Agricultural land values using Geographic Information Systems: design location model and tools for information available by geoportal. Application to a Spanish Agricultural Area.

Quantifying the effect of location on land values can be done by designing a location factor which considers the most relevant aspects that may influence this value such as proximity to large cities, the population living around the parcel or land to be valued, the distance from it to markets or logistic centres, or the existence of places of environmental or landscape interest. Considering these variables can be complicated by having to process large amounts of distinct data (distances, no. of inhabitants or population size, protected areas, etc.), which have to be processed and interpreted to be able to define the factor that summarises them, and can affect the land value from income, such as productive assets, to correct its value. The main proposal put forward in this research is to study the various location aspects that affect land values, and the possibilities that Geographic Information Systems (GIS) offer to design with free software tools that allow simple calculations of a location correction factor and, consequently, land values. Calculations were made for all the rural cadastral parcels (2.3 million) in the Valencian Region. Results can be integrated into a new online GIS portal and make these available to users in soil valuation studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]