Property tax information system (2005)

2. Description of PTIS interface:

The main interface of the application has three sub frames, they are

Map frame

Legend frame

List box frame (for apartments)

The application also includes a Main Menu Bar and a Control Tool Bar.

The Main Menu Bar has the following menus

File

Refresh, Pay Tax, Change password, Exit

Layer

Add layer, Remove Layer, Remove all

Building

Add building, Remove building

Query

Saved queries, query window

Tax calculator

Individual Houses,

Hospitals,

Hotels and Lodges,

Cinema theatre,

Kalyana Mandapam.

Control Tool Bar has the following buttons

• 1. Default

  2. Zoom in

  3. Zoom out

  4. Pan

  5. Fit View

  6. Identify

3. FEATURES OF THE APPLICATION:

1. Dynamic adding and removing of layers (Shape files):

The shape files corresponding to the buildings and roads can be added to the application or removed from the application during runtime.

2. Functions like Zoom in, Zoom out, Pan, Fit View and Identify:

1. 1. Zoom In: To enlarge the map for greater clarity.

   2. Zoom Out: To diminish the map to get the larger area of view.

   3. Pan: To browse through the map area.

   4. Fit View: To make the map fit in the Map frame View.

   5. Identify: To retrieve the details of single building.

Select this button and click on any building in the Map Frame, then a window opens showing the details of that building (Build id, type, tax amount, tax payment details, owners details). In the new window a provision is given to display the Building’s photo (if present), for this click the Picture Button.

3. Query Window

The window helps to form any possible combination of queries. The window has option to select the table name, field name and the condition using the operators (=, >, <, <=, >=, <>, like). When the query is executed the buildings satisfying the condition will be highlighted in the Map Window.

For example,

Table name: tax_ass_det

Field name: type

Operator: like

Value: ‘Hospital’

4. Saved Queries

These are set of queries the tax officer often uses/executes. For some queries in this module chart (Pie chart) representation is given. To do this click Query ? Saved Queries. The various queries provided in this module are,

• 1. Classified output based on the dues for a particular year:

  2. Total revenue for a particular year

  3. Classified revenue for a particular year

  4. Type of the building

  5. Area of the building

For example:

Classified output based on the dues for the year 1999 is shown in Figure 2 the pie chart representation is given. The corresponding buildings are highlighted in corresponding colors in the Map Frame.

5. Tax calculator:

This module will calculate the half yearly tax amount (as per the rules of Corporation of Chennai) when the proper details are entered. The tax amount assessment is different for various units like Individual house, Hospital, Hotels, Cinema Theatre and Kalyana Mandapam. They get different inputs (given in the table below) based on their character and functionality and the respect half yearly amount tax is calculated.

6. Tax Payment:

Tax officers can update the tax paid by the building owners using this module. In this module the Tax officer can enter the building id and click enter. The tax dues for the building are displayed in the list box. The officer can select any term (say IInd 2000) and click Pay Button. Then the tax payment is updated in the database.

7. Building manipulation

This includes both addition and removal of buildings (can be done in Administer mode only).

• 1. Addition:

Click from the Menu Bar ‘Building -> Add Building’

The Sequence of steps that follows is:

• 1. A window opens asking for type of building and the corner co-ordinates of the building. Then click ‘Add Building’ Button. Building Corner co-ordinates can be got using GPS - Relative Positioning. The Velachery map (used in the application) uses a local co-ordinate system and for some control points their co-ordinate in the local co-ordinate system is known. Using Relative positioning in GPS and fixing the local co-ordinates of the control points the Building corner co-ordinates can be computed using the GPS Processing Software (like GPSurvey)

  2. Then a window opens asking for non-spatial attributes like

  3. Building id (will be automatically generated)

  4. Owner name

  5. Owner address

  6. Building address

Then for tax assessment of the newly added building Tax calculator for the specified type of the building is invoked and the tax assessment parameters are entered and the half-year tax amount is calculated. The plinth area of the building added is obtained from the Shape file.

2. Removing a Building

• • Click Building ? Remove Building

  • Click on the Building (to be removed) in the Map Frame

  • The Building is removed after a confirmation message box. Also the spatial and non-spatial data in the database is removed.

8. Two modes of access

There are two Login modes they are,

o Administer mode (Full privilege mode)

o User mode (restricted mode)

• • They do not have the privileges like Paying Tax, Adding or Removing Building

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS:

Results:

The application PTIS has been developed successfully by adding the spatial dimension to the existing Tax Information System. With this application the Tax Officers can

• • Fire Spatial and Non-spatial queries

  • Update newly added buildings

  • Delete buildings

  • Update and processing of tax records

The above requirements have been tailored through Visual Basic coding along with MapObjects. This package can be used both by the Tax officers and the Users.

Advantages

PTIS is a standalone application involving spatial details without the need of desktop GIS software (like ARC/INFO, ArcView, ArcGIS).

User-friendly and can be customized according to users requirements

Limitations

Since we are considering the buildings as the property of the owners, open lands are not taken into consideration. So it is not suitable for rural areas where there are open lands.

Scope for Future Study

• 1. The project can be extended for all other details like water tax, electricity bill, sewage tax, telephone bill etc.,

  2. Land Parcel maps can be integrated along with this application for efficient usage and planning.

  3. The whole PTIS system can be implemented in the World Wide Web (WWW).

REFERENCES

Books:

• 1. Introduction to Geographic Information Systems Kang-tsung Chang

  2. Introduction to MapObjects Windows Edition

SCREENSHOTS

• 1. Image of the PTIS Interface with the ‘building’ and ‘main road’ layers added and if any building is clicked the details of the building (tax related) is shown along with the photo of the building.

  2. Frequent queries regarding the tax is put in this predefined dialog, where the query can be selected and executed. The results of the query is shown in the map (with colors) accompanied with the chart representation.

  3. Queries can also be created by the user. This is done by ‘Create Query’ where the table, field and values can be selected and a query expression can be formed and executed.

  4. New building can be added by giving the local co-ords of the building corners (minimum 4) and giving the non-spatial attributes as shown in the figure.