Development of an electronic appraisal system for right-of-way aquisition
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The acquisition of Right-of-Way is one of the major tasks involved in most of the highway projects. It is a highly complicated process requiring multiple stages, various participants, and large amount of data and information. It is the duty of the state Departments of Transportation to ensure that the property owner is fully compensated for the loss of land and resulting damages incurred due to the acquisition of his/her land. This involves valuation of the property being acquired. Normally, an independent fee appraiser is hired by a state Department of Transportation to determine the compensation that has to be paid to the property owner. There is a substantial divergence in values of the appraised properties that are similar in nature by two different fee appraisers. A variety of factors are responsible for these inconsistencies. In spite of the recent technological advances made by the states, the problems still persist. The objective of this thesis is to develop an Electronic Appraisal System (EAS) that is capable of capturing the appraisal data, transmitting, storing, managing and analyzing the appraisal data, thereby improving the appraisal process and reducing the likelihood of inconsistent appraisal values. A prototype of the proposed EAS has been developed to demonstrate the applicability and features of the new system.