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On 20th June, 2000, the Lord Chancellor launched the ‘Land Registry Direct’ service (www.landregistrydirect.gov.uk). With this, Her Majesty’s Land Registry made a major contribution towards this Government goal.
The new service will enable speedy electronic access to more than 17 million registers and title plans and, very soon, nearly 10 million filed deeds and documents. The Registry is currently scanning over 100 million filed images, so ultimately users will be able to have access to one of the largest databases of its kind in the world.
HM Land Registry’s main purpose is to register title to land and to record dealings once the land is registered. Headquartered in London, HM Land Registry has 24 District Land Registry offices throughout England and Wales.
Business Issue - On-line retrieval and viewing of property titles and accompanying data
 Land Registry Direct is primarily aimed at providing a service, using web browser technology, for banks, building societies, lawyers, surveyors, and other property professionals involved in the conveyancing profession. Such users are saving time and money by using the on-line system for these essential services which in the past would only have been available through the post.
Significant effort has been made in getting the registers themselves available on-line. (see illustration)
Mr. Brian Barrett, Business Development Manager for Land Registry Direct, notes "Land Registry Direct has been very enthusiastically received and is gaining interest from a number of organisations beyond our ordinary focus. Local Authorities, Inland Revenue, Police, private investigators and central government departments are just some of the new business areas that have identified the advantages and benefits of the system.
Land Registry data is stored on a massive IBM mainframe computer database.
Scanning and indexing of the Land Registry’s 17 Million title plans was carried out by Lason (formerly MR Data). The private extranet environment used by Land Registry Direct has been provided by Global Crossing, and the e-business software solution has been provided by Jacada.
 Web imaging specialists, Onstream UK were selected to supply the fundamentally important imaging technology. Onstream provided a customized version of their web-enabling Trapeze™ technology. By using Trapeze, the Land Registry have enabled the end user to use the title plan images almost as if they had an original in their hands.
Users can easily set the scale on the plan and then carry out measurements on-screen. They can also print the map out to its original scanned size, on any MS Windows supported printer. If the printer uses paper smaller than the title plan, Trapeze simply prints it over multiple pages.
Important to the Land Registry was the need to keep map images down to a size which would allow users to download them quickly.
A significant number of title plans have the extent of title outlined in red on the plan. With its ability to construct and view small multi-layered map image files, Land Registry Direct uses Trapeze to handle this "red-edged" format created from coloured maps.
These files are a mere fraction of the size of the same image in a usual colour format, and have contributed significantly to the speed of the system.
Onstream also provided Land Registry Direct with sophisticated web distribution and installation technology.
Mr. Barrett noted that "The system is very speedy and provides us with greater flexibility than ever before. Users can now access and download accurate title plans and registry information, including the value of the property - all in a matter of minutes compared to the several weeks it would have taken using traditional means.
"The Trapeze viewer has proved to be an important component, and its accurate scaling and measuring capability has been invaluable".
 HM Land Registry’s Head of Information Technology Development, Mr. John Formby, echoes Mr. Barrett’s comments in commending Onstream’s imaging technology contribution to the success and timeliness of the project. "We have been very impressed with Onstream’s competence and we are pleased with the quality of the product they have delivered".
John Formby
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