Land Information Service Project in  Nyahururu Municipal Council – Kenya We are moving into an information age in keeping with the global trends. While this obvious mega-trend has many facets, the opportunities and requirements for land information systems are particularly significant in this era. Land information is important now because of a complex set of issues involving both the private land ownership rights and responsibilities and the rights and responsibilities of the society as a whole to manage and maintain a quality environment for all its citizens. The onus for ensuring up to date, clear and authentic land information falls on the municipal councils. The Nyahururu Municipal Council, like most local authorities in Kenya, has a manual land information system. Consequently, all information produced and generated in undertaking the various municipal functions is in the alphanumeric form, plans and maps. The Manual Operating System currently in use has increasingly become inefficient due to the rapid population increase and expanded boundaries, which have increased the area of jurisdiction of the Council, resulting in expanded user requirements. The system is cumbersome and fraught with delays in searches, resulting in a number of problems ranging from difficulties in accessing data, slow retrieval and replacement time. Paper records frequently disappear, are misplaced or interfered with. Moreover, the poor provision of access of retrieval facilities has led to inadequate updating, cross-referencing and generally poor record maintenance. At times, important land information records have lacked backup copies. Finally, the increasing number of properties has translated into the need for more storage space. To address the above problems, with the aim of providing land information to the users more efficiently and effectively, computerization of the land information service has been deemed as one of the solutions. A computerized land information system that lays the groundwork from which future land use decisions can be addressed based on proper background information. A system that does not infringe on, or take away existing property rights or other such freedoms but in general improves land management. Almost all countries in the world began with a manual system of recording land information. However, a minority of geologists and other geoscientists have been using computers for the manipulation of spatial data since 1960’s. From the 1970’s most countries began to initiate some form of computerized land information automation and mapping systems. This was pertinent due to firstly, the many problems and constraints that emerged as a result of increasingly complex land ownership, tenure and registration issues. Moreover, the authorities empowered to collect rates were not effectively doing so. In the 1980’s, advances made in computer hardware catalyzed the development of software for handling spatial data. Several important facts associated with the increasingly popular computerization of the land information services include: Necessity of modern computerized land records information services so that those involved in the generation and manipulation of the records can, in a timely manner, correctly answer fundamental questions about public and private rights and responsibilities to land. Knowledge of the spatial reliability of all data sets at all times so that land ownership rights and responsibilities are not incorrectly determined because of imprecise information. This for instance, results in the quick access and efficient monitoring of rates management, particularly rates collection. Ability to concurrently carry out several requests relating to a property in a multi user institutional setting such as a municipal council. This is different in a manual system where use of land records by a person excludes the rest in accessing the same records. Development of the software is designed according to the spatial handling needs of the council and the personnel. This ensures the development of standardized data collection, storage, updating and retrieval activities. Aims and Objectives The  principle objective of computerizing land information systems in Nyahururu Municipal Council is to improve capacity to serve the users with quick, reliable, up to date, consistent and user friendly computerized land information. The above would be realized by updating the manual records to address any inconsistencies, gaps and lack of information. The records would be structured in a format ready for computerization. The aims of Computerizing Land Information Systems in Nyahururu are: To improve operators' functions of the municipal council and any other users of land information emanating thereof. This is tenable due to improved access for updating and retrieval. To create a computerized database of the land information in Nyahururu, which can be used in application of other computer packages e.g. GIS in future. To have readily available up to date and authentic land information for decision making both at the council level and at other higher levels. A necessity for achieving optimum land use based on planning and therefore sustainable development. The computerization process will entail provision of computers, printers and scanners as well as the training of staff. Prior to the actual project implementation exercise, a sensitization workshop was organized where all potential users were involved. The Nyahururu officers will be trained on how to computerize the information. This will ensure that the project becomes sustainable as the council owns it. At the initial stages, the project's broad aim is to computerize the current active records in order to create a computerized database. The database becomes the depository of all the information required for the council functions in land matters. In the future, the information in the database can further be manipulated or be used by introducing GIS. This project will run parallel with the manual system and eventually the manual system will be considered as a backup.