The Egyptian General Authority for Surveying was established in 1898 under the name of the Department of Public Survey. The purpose of its establishment was to cover the land of Egypt with topographic maps and to create maps and books of ownership of agricultural lands within the zakat and for real estate built within the cities in order to collect real estate taxes. In 1971, the Commission became a public authority under the Ministry of Irrigation. Its functions were determined by a number of resolutions, Republic of which Presidential Decree No. 328 of 1983, and its system of supervising the cadastral work carried out by others by Presidential Decree No. 298 of 1984, and then turned into an economic body in 2001.