% 77%

92% 93%
97%
86%
71% 63%
111%

44%
74%
58% 49%
102%
42%
78% 82%
59%
68%
179%
106%
102%
98%
72%
109% 69%
60% 60% 102%
105%
136%
85%
105% 111%
54% 90%
50% 100% 101%
100%
95%

68% 98%
113%
95% 57%

97%
58%
89%

87%
63%

91%
68%
49%

67%

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MethodFinder’s Practitioner’s Guide:

Digital Tax Parcel Mapping

Map 11: Additional revenue collection modules such as water fees can be added to the iTAX database and map on
a property parcel basis

Map 12: Digital Tax Parcel Map with its database overlaid on a Google Earth’s Satellite Image

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MethodFinder’s Practitioner’s Guide:

Digital Tax Parcel Mapping

References and Reference Persons:

Sources Used
Jerson P. Sala. Email: [email protected]
Juergen Seelmann. Email: [email protected]
Ernst-Dieter Fuchs. Email: [email protected]
Robert Riethmueller. Email: [email protected]

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