The 21st century citizen-centred state and service-oriented society requires information systems to function as an integrated whole to support citizens and organisations. There must be interoperability between different organisations and information systems.
In other words they must be able to work together and data only needs to be requested from the citizen once. Estonia’s solution for maintaining a modern State is X-Road, which saves Estonians 1400 years of working time every year.
52,000organisations as indirect users of X-Road services
1407years of working time saved
nearly 1Bqueries annually by X-Road
X-Road
Over1000organisations and enterprises in Estonia use X-Road daily
X-Road is the backbone of e-Estonia. Invisible yet crucial, it allows the nation’s various public and private sector e-service information systems to link up and function in harmony.
Estonia’s e-solution environment includes a full range of services for the general public, and since each service has its own information system they all use X-Road. To ensure secure transfers, all outgoing data is digitally signed and encrypted, and all incoming data is authenticated and logged.
It connects different information systems that may include a variety of services. It has developed into a tool that can also write to multiple information systems, transmit large data sets and perform searches across several information systems simultaneously. X-Road was designed with growth in mind, so it can be scaled up as new e-services and new platforms come online.
Today, it is implemented in Finland, Kyrgyzstan, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Japan and other countries. Similar technology that is based on the Estonian interoperability experiences has also been implemented in Ukraine and Namibia.
Two X-Road ecosystems can be also joined together, federated. Federation is a one to one relationship between two ecosystems. Members of the federated ecosystems can publish and consume services with each other as if they were members of the same ecosystem. Federation enables easy and secure cross-border data exchange between these ecosystems. The federation between Estonia and Finland was established in February 2018.
The e-Land Register is a one-of-a-kind web application that contains information on all ownership relations and limited real rights for properties and land parcels. Currently, there are over 1 million immovables in the Land Register.
Paired with a geographical information system (GIS), the electronic Land Register delivers real-time geographical data through the X-Road, enabling advanced map-based visualizations that power many of the location-based services in Estonia.
A critical tool for the real-estate market, it provides total transparency; listing the registered owner of each property holding, showing the property boundaries and providing other information that potential buyers need to know.
Records information contain:
Cadastral information – including address, area, purpose of land
Ownership relations
Encumbrances, restrictions, rights of use, other notations
Mortgage information
The system has transformed the way property transactions are carried out in Estonia, eliminating the need to visit public offices and spend hours waiting for a civil servant to search records. This paper-free system has reduced the processing time for land transactions from up to three months to as little as 8 days.
Businesses benefit from the security of having instant access to land titles and the ability to confirm ownership with a few clicks.
The Population Registry is the state’s database for holding basic information about each person living in Estonia. It contains their name, ID code, date of birth, place of residence, and other statistical data such as nationality, native language, education and profession. Each resident can review and correct their data in the register.
The register is connected to other systems via X-Road, and a variety of other state systems depend on its data for their services. For example, when individuals apply for child support, study allowance or concession status for public transport, data is retrieved from the Population Registry. The same is true when a person uses i-Voting. The system retrieves the information automatically – no extra documents have to be submitted or online forms filled out.
The state also benefits because statistics are kept up-to-date, and functions such as voter registration and tax filing, which are based on place of residence, can be handled properly.
The goal of e-Estonia Briefing Centre is to inspire global policy makers, political leaders, corporate executives, investors and international media with the success story of e-Estonia and build links to leading IT service providers.
The e-Estonia Briefing Centre has become a must-see destination, hosting over 10,000 international decision-makers every year. Make sure to book your visit in advance.
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