A Computer-Based Flexible Land Tenure System (CB-FLTS), based on the Social Tenure Domain Model (STDM), for deployment at the Ministry of Agricutlure, Water, and Land Reform (MAWLR), Namibia. The goal of the FLTS is to establish an interchangeable tenure registration system that is parallel and complementary to the formal freehold system. The FLTS is designed to provide affordable tenure security to informal settlement dwellers in Namibia.

The Social Tenure Domain Model (STDM) is a propoor land information tool that provides a flexible approach for representing people-land relationships. The tool provides a practical approach for representing these relationships independent of the level of formality, legality and technical accuracy.

Some of the functionality provided by the tool include:

• It enables the design of new or extension of existing data configurations using an intuitive configuration wizard;

• It allows for the definition of custom, application-wide, hierarchies of administrative units;

• It supports the design of custom templates for map-based documents/reports;

• It enables the generation of map-based documents in batch using custom templates;

• It provides intuitive import and export wizards that support both textual and spatial data in different formats.

For more information about STDM and its documentation, please visit www.stdm.gltn.net.

STDM is built on top of free and open source geospatial software products. The client has been developed as a QGIS Python plugin, whereas the backend is based on a PostgreSQL/PostGIS database stack. These are required prior to using STDM.

STDM can be installed in two ways:

1. For beginners - using the all-in-one installer which can be downloaded from the STDM website. This will install PostgreSQL, PostGIS, QGIS (with the STDM plugin embedded), and copy sample data (optional).

2. For advanced users – using the QGIS plugin manager:

   1. In QGIS Desktop, go to menu “Plugins -> Manage and Install Plugins…” On the “Plugins” dialog, select “Settings” tab.

   2. Click “Add…” to open repository details dialog. The dialog allows you to enter STDM repository properties, enter the details as shown below:

      • In the Name field enter: GLTN Plugin Repository

      • In the URL field enter: http://stdm.gltn.net/plugin/plugins.xml

   3. Check the “Enabled” option then select “OK” to close.

   4. The GLTN repository entry should now be visible on the “Plugin repositories” list.

      

   5. While still on the “Plugins” window, select “Not installed” tab, then scroll down and look for “Social Tenure Domain Model” on the list of “Not installed” plugins. Select it and click “Install plugin”.

   6. QGIS will download and install the STDM plugin. The plugin should now be available on the “Installed” page and also on the QGIS toolbar and main menu respectively.

      

   7. Now you are ready to start using STDM.

   This option will require that PostgreSQL and PostGIS be installed beforehand. In addition, an empty spatially-enabled database needs to have been created prior to using STDM.

   Note: If you have issues when downloading the plugin, first confirm if the network settings are okay. On the QGIS menu go to “Settings -> Options” In the “Options” dialog box select “Network” tab and check your proxy settings are okay. For more details on setting up network options, please read the QGIS documentation available here.

STDM is a free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 (GPL v2) as published by the Free Software Foundation. The full GNU General Public License is available in LICENSE.txt or here.

• For more information, please visit www.stdm.gltn.net or subscribe to: lists.osgeo.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/stdm-user

• To receive important news and updates around STDM in general, subscribe to: lists.osgeo.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/stdm-announce

• If you find an issue working with STDM, please report it so that developers can check and fix it. To report a bug, subscribe to: lists.osgeo.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/stdm-dev or post it in GitHub at: https://github.com/gltn/stdm/issues

• To browse the source codes or extend the core platform, access the repository here: https://github.com/gltn/stdm