JULY 2009 VOL 13 ISSUE 7
AFRICA I AMERICAS I ASIA I AUSTRALIA I EUROPE www.GISdevelopment.net
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G35469_P_GIS-Development_May09.indd 1 3/23/09 1:13:11 PM
July 2009
Of road blocks and building blocks
Uptake of GI in Africa requires concerted efforts to provide enabling environment toensure that geospatial info permeates every aspect of society
Dr Olajide Kufoniyi
Mapping Africa for Africa
Lack of political will, financial capability and skilled manpower - African nations arebattling out all odds to unite geodetically...
Dr Derek Clarke
Together as one
The Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD) is an inter-governmental organisation established under the auspices of UN Economic Commission of Africa (ECA) and the African Union...
ESRI W
Training to combat
In 2003, the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was launched to combat global HIV/AIDS - the largest commitment by any nation to combat a singledisease in history
Dorina Maris
GIS DEVELOPMENT 5
W h a t ’ s i n s i d e
28
18
34
38
52 First Person
Dr Derek ClarkeChief Director: Surveys and Mapping
Department of Rural Development and
Land Reform, South Africa
Regular Features
07 Editorial I 08 News I 58 Events
35
'Uptake of
spatial tech is slow
but promising'
I expect rapidchanges becausemapping is one discipline that isbeing transformedby technology very fast
- Dr Hussein O. Farah
Director General, Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for
Development (RCMRD), Kenya
Articles
ABOUT COVER
Volumes have been written on Africa -home of Homo Sapiens, the land of abillion people. Though colonial legacieshave put Africa on backburner for cen-turies, the continent is galloping todevelopment today adopting latestgeospatial technologies. Regional imbal-ances not withstanding, the clarion call– Africa Unite - is threading countriesgeospatially together.
July 2009GIS DEVELOPMENT6
ADVISORY BOARD
Dato’ Dr. Abdul Kadir bin TaibDeputy Director General of Survey and Mapping, Malaysia
Bhupinder SinghSr. Vice PresidentBentley Systems Inc.
Prof. Ian Dowman PresidentISPRS
Prof. Josef Strobl Director, Centre for GeoinformaticsUniversity of Salzburg, Austria
Kamal K Singh Chairman and CEORolta Group of Companies
Mark Reichardt President and CEO,Open Geospatial Consortium
Matthew O’Connell CEO, GeoEyeSDKFDS
Dr. Prithvish Nag DirectorNATMO, India
Prof. V. S RamamurthyChairmanIIT, Delhi, India
KCM KumarChairman & Managing DirectorSpeck Systems Limited
Brian NichollsGeneral ManagerAAMHatch
Shailesh Nayak SecretaryMinistry of Earth Sciences, India
Prof William CartwrightPresidentInternational Cartographic Association
Dr Derek. G. ClarkeChief Director: Surveys and MappingSouth Africa
Bradley C SkeltonChief Technology OfficerERDAS
PRESIDENT M P Narayanan Editor-in-Chief Ravi Gupta Director Maneesh Prasad Publisher Sanjay Kumar
PUBLICTIONS TEAM Managing Editor (Honorary) Prof. Arup Dasgupta Sr. Associate Editor (Honorary)
Dr. Hrishikesh Samant Associate Editor Bhanu Rekha Sub Editors Simmi Sinha,
Pratiksha Singh Product Manager Shivani Lal
DESIGN TEAM Sr. Creative Designer Deepak Kumar Graphic Designer Manoj Kumar Singh
CIRCULATION TEAM Vijay Kumar Singh
GIS Development Pvt. Ltd. A - 145, Sector - 63, Noida, India Tel + 91 - 120 - 4612500 Fax + 91 - 120 - 4612555 / 666
Collaborate to reach out
HIV/AIDS is unfortunately a major public health concern in many countries inAfrica. Making sure that people in need of HIV/AIDS care get access to treatmentin an equitable way requires taking several parameters into account, making plan-ning decisions sometimes difficult.
Ebener Steeve
SA - On a growth path with GIS
South Africa has always been more progressive than other African countries interms of use of ICT. In 1980s, South Africa was characterised by a general lackof awareness in national and provincial governmental departments regarding whatspatial data was available as well as what capabilities GIS offered in practice.
Anamika DasRI Writer, USA
42
46
22 Surveyor General Speak
A key challenge for the geoinfor-mation communityin Africa is theneed for closerlinkage betweenthe geoinformationproducts and societal benefits
“
”
DISCLAIMERGIS Development does not necessarily subscribe to the views expressed in the publication. Allviews expressed in this issue are those of the contributors. It is not responsible for any loss to any-one due to the information provided.
GIS Development Pvt. Ltd. Printed and Published by Sanjay Kumar. Press M. P. Printers B-220,Phase-II, Noida, Gautambudh Nagar (UP) INDIA Publication Address P-82, Sector-11, Gautambudh Nagar, Noida, India Editor Ravi Gupta
26
One for the road
While one is struggling with manual techniques of surveying,the other uses a vast array of latest technologies. While onefights the lack of political will and financial capability, hisneighbour is totally motivated. While one is opening eyes tothe idea of SDI, the other is far ahead in the race. Yet, theyare all together - discussing the issues, building bridges, shar-ing experiences and expertise. Bhanu Rekha spoke to theSurveyor Generals of African nations to know the status ofgeoinformation, challenges and opportunities in their respec-tive countries.
Aida Opoku-MensahDirector - ICTs and S&T Division (ISTD) UN
Economic Commission for Africa
Interview
GIS DEVELOPMENT 7
Africa always excites imagination. Rolling
veld, equatorial forests, deserts, massive
waterfalls; it presents nature in all its
wild beauty. It also has problems of drought and
erosion of natural wealth, of human conflict, of
human competition with animals for habitat, or
reckless exploitation of natural resources. It is
thus an immediate candidate for meticulous
inventory and informed management of the frag-
ile environment. In short, Africa is very fertile
ground for geospatial technology applications.
In this issue, we showcase Africa and its tryst
with geospatial technology and applications in
various spheres. Mapping is the starting point
and some of the key efforts like the Committee
on Development Information, CODI which has
now become CODIST, or the Committee on
Development Information, Science and Technol-
ogy under the UN Economic Commission for Africa are covered. The main problem
is of continent wide standardisation and a beginning has been made with the African
Geodetic Reference framework, AFREF. The issues, as always, are more political and
financial than technical. Different security regimes in different countries hinder
exchange of data and information. Access to data varies from nation to nation. In this
milieu, it is heartening to note the efforts being put in by various agencies and cham-
pions of change. We carry interviews from some of these leaders.
The world is interested in Africa. Europe has started an Africa Initiative. USAID
among other efforts is looking at the spatial dimensions of the HIV-AIDS problem.
Bodies like the World Health Organisation, WHO, Global Spatial Data Infrastruc-
ture, GSDI and International Cartographic Association, ICA are also playing their
part by providing platforms where global knowledge and expertise can be shared and
brought to bear on many of the problems.
On its part, GIS Development made a very modest beginning three years ago with
the first Map Africa held in Johannesburg in 2006. Two more events followed, this
time in Cape Town and in 2009 we return to Johannesburg for the 2009 event. This
issue is an attempt to put the African geospatial scenario in perspective. We hope
that the articles and interviews will set the ball rolling leading to meaningful discus-
sions during Map Africa 2009.
Prof. Arup Dasgupta
Managing Editor (Honorary) [email protected]
A fertile ground for geospatia
l applicatio
ns
A fertile ground for geospatia
l applicatio
ns
E d i t o r S p e a k
Jaly 2009
News
GIS DEVELOPMENT8
Deconstructing Asia’s largest slum
For the first time in the country, GIS
has been used to map each and every
structure and household in the 590-
acre Mumbai’s slum Dharavi. As part of
the Rs 15,000 crore Dharavi Redevel-
opment Project, a survey was carried
out by Pune-based NGO Mashal.
According to the survey, which is still
in the process, there are 60,158 struc-
tures in Dharavi of which 45,563 tenements are residential in the five sec-
tors that have been demarcated for redevelopment. The survey has found
that there are at least 50 industrial units, have a monthly turnover of Rs
one crore each and that the average family income here is between Rs
13,000 and Rs 15,000 a month. The GIS-based biometric and socio-economic
baseline survey will allow a user to - at the click of a button - narrow down
on a particular structure and get information about its occupant.
CSIR installs new
X-band antenna
An invest-
ment of R 22
million by the
CSIR in a
state-of-the-
art X-band
antenna has
bolstered the
capacity of its
Satellite
Applications
Centre to track more earth observa-
tion satellites and increase its archive
of earth observation data. The capa-
bilities of the X-band antenna will
boost the CSIR’s data democracy
project as well as government-funded
initiatives, such as the Department of
Science and Technology-funded
South African Earth Observation
Strategy, and the delivery of SPOT 5
data to all government stakeholders
on a yearly basis.
NLC to harmonise
GIS data
The National Land Centre (NLC),
the land regulatory body of Rwanda, is
set to harmonise all GIS data. This is
in a bid to streamline access, ease in
sharing and reference amongst all its
users. This was revealed during a
meeting NLC had with all the users of
GIS technology at its headquarters in
Gishushu. NLC hopes that proce-
Africa dures and priorities can be adapted to
guide and simplify spatial data shar-
ing among all the users.
Governor calls for
property mapping
Lagos State Governor, Babatunde
Fashola (SAN) asserted that the gov-
ernment is poised to ensure that it
captures all lands in the State into a
GIS in order to bring prosperity to the
people and the power of the Lagos
economy depends on to what extent
land can be turned into an instrument
of prosperity. Governor Fashola added
that most people often lament about
their inability to secure collaterals for
bank facilities without realising that
the personal houses and buildings
which were bequeathed to them or
which they own can become useful
collaterals once the titles are perfect-
ed and such properties will become
useful documents which are tenable
before banks with the new GIS map-
ping system.
Oil slick mapping
project complete
Infoterra Ltd has completed an oil
slick mapping and interpretation proj-
ect of offshore Seychelles in collabo-
ration with Seychelles Petroleum
Company (Seypec). This is the largest
slick mapping project ever undertaken
offshore Seychelles - with the acquisi-
tion of over 150 radar satellite scenes
across the 500,000 sq km area - the
project was undertaken during April
and May to take advantage of the
optimum weather window.
July 2009
Asia
GIS DEVELOPMENT 9
Prithiviraj Chavan is new S&T minister
Prithviraj Chavan is the new Minis-
ter of Science and Technology and
Earth Sciences in the newly elect-
ed UPA government. He succeeds
Kapil Sibal to the post. Chavan has
done his BE (Honours) from BITS,
Pilani (Rajasthan) and MS from Uni-
versity of California, Berkeley. Cha-
van, a close adviser to Prime minis-
ter had spent time working in the
field of aircraft instrumentation
and designing audio recorders for
anti-submarine warfare in the US before returning to India. He is also a member of the
Atomic Energy Commission and the Space Commission, the highest policy making bodies
in their respective fields. He was part of the prime ministerial delegation to the United
States in July 2005 when the Indo-US nuclear deal was negotiated. On the first day in
office at CSIR, Chavan held a meeting with heads of departments and key officials of
the two ministries following a warm welcome by the scientists, researchers and offi-
cials. The team of scientists and CSIR Director General Samir Brahmachari appraised
the minister with the ongoing projects in various science and technology areas. Making
his first move as the minister, he promised that the Right to Information Act (RTI)
will be imroved in India. The minister said he is looking forward to all science and
technology departments to work synergistically.
ERDAS, DG to
educate end users
Digital Globe & ERDAS joined hands
to educate and cater to the needs of
geospatial users in terms of data
through a series of seminars across the
country. The first seminar in the
series is organised in Patna. The semi-
nar showcased Digital Globe, with its
imagery solutions, and ERDAS, with
its tools like LPS and Apollo server.
About 30 people from various govern-
ment organisations like Flood Man-
agement Information System Cell,
Survey of India etc attended the sem-
inar. Achyut Rao, Regional Sales Man-
ager, Digital Globe, briefed about the
products they offer and their techni-
cal specifications. Atanu Sinha &
Mahesh Reddy from ERDAS focussed
on Creating Stereo Imaginary by
geospatial solutions.
IIT’s low-cost GIS
software
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)
Mumbai has developed a low-cost
GIS software which can be used for
resource management by community
development programmes, govern-
ment sectors, NGOs and industries.
The software will be distributed in the
market by Bhugol GIS Pvt Ltd . The
low cost software is a GIS planning
tool and is tailor-made for users with
wide range of operations such as map
database creation, query and retrieval,
analysis and visualisation.
Car navigation in
its early stage
ResearchInChina, the vertical portal
for Chinese business intelligence,
announced the release of a new
report - China Navigation Map Mar-
ket Report, 2008-2009. The report
said the Chinese car navigation mar-
ket is in its early stage compared to
Japan, Europe and U.S.A. In 2008,
the market penetration rate of car
navigation in China was only 4.56%,
far lower than the 60% of Japan, and
20%-30% of both Europe and USA.
In 2008, the car ownership reached
to 149 million in China, among
which 40 million are private cars
and about 6.8 million cars have
installed navigation devices. Also in
2008, Chinese car navigation market
sharply increased, a total of 3.1
million navigation devices were
sold during the year, more than
doubled of 2007.
July 2009
RazakSAT’s new
launch date
RazakSAT, that was supposed to be
launched on April 21 but put off due to
technical reasons, will now be launched on
July 14. The date was set by Space Explo-
ration Technology (SpaceX) which is
responsible for the launch after they had
corrected technical problems which were
excessive vibrations in the rocket launcher,
said Science, Technology and Innovation
Minister Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili.
RazakSAT will be launched from Kwa-
jalein Atoll, Republic of Marshall Islands.
Mapping cultural
assets of Pakistan
Norway and Pakistan would carry out
mapping of tangible and intangible
cultural assets in north west frontier
province, focussing initially on seven
districts, in collaboration with
UNESCO, according to Robert
Kevile, Norwegian Ambassador. The
project would focus initially on dis-
tricts of Peshawar, Mardan, Mansehra,
Charsadda, Swat, Bannu and Chitral.
Joint space
research with India
Japan and India plan to launch their
first joint space research project this
year, an experiment in growing plants
in zero gravity, said a Japan
Aerospace Exploration Agency
(JAXA) researcher. The two Asian
powers are set to launch a small
and unmanned Indian-made satellite
in October, carrying Japanese labora-
tory equipment, which is set to orbit
for about
one week at
a height of
around 600
kilometers
(370 miles).
Japan
already sends astronauts to the Inter-
national Space Station and has con-
ducted several space experiments in
its Kibo laboratory.
Countdown begins for DubaiSat-1
DubaiSat-1, the first satellite developed by a UAE
entity, will be launched on July 25, marking the
beginning of an era of space technology research.
The remote-sensing satellite, developed by the
Emirates Institution for Advanced Science &
Technology (EIAST) will enable collec-
tion of space and earth observation
data. Images from DubaiSat-1 can be
used for applications such as urban development, sci-
entific research, telecommunications and transportation. DubaiSat-1 is
designed for a minimum lifetime of five years in-orbit operation. The satel-
lite is capable of high-resolution imaging and is in line with internationally
recognised standards. DubaiSat-1 will be launched under the supervision and
with the authorisation of the Russian Federal Space Agency through the
Moscow-based International Space Company Kosmotras.
UAE engineers to design DubaiSat 2
As the UAE's first remote sensing satellite prepares for a summer launch,
engineers in the Emirates are already designing an advanced version which
will provide government agencies with greater help to shape the country's
future. The Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology
(EIAST), said that lessons learnt in DubaiSat-1 development will ensure that
the follow-up project delivers an enhanced quality of data. EIAST techni-
cians who worked alongside South Korean engineers on DubaiSat 1, have tak-
en the lead role in designing Dubai-Sat 2.
GIS DEVELOPMENT10 July 2009
Map unmasks
secret places
What can best be described as group
spying has resulted in one of the
world's most complete maps of one of
the world's most secretive countries,
North Korea.
The map, a project of Google Earth,
reveals hundreds of sites rarely if
ever seen by Westerners. Those
include markets, manufacturing
plants, prisons, anti-aircraft locations,
military bases and even the seaside
homes of political leaders. Curtis
Melvin, an economics doctoral stu-
dent at George Mason University
here, began the mapping project in
April 2007.
He used his own photographs taken
on trips to North Korea to pinpoint
their locations on satellite maps.
Soon, people were sharing their own
eyewitness knowledge of the country.
Following clues from drawings and
news stories helped fill in many more
blanks. Now in its 17th version, the
map has been downloaded more than
77,000 times.
It can be downloaded at nkecon-
watch. com/north-korea-uncovered-
google-earth/
Country’s second
satellite in 2012
Vietnam plans to launch its second
satellite in 2012, a local newspaper
The New Hanoi reported. This is an
important plan which was included in
the strategy of research and applica-
tion of space technology to 2020 of
the country. The satellite, called
VNREDSat-1, is of small size and low
orbit. It will be used to monitor and
take picture of the earth surface of
different sizes and types and provide
those pictures to centers gathering
earth-surface satellite pictures. A con-
trolling center will be built on an area
of two hectares in the Hoa Lac High-
Tech Park in Hanoi.
Geographic
Calculator 7.3
Blue Marble Geographics released
Geographic Calculator 7.3 and Geo-
graphic Transformer 6.1 via the Blue
Marble Desktop 2.0, the all-in-one
geospatial data management platform
for Blue Marble’s popular data trans-
formation tools. This release will
introduce the Spatial Connect 7.3
Module for working with a variety of
spatial databases. The release features
an upgrade of the Geographic Calcu-
lator to version 7.3, which now con-
tains added support for ATS, GARS,
and BNG string point data format-
ting. Performance enhancements for
the ESRI / Geographic Calculator
extension, additional XLS read write
support, and a new arbitrary scale and
translation for point database conver-
sion jobs are also featured.
Support for
OpenGeo Suite
OpenGeo, a company in open source
geospatial software development and
support, announced that it will offer
total integrated support packages for
July 2009 GIS DEVELOPMENT
>> Releases
SiRFatlasIV GPS
navigation
processor
SiRF Technolo-
gy has made
available the
new version of
its navigation
processor called SiRFatlasIV. This
ARM11 based GPS application specif-
ic processor is made for designing
mass-volume GPS integrated mobile
systems with location awareness
features at low cost. SiRFatlasIV can
provide 64 channels.
Its multifunction location system
processor employing multi-satellite
system location engine, with more
than 1,000,000 correlators is strong
enough to receive signals in loca-
tions with poor signal reach such as
urban concrete jungles, dense
foliage, and steep ravines. It pro-
vides -161-dBm simultaneous track-
ing of both GPS and Galileo satel-
lites. SiRFatlasIV complements
SiRF's SiRFprima multifunction loca-
tion system processor introduced
last year in building media rich GPS
navigation systems.
11
the OpenGeo Suite. The Suite
includes supported versions of the
OpenLayers map component,
GeoServer application server, and
PostGIS spatial database, allowing
customers to support a complete
open source Web-mapping stack.
Free PDF viewer
for spatial analysis
Global Map Systems Inc. (GMS)
announced free map viewing solution
called LOGIQ Viewer. GMS has part-
nered with Glyph & Cog to offer map
users an industry-specific free PDF
viewer for spatial analysis.
This new release offers map-makers
an ideal way to deliver location intelli-
gence and true GIS analysis to field
technicians, construction crews, mili-
tary and homeland security personnel.
Map users with no GIS training now
have free access to powerful GIS
analysis tools all running inside a
portable PDF map.
GeoViewer from
LizardTech
LizardTech, announced the release of
GeoViewer 3.0, now offered as a free,
standalone application for viewing
geospatial
imagery and
vector over-
lays.
GeoViewer
3.0 enables
users to view
and export
layers from
varied sources, such as local reposito-
ries, Express Server catalogues, and
WMS and JPIP servers. GeoViewer
supports a wide range of input for-
mats and exports to GeoTIFF, PNG
and JPEG.
>> BusinessIRRIS is 10 and going strong
GeoDecisions recently commemorated
the 10-year anniversary of its IRRIS tech-
nology. Since its inception in 1999, IRRIS
has utilised the latest advances in IT, GIS
and LBS to aid decision makers in coordi-
nating response, managing assets and
tracking equipment or personnel
through a common operating picture. A
secure geospatial Web application, IRRIS
provides users with the access, knowl-
edge, and visibility to effectively view,
analyse, and track mobile assets on a global basis. It incorporates and displays worldwide
infrastructure data, live-vehicle tracking, near-real-time weather, and active route condi-
tions in a map format. A commercial version of IRRIS provides comprehensive asset man-
agement and logistics capabilities.
Genesys is USDA's private vendor
The Department of Agriculture (USDA), For-
eign Agricultural Service (FAS), Office of
Global Analysis (OGA), announced Genesys
International Corporation Limited as the
latest addition to the Prime Vendor Con-
tract. Genesys is a provider of remote sens-
ing and GIS services and is the only Indian
company providing remote sensing services
to USDA for satellite data analysis. OGA is
responsible for global crop condition assessments and estimates of area, yield, and produc-
tion for grains, oilseeds and cotton. The primary mission of OGA is to target, collect,
analyse and disseminate timely, objective, useful, and cost-effective global crop condition
and agricultural market intelligence information. One of OGA’s key missions is to provide
unbiased commodity estimates and forecasts to create a marketing edge for U.S. produc-
ers in world markets.
CygNet partners with ESRI
CygNet Software, provider of enterprise operations platform for oil and gas industry,
announced it is partnering with ESRI through its developer programme to integrate GIS
capabilities and data into CygNet's next-generation SCADA offering. The CygNet enterprise
operations platform is currently used by more than 100 companies across oil and gas explo-
ration, production and gas transportation to improve operational efficiency and market
responsiveness. Based on a proven, revolutionary network architecture, users across every
business function can prioritise and analyse massive amounts of real-time and historical
information to support daily operations, strategic decision making and regulatory reporting
requirements.
July 200912 GIS DEVELOPMENT
>> Applications
13GIS DEVELOPMENT
GIS on BlackBerry awards
Research In Motion and
TDC Group announced the
1st Annual GIS on Black-
Berry awards. Coinciding
with the ESRI International
User Conference, the GIS
on BlackBerry awards will
recognise the best GIS
applications using
Freeance Mobile software
on BlackBerry smart-
phones.
Win valuable award prizes
including Freeance Mobile
software and training,
BlackBerry smartphones and Ricoh 500SE GPS enabled
cameras. A special award category - BlackBerry Beacon -
is open to organisations who want to launch GIS on Black-
Berry smartphones. Winners and finalists are chosen in
each these categories: Best application for public safety;
Best application for government; Best application for
field services organization; BlackBerry Beacon for innova-
tive applications in the planning stage.
GIS tech in the kite capital
Living in the kite capital of the world means lovely Satur-
day afternoons for most residents of Lincoln County, Ore-
gon. However, for utility crews, it means extensive
efforts to keep the power flowing despite outrageous
winds that send trees crashing into electric lines. Central
Lincoln People’s Utility District found a faster way to pre-
vent and fix such outages with vegetation and outage
management based on
GIS technology from
ESRI. The utility serves
approximately 38,000
customers along the
central Oregon coast—a
strip 100 miles long and
2 miles wide.
Europe data for ArcPad
ESRI and Tele Atlas, announced the addition of Europe data
to the ArcPad 8 StreetMap extension. ArcPad now includes
both North American and pan-European data that can be
accessed by users at no additional cost. The ArcPad
StreetMap extension includes ESRI StreetMap Premium data
derived from the latest high-quality digital maps from Tele
Atlas for use in ArcPad on a variety of mobile devices.
Users can leverage ArcPad and the StreetMap extension to
enable display, address geocoding, reverse geocoding and
routing. This extension supports Smart Data Compression
(SDC) format. With ArcPad, you can perform reliable field
data collection, improve the productivity and accuracy of
your GIS information and share enterprise data with field
staff for rapid decision making.
Custom Landsat imagery
on the Web
Science Applications International Cor-
poration (SAIC) has launched
a Web-based processing sys-
tem delivering custom Land-
sat imagery directly to cus-
tomer desktops. Landsat
satellites collect images of
Earth from space that can be
used to evaluate changes to
our planet caused by natural
processes and human prac-
tices. SAIC's custom imagery
can be used by land use/cover
professionals (researchers, resource
managers and policy makers) for crop manage-
ment, drought monitoring, climate change detection, disas-
ter relief, water resource management and other applica-
tions. The new SAIC system provides fast and reliable data
supported by experienced scientists and imaging experts,
leveraging the 37-year-old USGS Landsat archive made avail-
able by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science
(EROS) Center in Sioux Falls, SD.
July 2009
Land cover data
layers available
An integrated national data layer, the
GeoBase Land Cover layer, is made
available in Canada now. This layer is
the result of collaborative work
between Agriculture and Agri-Food
Canada (AAFC), Natural Resources
Canada (NRCan), the Canadian
Space Agency and Canadian
provinces and territories. Specific
land classification processing was car-
ried out by AAFC and NRCan’s
Canadian Forest Service, Canada
Centre for Remote Sensing, and Cen-
tre for Topographic Information –
Sherbrooke. This data layer is built
from various sources of classified land
cover data.
GIS DEVELOPMENT July 200914
>> Navteq in News
Map coverage
extended
NAVTEQ announced the availability of
its premier navigable map in the
Bahamas, St. Barts and the Cayman
Islands. With the addition of this cov-
erage, NAVTEQ now provides digital
map coverage to the most popular
American vacation destinations in the
region. From
tourists who come to the islands to
enjoy the breathtaking beaches to
local residents, NAVTEQ maps provide
a wealth of information to enable
turn-by-turn navigation. Coverage for
the Bahamas includes approximately
1,230 km of road network. St. Barts
and The Cayman Islands include
approximately 477 km of roads com-
bined.
MetroPCS to get
map data
NAVTEQ has been selected as the pre-
ferred map supplier for the location
based services of MetroPCS, provider
of wireless communication service.
MetroPCS has launched several end-
user applications that use NAVTEQ
map data, including MetroNavigator, a
GPS-enabled navigation application.
MetroNavigator is a downloadable
application that enables turn-by-turn
driving directions, local search and
maps on GPS-enabled handsets.
SPOTCana to
monitor plantations
Spot Image and Infoterra, announced
the launch of SPOTCana in Brazil.
This is a new service tailored to moni-
toring sugar cane plantations.
Spot Image, with support from
Infoterra, is proposing an online sub-
scription service to give the sugar
industry—cane growers, distilleries,
environmental departments and
insurance companies—precise, ready-
to-use maps throughout the growth
cycle. Subscribers can thus acquire
information to closely monitor their
crops, ascertain growth, maturity and
stress.
CBERS images
for free
The Brazilian government informed
that Egypt will soon start receiving
images from the CBER satellite,
jointly owned by Brazil and China. A
memorandum for expanding the
satellite's reception to three stations
in Africa was signed, during president
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's trip to Chi-
na. Stations in the Canary Islands and
in South Africa will also receive the
signal. Images from the Cbers are dis-
tributed free of charge, but require a
reception system.
In Brazil, the images are used
by organisations such as the Brazilian
Institute for Geography and Statis-
tics.
Australia
Navman to use
Navteq's maps
NAVTEQ announced an agreement with
Navman that it will utilise the NAVTEQ
map of Australia in its entire range of
PND’s. With this new agreement,
NAVTEQ will be the preferred map sup-
plier for MiTAC, who owns Navman, Mio
& Magellan in Australia. The relationship
between NAVTEQ and Navman in Aus-
tralia began in October 2008 when Nav-
man selected NAVTEQ to supply map
data and content for S-series devices.
BENTLEY. ADVANCING GISFOR INFRASTRUCTURE.With Bentley’s integrated geospatial and infrastructure engineeringsolutions, owner-operators, engineering consultants and contractors allplan, build and operate better infrastructure – faster.
Bentley supports the full plan, design, build and operate lifecycle for theworld’s infrastructure offering comprehensive GIS-based solutions formapping, enterprise collaboration, Web publishing, engineering design,field workforce productivity, modeling and analysis, and enterprise ITintegration. Experience seamless continuity between geospatial andengineering design workflows.
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Water and Wastewater
© 2009 Bentley Systems, Incorporated. Bentley, the B logo, and Advancing GIS for Infrastructure are either registered or unregistered trademarks or service marks of Bentley Systems,Incorporated or one of its direct or indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.
BENTLEY SOLUTIONS
BENTLEYRECOGNIZED
AS NUMBER 2
DARA
TECH GEOSPATIAL 2008 STUDY
www.bentley.com
SM
4390_AGFI_Civil-Geo_Ad_7.75x10.25_IN_0609.indd 14390 AGFI Civil-Geo Ad 7.75x10.25 IN 0609.indddd 1
London at 12.5cm
resolution
Getmapping has released the detailed
aerial imagery of London and it is
available for immediate download
from Getmapping.com. The new
imagery covers the whole of central
London stretching from Heathrow
and the M25 in the West to the
Thames Estuary in the East. The
imagery was captured using the latest
digital camera technology providing
rich colour definition & ground detail.
Each image pixel is equivalent to 12.5
cm on the ground making it possible
to see very fine detail right down to
road markings and street furniture.
Detailed UKMap -
not from OS
The GeoInformation Group annou-
nced an innovative mapping pro-
gramme. UKMap is UK’s commercially
funded, large-scale topographic map-
ping and address database created com-
pletely independent of Ordnance Sur-
vey. It is a feature rich mapping database
which comprises of integrated map lay-
ers and attribute tables. Captured for
use at 1:1,000 scale, UKMap includes
buildings with 3D information & road
detail It also includes aerial photography
and terrain layers.
Scotland gets
access to OS data
Public sector organisations in Scotland
now have access to Ordnance Survey
mapping data under a single agreement
for the first time. Local and central gov-
ernment organisations, as well as some
Scottish NHS members, will now bene-
fit from being part of a single agreement
for OS data. This agreement, known
as “One Scotland”, includes 72 organisa-
tions, with provision for over 100
more, and will result in significant cost
savings and greater data sharing. It
will give access to a wide range of
geographic data to aid the provision of
public services.
EUROPE
3D models of cities
throughout Europe
Blom has completed the
production of the first 40
high quality 3D models,
Blom3D, of European
cities. The Blom3D mod-
els have been delivered to
Tele Atlas for integration
into navigation; LBS and
mapping solutions. Blom3D is produced in four differ-
ent definition levels; 3D blocks, 3D blocks including
roof details, pattern-texturised 3D blocks with roof
details and full real image-view texturised 3D buildings.
The real image view texturised buildings are created by
combining oblique aerial images based on Pictometry
technology with the 3D blocks.
GIS DEVELOPMENT16 July 2009
Olajide Kufoniyi
Secretary General, AfricanAssociation of Remote Sensing of the Environment(AARSE)[email protected].
18
Geoinformation uptake
Uptake of GI inAfrica requiresconcerted efforts to provide enablingenvironment toensure thatgeospatial info permeates everyaspect of society
GIS DEVELOPMENT
Global efforts have been and arecontinually being made to attainsustainable development in allparts of the world. These include
collective setting of goals and agenda suchas the UN global Millennium DevelopmentGoals (MDG). For example, at the Africancontinent level, the New Partnership forAfrica’s Development (NEPAD) by theAfrican Union and CODIST are striving toprovide enabling environment for sustain-able development. However, uptake of GI inAfrica still requires concerted efforts to pro-vide enabling environment ‘to ensure thatgeospatial information permeates everyaspect of society and is made available topeople who need it, when they need it andin a form that they can use it to make deci-sions with minimal pre-processing’ for sus-tainable development.
Overview of status of
geospatial information
To make geospatial datasets available, dis-coverable, better accessible, shareable,interoperable and re-usable much attentionhas been paid to the development of spatialdata infrastructures (SDI) in Africa throughthe efforts of CODI-Geo. However, the SDIdevelopment is progressing very slowly atnational levels and appears to be gettingpoor political support and inadequate partic-ipation of stakeholders. The fundamentaldatasets are either not available at all orthey are largely not available in the form andcurrency required. For example, in manycountries, 1:50,000 topographic maps thatcommonly serve as base maps are out-of-date and in analog form; cadastralmaps/databases are mostly not availablewhile in most cases geodetic controls arenot yet unified and adjusted and are not insufficient density. The 2008 USGS AfricaRemote Sensing Study indicated that about60% of respondents mentioned inadequacyof ground control points as a major stum-
bling block to geospatial data production.About the same number of respondentsreported that elevation data are not ade-quate in many African countries. The situa-tion is similar with respect to the other fun-damental datasets. On data accessibilityand dissemination, only 2% of the popula-tion of Africa has Internet access thusnecessitating efforts to increase this num-ber by huge investments either in communication satellites or by improvingthe undersea cable infrastructure.
The use of earth observation satellite (EOS)data to generate development information is rapidly improving in Africa fol-lowing the launching of EOS by Africancountries – Algeria, Nigeria, Egypt andSouth Africa which led to increased awareness in decision makers and civil soci-ety regarding the applications of EOS andGIS. The availability of free archived Land-sat data and SRTM DEMs and cheapalternatives like ASTER data are mak-ing satellite data become moreaffordable thereby contributing tothe increase in the uptake ofgeospatial technology inAfrica while users are alsoeagerly awaiting theCBERS-2B imageswhich will be madeavailable free ofcharge. Therecognitionof the
Of road
blocks and
building blocks
July 2009
A
immense opportunities offered by EO systems for regional coopera-tion and development has also led to the encouraging evolution ofthe concept of an African Resource Management Satellite (ARMS)constellation programme that includes Algeria, Nigeria and SouthAfrica and which is expected to welcome other African countriesinterested in joining the venture.
Even though Landsat and SPOT are the two most popular satelliteimagery used in the continent according to the USGS Survey, thesame survey indicated that the most desired spatial resolution forsatellite images is 1 m – 5 m, followed by 63 cm – 90 cm and then5 m – 120 m. Consequently, accessibility to high resolution imagesneeds to be given adequate attention. Again, a GEO-Africa satellitewith 25 m resolution XS and 75m SWIR, 300 km swath and dailyrevisit being proposed will serve very useful role in the generation offundamental datasets for SDI in Africa. As commendable as the cur-rent efforts are towards providing enabling environment for theuptake of GI in Africa, we need to identify the existing challenges
and provide solutions to them. Some of these challenges are indicat-ed in the following sub-section.
Factors for slow progress in uptake
The primary data source for mapping is EO satellite images.Although numerous EO satellites are available globally, accessibilityto satellite images when needed in Africa is still difficult. This is a for-midable challenge to the contribution of EOS to the uptake of GI inAfrica. Apart from the long revisit period of majority of the satellites,Africa faces a lot of challenges in the use of the existing systems.These include:
• 1Difficulty of getting archived and current images inAfrican countries due to the archiving policy of image produc-ers: images are most often only acquired based upon com-mercial request which means that any area that has neverbeen requested for will not have any image in the archive.
July 2009 19GIS DEVELOPMENT
GIS DEVELOPMENT20
• 1Absence of permanent receiving stations in the region forthe commercial high and medium resolution sensors exceptfor the African-owned satellites (Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria andSouth Africa) and Landsat-5 in South Africa. This retardsdirect data reception and the processing of high-resolutionsatellite images thus increasing the overall cost of satelliteimage acquisition.
• 1Inadequacy of geodetic reference points for geo-refer-encing of images and other survey and mapping applications.
Essential building blocks for GI uptake
National Geodetic Reference Frame
There is a preponderance of inadequate national geodetic controlsin Africa to the extent that survey plans required for the registrationof land titles are still being tied to a local origin determined by solaror stellar observations. Mere sketches are even acceptable officiallyin some cases. Apart from the fact that the planimetric controls maybe based on different coordinate systems, they are usually not uni-fied with the vertical controls. To facilitate adequate and fit-for-usegeospatial data for various applications, it is therefore necessary tointensify the implementation of AFREF as well as other nationalgeodetic control networks.
Geo-information Archives
Information archives are in general, a critical component of any infra-structure for the enabling environment for innovation. Much of the GIarchives in Africa are still paper-based and this limits their accessibil-ity. In many cases, the data are so obsolete that new mapping isrequired yet it is also essential to convert the obsolete maps to digi-tal for time-series analyses. This leads to double costs that will bedifficult to sell to the political decision makers. It is therefore neces-sary to address this issue of converting the existing analoganaloguedata and the appropriate archiving of the converted existing data andthe newly produced current digital data.
National Mapping and Geo-information Policies
As a result of the promotion of the development of SDI in Africa,many African countries have realised the need to implement compo-nents of the infrastructure. They are also conscious of the need toadopt policies for promoting greater awareness and public access tostandard and coordinated geospatial data production, managementand dissemination by all sectors including the establishment of ageospatial data clearinghouse at various levels in the country (local,state and federal) with linkages with the private sector. Towards theachievement of the foregoing objectives, various countries have put(or are putting) in place modalities to produce a national GI policy,which will certainly eliminate most of the problems experienced byGI producers and users. In addition to having a national GI policy, it isnecessary to put in place a national mapping policy to address indetail the activities of national topographic mapping, provision ofgeodetic framework as well as cadastral mapping including thefunding modalities. These cannot be treated in depth within thenational GI policy and its absence can deter production of these vitalfundamental datasets.
Funding Issues Not less than 2.5% of the national budget each year has been gen-erally advocated but the amount allocated is often typically a far cry
from this percentage. Unfortunately such budgetary provision oftendoes not take into consideration the amount generated by theagency; a high income generating agency may still attract inade-quate budgetary provision. This situation can be substantiallyreduced by granting autonomy to the agencies. This will allow theagency to be properly funded and thus be in a position to implementnew innovation systems in its production strategies.
Human Capacity buildingTo be fully utilised, the acquisition of GI technology must be comple-mented by readily available skilled manpower. It is noted that region-al GI capacity is improving in Africa with many African countries par-ticipating in a variety of notable space technology initiatives. Many GIprofessionals, technologists and technicians were trained in theobsolete methods of map production whereas, the introduction of GItechnology demands a critical mass of well-trained staff at all levelsin a reasonable time frame.
Given that many organisations in African countries are unable toafford the costs to send their staff abroad for (re)training pro-grammes except through (limited) external funding support fromdonor countries and agencies, and considering the number of per-sons to be trained before achieving capacity utilisation, it is neces-sary to provide alternative solutions through educational networkingof institutions in developed and African countries, i.e., through cross-border education and Web based education/e-learning. Internation-al organisations like ISPRS, GEO and FIG have put in place workinggroups and committees to evolve the necessary modalities andframeworks for effective cross border education. It is also importantto strengthen national and regional institutions of higher learning toenable each country to have capacity for research and developmen-tal efforts in its national institutions.
Infrastructure and Access
It is noted that successful uptake of innovative systems in Africa islargely constrained by non-availability of efficient national infrastruc-tures. Adequate and appropriate infrastructure - from communica-tions network to power – including widespread access to such infra-structure, particularly in rural areas, are essential for building theknowledge economy. Thus there is a strong economic justificationfor genuine national investment on the national infrastructure.
Also, the bandwidth of Internet is often too low to support image andgeospatial information transfer. One of the factors for this is that theinternet service providers within the countries require huge foreignexchange to pay for the Internet backbones located outside Africa. Itis noted that a few African countries including Egypt, Nigeria andMorocco have communication satellites but the services of thesesatellites should be maximised to promote regional development inAfrica through special pan-Africa price regime that will contribute toappreciable increase in the density as well as the bandwidth of Inter-net services.
Private Sector Simulation
Globally, the private sector has driven technological innovation andthe growth of knowledge economy. It is therefore necessary toensure effective indigenous private sector involvement in the pro-duction and management of geospatial data through job outsourcingand public-private sector partnerships. A more flexible data policyshould be floated by commercial image suppliers to accommodatere-use of data by government organisations as well as free data foreducation and research.
July 2009
Tanzania is in early stages of
NSDI development
MANDATE AND GEOINFO AVAILABILITYThe mandate of the Surveys and Mapping Division of the Ministry ofLands is to carry out the surveys and prepare maps in Tanzania at differ-ent scales. We are responsible for all the survey and mapping informationin Tanzania. We have about 1,626 topographic sheets at a scale of1:50,000. We have initiated a project called JICA with Japan. Under this,we have already updated the mines data in areas like Victoria zone. Atpresent, we are in the process of updating maps of about 15 districts inthe country with the help of World Bank fund.
ON ADOPTION OF LATEST TECHNOLOGIESIn terms of technology adoption, we are trying to cope with the latestdevelopments by training our manpower. We are adopting digital tech-nology. Particularly our surveying and mapping division is using GPSequipment to produce maps. All our maps in the scale of 1:50,000 aredigitised. We are now trying to vectorise 1: 50,000 maps so that we canupdate them whenever the need arises.
ON SDI INITIATIVESSDI activities are still at an early stage in Tanzania. From 2002 to 2007,we tried to prepare the policy for NSDI because we thought that by hav-ing a policy, we can get the guidelines, rules and regulations for differentinstitutions to bring out their data and then we will be able to share itwithin our ministries.
ON LACK OF FUNDS AND TRAINED MANPOWERThe main problem is funding. Due to economic situation, government isnot able to fund for training of people. But we are trying at least everyyear to select a few people to get trained at our universities. We alsoassociate with ITC where we send our people to get formal training.
Ethiopia is on a growth path in
use of geosptial technologies
MANDATE AND GEOINFO AVAILABILITYEthiopian Mapping Agency (EMA) is a government body established bythe proclamation of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Itsmandate is to produce, disseminate and compile fundamental geoinfor-mation datasets such as geodetic reference points, geodetic controlpoints, topographic maps, thematic maps, national atlas and all relatedgeoinformation in Ethiopia. We are also authorised agents of central gov-ernment to certify all works done by individuals or private organisations.
ON ADOPTION OF LATEST TECHNOLOGIESEMA has earlier been producing topographic maps of the country physi-cally. We have so far produced topographic maps of the country with ascale of 1: 2 million, 1: 1 million. Currently, we are producing 1: 50,000maps. Some of these products are digitised but most of these are in ana-log format. We have developed a central strategic plan and our mission isto digitise all maps and continue the production of digital maps in future.
ON PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPSEMA is a government agency. We support the private sector by providingnecessary fundamental geoinformation datasets. We have not yet devel-oped a geoinformation organisation that can handle such responsibilityoutside the government structure but in future, we will support privatesector within the framework of our laws.
ON SDI INITIATIVESWe have taken an initiative to kick-start NSDI in Ethiopia. Previously, wehave established a national committee to work on the policy frameworkfor the establishment of national spatial data infrastructure in our country.But this committee has not been able to deliver the required policy
GIS DEVELOPMENT July 200922
SG Speak
One for the roadOne for the road
Sultan Mohammed
Director General
Ethiopian Mapping Agency, Ethiopia
Dr David Mayunga
Assistant Director, Ministry of Lands
Surveys & Mapping Division, Tanzania
While one is struggling with manual techniques of surveying, the other uses a vast array of latest technologies. While one fights the lack of political will and financial capability, his neighbour is totally motivated. While one is opening
eyes to the idea of SDI, the other is far ahead in the race. Yet, they are all together - discussing the issues, building bridges,sharing experiences and expertise. Associate Editor Bhanu Rekha spoke to Surveyor Generals of African nations to know the
status of geoinformation, challenges and opportunities in their respective countries. Read on to know more...
July 2009 GIS DEVELOPMENT
framework so far. Now, we have taken it as our own responsibility and wehave included it in our strategic plan to formulate the NSDI policy and toforward this policy to the government.
ON LACK OF FUNDS AND TRAINED MANPOWEROne of the major problems we face is the availability of skilled manpow-er. EMA is over 50 years and we still lack adequate skills in our resourcesto implement a project. We have made it top priority to focus on capacitybuilding and are trying to work with our partners to get assistance indeveloping existing or creating new human and technological resources.If we have to realise our strategic objectives of providing up-to-date andaccurate geoinformation to our growing number of users of this informa-tion in the country, we have no choice but to develop our resources.
ON FUTURE GROWTHOur aim is to become a centre of excellency in the production and dissemination of fundamental geoinformation in the region. In this regard,we have devised several projects. Ethiopia is on a growth path. We haveachieved double digit growth rate in the past five years which we antici-pate will continue this year as well. So, the need for up-to-date geo-infor-mation is on the increase.
We are looking for partnerships
MANDATE AND GEOINFO AVAILABILITYOur Centre is responsible for the provision of geoinformation in the coun-try. We are also carrying out geographic research programmes. We have1:200,000 maps available for the whole country and maps at 1:50,000scale for 30 % of the country. Not all maps are available digitally though.The digitisation of maps is in progress. We are taking this up in phases.
ON ADOPTION OF LATEST TECHNOLOGIESApart from manual surveys, we are carrying out aerial surveys. We arealso utilising satellite imagery to revise the maps which are at 1:200,000.
ON SDI INITIATIVESWe have been organising meetings, trying to sensitise people. We havewritten a dossier to our ministry enumerating activities of different organ-isations of the government and on the need to build a platform to sharedata. We are awaiting some concrete action.
ON LACK OF FUNDS AND SKILLED MANPOWERWe have only about 20 people in our department who are trained in GISand remote sensing. There is a requirement of training more people.
ON PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS
We looking for partnerships as we do not have either the technology northe human resources to carry out extensive mapping activities.
Namibia is abreast in
latest technologies
MANDATE AND GEOINFO AVAILABILITYThe mandate of Directorate of Survey and Mapping is to collect, maintainand analyse data that has geographical context. We are especially man-dated to look at topographic maps at the scales of 1:50,000 and1:250,000. We are also responsible for the cadastral information. Withrespect to availability, there is no restriction to what's available to the pub-lic and what's not.
ON ADOPTION OF ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIESWe started late but we are fortunate because we started at the pointwhen latest technology was changing. So we started with the adaptationof new technology itself. Our map revision programme from day one in1995 started with digital map revision using digital ortho photos. Withrespect to acquisition of control points we have quite a number of globalpositioning systems which we are using to do that. We are abreast withthe current technology. Our cadastral system is now being digitised andwe have a mandate to develop a cadastral system in this financial year.We have designed a website which was tested. My plan for this financialyear will intend to now implement that website. Within that website weintend to make it possible for our customers to be able to assess it andknow what we offer.
ON PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS
We are looking at partnerships because in doing that, we will be able tomake our data more accessible to the people. What has been a problemis getting a clear policy directive with respect to what payment or non-payment for the particular data.
ON SDI INITIATIVESIf you have a functioning SDI, you will be able to have an efficient LIS.Our cadastral system is well developed in the sense that any plot that isto exchange hands will have to be well defined and that means that wehave the coordinates accurately. Also for all the commercial firms, wehave them well defined and we have captured them digitally. We are nowin the process of digitally capturing all the plots that we have graphically.With that we will be able to develop a functional LIS which will help us tomanage the land. Within national development plan, partnership is some-thing we are looking at because we believe that government cannotfinance and sustain the national spatial data. So public private partner-ships are the way to sustain the programme.
ON MAPPING AFRICA FOR AFRICAI think this is a very interesting option if we are talking at the level ofAfrican Union because that means the policy makers get involved anddirectives come from the policy makers. And it becomes easier to imple-ment because what has been a problem is get by in the policy maker.
Dr Felix Elongo
Director, Centre De RechercheGeographique Et De ProductionCartographique (CERGEC), Congo
Uzochukwu
Godway Ojo
Okafor
Surveyor General
Directorate of Survey and Mapping,Namibia
23
GIS DEVELOPMENT July 200924
ON FUTURE GROWTHThe growth has been slow. Also, there isn't much awareness about appli-cations and that is also one major challenge we are addressing within ourmanagement plan for 2009 and 2010. Because we intend to market ourselves more forcefully and be able to collaborate with stakeholders andbe in a position to showcase what are the applications that could berealised using spatial data, in that way we intend to improve the usage.And also if we have partners in private sector then also we will be in bet-ter position to extend the use of our spatial data.
ON LACK OF FINANCIAL AND HUMAN RESOURCESWithin Namibia we may not have the capacity but within Africa there aresome countries that may have excess capacity and we intend to havethem come in. And while they are there, we can aggressively pursuetraining and skill development with respect to academic qualification andof course to those who are employed. With aspect to the experience theyhave compared to those coming out of academic institutions. So in thatway, we will be able to increase the capacity we have.
The government of Namibia has taken initiatives from late 1990s whenwe have sent several of our students to South Africa and UK. The gov-ernment has also set up a survey training institute in collaboration withITC, the Polytechnic Company of Namibia. This institution is great and atthe technician level, we no longer have acute shortage. But we do haveshortage at the professional level. The problem lies in the fact that man-power, once trained, leaves the department for greener pastures. So, weare looking forward to training more and also developing a strategy toretain those trained. That will form part of minor plan this year.
Botswana started training locally
MANDATE AND GEOINFO AVAILABILITYWe are the national mapping agency of Botswana and a cadastralauthority. We examine, service and archive land records. Most of ourcadastral records are in paper format. We are trying to digitise them foreasy access. We have conducted aerial survey of the whole country at 1:80,000 scale in 2001-2002 and then made a orthophotomap for thewhole country, which is about 974 sheets. Now we are gradually makingthose at 1:50,000 line mapping. We have completed that for more than50% of the country. Mapping data is readily available in Botswana, but ata cost. There are several resource maps that you can buy off the shelf.
ON ADOPTION OF LATEST TECHNOLOGIESUsually, Botswana has some development plans and in each plan, wehave some budgets, that will be used over a certain period for map upda-tion. So far we have quite a number of projects and we are keeping up-to-date with technology.
ON SDI INITIATIVESWe have done a study on how GIS can help the country which was a sortof blueprint for establishing NSDI. We completed phase one under theMinistry of Science and Technology. Right now the responsibility is trans-ferred to the Ministry of Lands and Housing. So, who will be putting somesignificant efforts. There will be working groups on standards and meta-data so that we can start SDI. W also organized a national conference in2007 on how NSDI could be built in Bostawana.
ON PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPSSo far, I don't see any public private partnerships but the thinking at thenational level is that we should promote public private partnerships withinterested parties but so far we have not done the spade work in thisregard. Government is fully committed to improve mapping in Bostawana.Every year, our national budget gives provision to update as many mapsas possible. There are several mapping projects and our mapping pro-grammes are fully funded by the government.
ON LACK OF FUNDS AND TRAINED MANPOWERLot of efforts are being taken up in Bostawana in this direction. Previ-ously, we used to get our people trained in Europe and Australia butbecause of limited funding, the government encouraged us to set uptraining institutes locally. The University of Bostawana has introduced adegree in geomatics. The first intake was last year. So, in three yearstime, we should have quite a good supply of manpower. Even the resid-ing officers are applying for this course. We look forward to cooperationwith other institutions especially for transfer of technology because tomaintain our systems up-to-date and to keep our manpower, we need tohave some goodwill from other sectors.
GB Habana
Department of Surveys and MappingMinistry of Lands and HousingBotswana
Zimbabwe looking at partnerships
MANDATE AND GEOINFO AVAILABILITYThe Department of Surveyor General is the national mapping agency ofZimbabwe. Our mandate is spelt out in the National Survey Act. Thereare four departments under this, three of which are technical. We have acadastral branch, a geodetic branch and a mapping branch. These threebranches spell out our mandates. We are in-charge of all national mapseries in the country. We also examine and approve cadastral information.We examine, approve and regularise that data. Last but not the least, weare also in-charge of all the geodetic control. We actually carry out geo-detic surveys and and we maintain geodetic reference points. The otherdepartment is to provide support services, administration and finance. Wehave several challenges as far as our mapping data is concerned. Data isavailable but the major challenge is that it is out-of-date. The last update
was done about 20 years ago, so it is all analog. We are trying to digitiseall the existing data but the conversion process is happening at a slowpace as we have several challenges in terms of finances and skilledhuman resources.
ON ADOPTION OF LATEST TECHNOLOGYZimbabwe has started using GPS equipment for surveying 3-4 yearsago. However, we are trying to acquire other new mapping technologiesfor the mapping of natural resources in the country, for which we havegot funds from the government at present.
ON PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPSWe are looking for partnerships. For day-to-day functioning of the depart-ment, we utilise government funds but to take up intensive mappingactivities, we need the assistance of private sector.
ON SDI INITIATIVESThis is a good initiative. However, in terms of SDI in Zimbabwe, we havemany stakeholders involved. What is happening is we have not beenspearheading this initiative, but it is hoped that we spearhead so that ourstakeholders benefit. The major reason is that ours is a governmentdepartment and we have to look for a policy direction. This policy frame-work is being out right now to build a national SDI in Zimbabwe.
ON FUTURE GROWTHI see a lot of interesting things happening in terms of stake holders. We,as a national mapping organisation, are supposed to lead several initia-tives but everything is boiling down to public private partnerships. Withour department giving us opportunity in this direction, I strongly believewe can reach great heights.
Edwin Guvaza
Surveyor GeneralDepartment of the Surveyor GeneralZimbabwe
GIS DEVELOPMENT26
Interview
How does ECA contribute in
building inclusive, people-centred
knowledge societies vis-à-vis
geospatial technologies?
The United Nations Economic Commissionfor Africa (ECA) is the regional office of theUN in Africa with a mandate to promotethe economic and social development of itsmember States, foster intra-regional inte-gration, and promote international coopera-tion for Africa's development. ECA's workprogramme focuses on achieving results intwo related and mutually supportive areas:i) Promoting regional integration in supportof the African Union vision and priorities; ii)Meeting Africa's special needs and emerging global challenges. The activitiesof the Commission are divided into programmatic areas among which the ICT, Science and Technology Division(ISTD) plays a pivotal role in “HarnessingInformation for Development”.
The impact of rapid globalisation and theemerging new global economic emphasis-es the importance of information andknowledge products as raw resource fordriving economic change, restructuringbusinesses, affecting skills and employ-ment, contributing to growth, and facilitat-ing the opening of markets through a widerand faster flow of information and knowl-edge.
Within its programme of Harnessing Infor-mation for Development, ECA implementsand supports activities aiming to assistAfrican member States to improve theunderstanding and the use of spatiallyenabled information technologies for deci-sion-making in various sectors of develop-ment. The Commission fully recognises thatgeoinformation systems and related disci-
plines are information development tools inthe knowledge economy and constitute thedriving force of many applications andstreamlined online services. Indeed,geospatial science and technologies offer aradically different way in which we produceand use information and knowledgerequired to manage our communities andeconomic activities, making it possible forany user or decision maker to know whatinformation resources are available, wherethey are and to be in a position to appraisethem in relation to his/her needs and tohis/her homeland or community’s future.Such integration provides the framework ofthe “Community Knowledge System” thatshould enhance and sustain the AfricanInformation Society and Knowledge Econo-my ECA is advocating.
Lack of social infrastructure is a
major reason of concern in many
countries of African continent.
How is ECA partnering with
governments and NGO in enabling
the use of geospatial technologies
for this?
Geospatial technologies in economic devel-opment have influenced decision-supportsystems strongly in evaluating alternativesto enhance decisions and to achieve spe-cific objectives. To ensure that appropriategeoinformation products are used in policymaking and hence sustainable develop-ment, ECA is encouraging and assistingmember States, both government and private sector, to evolve a mapping policy,create state/national topographical database, invest in capacity building. That isbest done by adopting an infrastructure like NSDI, the backbone of the challengefor using geoinformation for developmentin Africa. Today with ECA support, a significant number of countries have takensteps for developing national geoinforma-tion policies as well as legal / institutionalframeworks. Close attention is given to thecontinental integration and harmonisationof the NSDIs under the umbrella of the African Regional Geospatial Data Infrastructure (ARGDI) and their linkagewith the National Information and Commu-nication Infrastructure (NICI) plans.
Lack of trained human resources is
a cause of great concern in every
nation of Africa. As an enabling
platform, any initiatives from ECA
to facilitate training and retaining
of manpower?
Individual, institutional and infrastructurecapacity are essential in the continent
Aida Opoku-Mensah
Director
ICTs and S&T Division (ISTD)
UN Economic Commission for Africa
July 2009
GIS DEVELOPMENT
development. Even if geospatial scienceand technology is mature enough to bringappropriate responses to the growingdemand from users - for simple, convenientaccess to online information, products andservices, capacity building is still a keychallenge in Africa. As human resourcedevelopment is the main factor for eco-nomic prosperity, it is important that priorityis accorded to investing in human capacitydevelopment. That is why ECA is partner-ing with its regional centres of excellenceRECTAS and RCMRD to develop trainingprogrammes in geoinformation technolo-gies and their applications in resourceassessment, planning, management andmonitoring such as to attract, stabilise andretain a sustainable human resources inAfrica. ECA is also making substantiveeffort to enable member States participa-tion at important regional geo-relatedevents (such as AfricaGIS, AARSE Confer-ence, GeoSpatial Africa, etc...) where many
key decisions are taken. These assembliesprovide ideal opportunities to prominentlydisseminate the Commission’s vision andperspectives for geospatial science andtechnology development in the continent.The aim is finally to empower people (technicians, decision-makers, communi-ties, etc..) to do as much as possible bythemselves: not only for the productionbut on top of this, for the application ofgeoinformation products and services.
What are the challenges for the
uptake of geospatial technology in
Africa? What are ECA’s initiatives
in this direction?
Despite the importance of geospatial sci-ence and technology in knowledge genera-tion and application, geoinformation stilldoes not arouse political interest and manyAfrican policy makers do not view knowl-edge management in long-term perspec-tive to enable investment in the infrastruc-ture needed. A key challenge for thegeoinformation community in Africa is theneed for closer linkage between thegeoinformation products and societalbenefits. Therefore, we believe that anyprocess should start in the minds ofthe people, the mind of the mostinfluential ones in these two fields.
• Decision-makers awareness rais-ing through advocacy workshops,media campaigns, etc.
• Evolutionary prototypingapproach through developmentof spatially enabled e-govern-ment services, where geospatialinformation products and servic-es are developed to stir up theeconomies. In keeping with globaltrends and with view to enhancethe SDI implementation, ECA ismoving toward the development ofSpatially-Enabled Government Ser-vices (SEGS) that will foster theaccessibility of spatial data and theuse of spatial information technolo-gies in government day-to-day
business processes and on-lineservices delivery.
How is the response from the
member States to the initiatives
of ECA?
Despite the efforts of ECA and other part-ners, progress in developing SDIs in Africahas been very slow, due mainly to poorawareness and understanding of the linkbetween the content and components ofthe SDI and the day-to-day decisions andactivities of the society. Given the limitedfinancial resources available to govern-ments, priority is given to supposedly morepressing activities without realising thedependence of most of them on the avail-ability of timely, accurate and reliablegeoinformation resources.
ECA has responded by seeking to integrate SDI policies into the very successful work on National Informationand Communication Infrastructure (NICI)plans and strategies to mainstream geoinformation services into nationaleconomies. We are continuously recordingrequests from member States to assist instrengthening their national geoinformationresources. Today, we are observing anincrease awareness of African govern-ments and other sectors of society on the importance of geoinformation insocioeconomic development as a tool tofacilitate spatial data collection, access and use in the decision-making processes,both nationally and regionally, through aparticipatory approach.
What are the future plans of ECA
in promoting networking among
institutions and practitioners in
geoinformation?
The Commission continues to collaborateand coordinate its activities with otheragencies in UN system, with internationaland regional associations and programmes,and other development partners, as animportant vehicle for mobilising financialresources and technical know-how in support of Africa’s developments in thefield of geoinformation. Efforts have beenmade to develop partnership with regionaland international organisations throughcontribution and participation to severalforums on geoinformation at national andsub-regional levels: Group on Earth Observation (GEO), GMES, etc.
On the other hand, the Commission promotes the adoption of cooperative, multi-stakeholder approach to production,management, and dissemination of data atnational and regional level in Africa.
27July 2009
African governments lack
both the political will and
the capacity to collect,
manage and use key geospatial infor-
mation effectively over their respec-
tive national territories. This situa-
tion exists despite the documented
role geospatial information plays in
the majority of public decisions. It
has been reported by the UN MDG
Africa Steering Group that, with a
few exceptions, Africans countries
will probably not achieve their Mil-
lennium Development Goals
(MDGs). The recommendations
made by this group for African coun-
tries to vastly improve the MDG suc-
cess rate depend heavily on the effec-
tive use of relevant geospatial infor-
mation. The collection, management
and dissemination of the fundamen-
tal geospatial information are gener-
ally the responsibility of national
mapping organisation.
From an African perspective, there
are two key structures which bring
Dr Derek Clarke
Chief Director: Surveys andMapping, Department of Rur-al Development and LandReform, South [email protected]
GIS DEVELOPMENT28 July 2009
Target - MDGs
Mapping
Africa for Africa
Mapping
Africa for Africa
Lack of politicalwill, financial capability andskilled manpower -African nations arebattling out allodds to unite geodetically
together the senior officials of the national
mapping organisations to discuss matters of
common interest. One is the Cambridge
Conference of Heads of National Mapping Organisations,
held in Cambridge, England every four years. The other,
focussed on Africa, is the Committee for Development
Information, Science and Technology (Sub-committee on
Geoinformation) (CODIST-Geo), which is a structure of
the UN ECA, and meets every two years. At the meetings
of both these structures, especially CODIST-Geo, the
attendees conclude by accepting resolutions on issues
that need attention. These resolutions are accepted with
good intent and with hopes of them having an impact on
the mandates of the national mapping organisations.
At the following meeting of these structures countries
are requested to report on the progress with the imple-
mentation of these resolutions. Most African countries
report that little or no progress has been achieved, despite
good intent by the national mapping organisation. Their
reports indicate, almost without fail, that there has been
no funding and capacity to implement the resolutions,
lamenting on the lack of political commitment. Then at
the same meeting a number of new resolutions are
accepted, with the same result of non-implementation.
The resolutions from these meetings are generally power-
ful and well intended and if implemented would address
the key issues of geospatial information collection, dis-
semination and usage. The pattern of making resolutions
but not been able to implement them has been noted
with great frustration.
It was realised that this pattern could not continue.
Something practical had to be done to address the prob-
lem. A meeting of African NMOs and other interested
parties was held in Durban, South Africa in August 2003,
coinciding with the meeting of ICA. The result of this
meeting was the Durban Statement on Mapping Africa
for Africa. This Statement includes a number of actions
to be taken by African countries and regional and interna-
tional organisations. The intention is that this will be
driven by Africans with the support and collaboration of
international partners. The Durban State-
ment has been endorsed by the ICA and
CODIST-Geo, with each setting up a Work-
ing Group to work on the Mapping Africa for
Africa initiative. These two working groups
are working closely together, with the ICA
working group primarily providing an inter-
national reference forum.
The lack of relevant and reliable geospatial
information in Africa has informed the first
projects to be undertaken in the Mapping
Africa for Africa initiative. The first two main projects are
the African Reference Frame project (AFREF) and the
fundamental geospatial datasets project. An important
requirement for the creation of consistent regional
geospatial information is to have a uniform geospatial ref-
erence framework, providing a basis for integrating dis-
parate datasets spatially. The AFREF project has the
objective of providing such a reference framework based
on GNSS technology. The Fundamental Geospatial
Datasets project consists of a number of sub-projects.
July 2009 GIS DEVELOPMENT 29
This initiativewill be driven by
Africans withthe support ofinternational
partners
Data, information and knowledge are fundamental to informationeconomy. They offer additional value and greater applicability whenthey can be represented spatially. Today, geoinformation is firmlyrecognised as a necessary ingredient in local and national level plan-ning. Given the exigency of geoinformation products in social andeconomic development value chain, it was felt that that all Africancountries should have a geographically comprehensive and high-quality repository of core geospatial data sets. To enable this, theFundamental Geospatial Datasets project has been initiated. The fol-lowing sub-projects have been completed under this.
Projects Completed
Determine fundamental geospatial datasets
In the first sub-project, a definition for fundamental geospatialdatasets and the criteria used to determine the fundamental geospa-tial datasets was the basis for arriving at the definitive list of funda-mental geospatial datasets for Africa. This followed an extensive con-sultative process with users. This definition and the list of fundamen-tal geospatial datasets for Africa were approved by CODIST-Geo inMay 2007. It makes a significant contribution to the understanding ofgeospatial information.
Determine available fundamental datasets
This required cataloguing the available fundamental geospatialdatasets (in-country and foreign data holdings) for each country. Cat-aloguing fundamental geospatial datasets available for Africa hasshown that there is a lot of such data available, but that this data isgenerally either out of date, inaccurate or at a level of detail inappro-priate for most applications or has been collected by and is held byforeign organisations. This supports the statement thatAfrica is poorly mapped. The study
showed that very little (approximately 8%) of the data had metadata.The catalogue of available fundamental geospatial datasets and itsmetadata is available at the clearinghouse of the UNECA (at thewebsite: //geoinfo.uneca.org :8080/metadataexplorer/ explorer.jsf).
Determine gaps in fundamental datasets
This task involved preparing a gap analysis for each African countryon the fundamental geospatial datasets required. It must be notedthat the gap report is based on the information that was provided forthe catalogue of available fundamental geospatial datasets and istherefore only as good as the information provided. The organisationin each country that is responsible for fundamental geospatialdatasets, probably the NMO, is requested to update the catalogue,including updating the metadata at the UNECA clearinghouse, andto use the findings of the report to their advantage in their futurework programmes. The gap analysis report for each country was dis-tributed at the CODIST-Geo meeting in May 2007.
TASKS AHEAD
Guidelines for best practices
The intention here is to provide a comprehensive practical workingdocument for the relevant organisations to use for addressing thelack of geospatial information, the ongoing updating of this informa-tion and to ensure that it is available to and used effectively by theusers (planners, decision makers and others). It is intended to be avaluable resource to countries without them having to 'reinvent thewheel'. The document will include all relevant standards to be used.To complete this document will require a lot of resources from differ-ent experts in the various topics to be covered. The content thatshould be covered is currently being finalised.
Action plan to address gaps
This sub-project undertakes a serious assessment of the needs toaddress the gaps in each country's fundamental geospatial infor-
mation and then to prepare a plan of action. It will include aninvestigation of current capacity and unique requirements
to collect and maintain fundamental geospatial datasetsper country. This work will primarily be undertaken by
the country itself with support from the project teamand others. Without the buy-in from the appropriateorganisations in each country this project will fail.
Action plan for integration
Many user requirements for the fundamentalgeospatial information cut across nationalboundaries and therefore it is necessary tointegrate data into regional datasets. Thisprocess should not be a significant taskshould the accepted standards be com-plied with and the best practicesadhered to.
DATA - at the core of development
Fundamental Geospatial Datasets
July 2009GIS DEVELOPMENT32
These two projects are ambitious and will take some
years to realise. They will require commitment from each
African country to be a success. The approach of involv-
ing African countries is sure to empower these countries
to sustain the work once the projects have been imple-
mented. It will also ensure that they are appropriate for
African conditions. What remains is to obtain the support
of regional institutions such as the African Union Com-
mission and the NEPAD Secretariat and the African gov-
ernments. The Mapping Africa for Africa initiative is
bringing all appropriate organisations of Africa closer
together to contribute to the development of Africa.
For a vast continent that shares umpteendiversities, varied colonial histories, a spec-trum of developmental needs and aplethora of mapping policies, conceiving acommon platform to bring the countriestogether was a Herculean task. Severalinitiatives are in place for the political,regional and economic integration ofAfrica but with varying degree of success.Today, each African country has its owngeodetic reference systems owing to itscolonial legacy. It is very difficult, ratherimpossible to overlay maps of variouscountries and there is tremendous confu-sion among planners of various countriesas there are multiple datums, ellipsoidsand projections. This is leading to inordi-nate delays in development projects.
Though it has been recognised in the1980s that the solution lies in building aunified reference frame for Africa, it is notuntil 2002 that the idea really took form bywhat is commonly referred to as 'Wind-hoek Declaration'. As a result, the AfricanGeodetic Reference Frame (AFREF) wasconceived. This is a unified geodetic refer-ence frame for the entire continent, con-sistent and homogeneous with Internation-al Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF). Thisis aimed to serve as the basis for nationaland regional 3-dimensional reference net-works. This reference system is expectedto be designed and managed by Africans.This is maintained in close cooperationwith international partners with expertiseand an interest in geodetic referenceframes, especially IAG, International GNSSService (IGS) and UNOOSA. The projectwill be implemented by ECA.
In the initial phase of the project,AFREF aimed to build at least oneGPS station in every countrythat meets the standards of,and registered with theInternational GNSS Service(IGS). Once completed andfully implemented, it willconsist of a network ofcontinuous permanentGPS stations such thata user anywherein Africa wouldhave free accessto GPS data. Itsfull implementationwill include a unifiedvertical datum and sup-port for efforts to establish aprecise African geoid.
Current Status
Sparse continuous operating ref-erence stations (CORS) GNSSnetwork has been established andmanaged by some member States, IGSand other partners. Data from the estab-lished CORS is already being received bythe Hartebeesthoek Radio AstronomyObservatory data centre in South Africaand by IGS. While the Windhoek Declara-tion envisaged that the stations would beowned and managed by national authori-ties, it also recognised that some countriesmight need various forms of assistance toinstall and/or operate the stations.Responding to the call for support, Leicaand Trimble donated three and five refer-ence stations respectively.
Road Ahead
The initial years of AFREF were spent indemonstration phase where installation,operation, data dissemination and analysiscapabilities are understood. This phase hasended in 2007 and the project has nowmoved into the implementation phase.
With the targets well ahead and thework progressing at a slow pace, thesteering committee has taken upseveral initiatives like organising reg-
ular in-person meetings, partners'forum, experts' implementa-
tion symposia and poli-cymakers' workshopsfor effective coordina-tion and implementa-
tion of the project.
Another importantaspect of theAFREF project ismaking the raw
data from the stationsavailable to the designat-
ed computing centres andthereafter making the dataproducts available to theusers. To enable this, thesteering committee is work-
ing on a data sharing policy.
Potential
Once, realised, AFREF has vastutility in geodesy, mapping, sur-veying, geoinformation, naturalhazards mitigation, earth sciences,etc. Its implementation will provide
a major springboard for the transferand enhancement of skills and
knowledge in surveying, geodesy andespecially GNSS with its applications,paving way for the overall cooperation anddevelopment of the continent. Further, thisfundamental reference system canincrease the understanding of complexearth science systems and assist andfacilitate in solving regional and globalproblems.
AFREF AFREF AFREF AFREF AFREF AFREF
Furthering a
common cause
July 2009 GIS DEVELOPMENT 33
The Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for
Development (RCMRD) is an inter-governmen-
tal organisation established under the auspices of
UN Economic Commission of Africa (ECA) and the
African Union. With 15 contracting member States in
the Eastern and Southern Africa, the Centre promotes
the development and application of geoinformation and
IT through institutional capacity building and human
resources assistance for the sustainable development of
Africa.The Centre is organised into three functional divi-
sions - Remote Sensing, Geoinformation and Environ-
mental Management Programme; Survey, Mapping and
Land Information; and human resources development.
The activities of Remote Sensing, Geoinformation and
Environmental Management Department include envi-
ronmental data archiving, maintaining early warning sys-
tems for food security, environmental monitoring, collect-
ing, compiling and utilising remote sensing data for envi-
ronmental assessment, providing support to remote sens-
ing and GIS sections in member States, undertaking
research in environmental assessment and management
in the member States, providing services in environmen-
tal impact assessment (EIA) in member States; providing
training in geoinformation technologies to member
States’ nationals. The Surveys Mapping & Land Informa-
tion Systems Department carries out data management
and project implementation ensuring that maps and oth-
er surveying data is of high quality and standards for plan-
ning. The Human Resources Division focuses on capacity
building initiatives of the Centre in the fields of ICT,
GIS, RS and surveying and mapping as well as applica-
tions of geomatic technologies. To enable its mission,
RCMRD uses innovative ways to reach out to the needs
of the member states - Botswana, Camoros, Ethiopia,
Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Nambia, Somalia,
South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda and
Zambia. To this effect, the functional programmes of
RCMRD have moved away from the conventional service
technology framework like remote sensing geodesy and
cartography to develop problem-solving applications in
natural resources and environmental management.
Active Partner
Over the past twenty-five years, significant developments
have taken place in the technology and methodology of
data gathering, processing, storage and dissemination of
natural resources, environmental and development infor-
mation. The member States have acquired or are in the
process of acquiring the advanced technologies for which
the Centre provides initiation and support, thus playing
the role of an active partner in the development rather
than a passive service centre, in line with the 'Centre's
2020 vision'.
To better facilitate this activity, the centre has restruc-
tured itself and revamped its objectives.
Consultancy and R&D
RCMRD has been providing consultancy services for the
RCMRD
Together as one
34 July 2009GIS DEVELOPMENT
'Uptake of spatial tech is slowbut promising'
You being the champion of geospatialtechnology in the continent, can youtell us the status of thiss technology inthe continent?Geospatial technology is developing fast.It is a new technology for many institu-tions in Africa. But it is being taken upand used more and more now. GIS isalso being adapted very quickly, not onlyby mapping institutions but by many oth-er institutions that deal with environ-ment, natural resources, infrastructureetc. The technology of geographicalinformation is also being used widelyoutside the traditional mapping institu-tions. Positioning technologies are alsobeing used but not as much as we wouldhave wished.
There seems to be a vast disparityamong African countries. While somecountries are advanced in terrms ofusage of this technology like SouthAfrica, some North African countriesare lagging behind. BBeing a regionalorganisation promoting this technolo-gy, how is RCMRD trying to bridgethis gap?One of RCMRD's mandates, as a regionalinstitution dealing with surveying andmapping, is capacity building. We providetraining to surveying and mapping organi-sations' staff, to improve their skills. Inother words, our training aims at transfer-ring the modern and newer technologiesto these institutions. Our training coursesare short termed, focussed, provide prac-tical skill enhancement so that the sur-veying and mapping institutions, naturalresource institutions and environmentinstitutions can improve the way they domapping. The other part of the equationis funding. Some countries in fact havetrained technical staff but lack funding tobuy GPS, all the software and hardwareetc.
You will find this situation prevailing evenin government-run mapping institutionsas political governments have not reallybeen convinced about the importance ofthese institutions to be modernised. Theydo not understand that mapping is thebasis for all development. We have notbeen successful in convincing Africangovernments so far about the need tofund and give thrust to mapping activi-ties. The problem is that there are not
always immediate benefits from mappingwhich politicians, decisions makers andeconomists expect and so they fail toconnect to mapping.
African countries do not have basiclarge scale maps. With this back-ground, how do you see SDIs shhapingup in the continent? RCMRD hasbeen actively pursuing the cause ofSDI. What is it doing to ovvercome thehurdles?We have several parallel initiatives in thisdirection. We have an initiative for fun-damental data sets that is the basis forSDI. It is true that Africa is not mappedas much as other continents to thescales that are required for planning anddevelopment purposes. So this is an ini-tiative to improve mapping at suitablescales and is ongoing under the MappingAfrica for Africa and the FundamentalDatasets Working Group of UNAC. Atthe same time, there are countriesthat have good data of parts of theircountries. This data is either notaccessible or not being used. Thisis an initiative that we support andpromote but it has been veryslow. The major problem againhas been the policies thatrequire standards and moreimportantly the willingness ofmapping organisations to cooper-ate to setup SDIs. The idea is tobring the maps of different insti-tutes to one place so that the usercan have access or at least knowthat they can find the data in thisone-stop-shop. If data is locked upin government offices and citizenscannot make use of whatever little isavailable, there is no point in producingit in the first place.In Africa, differentmapping exercises are undertaken fordifferent projects. A road project surveysand maps a specific region for its ownpurposes. There might be a waterand sanitation project andthey carry out anothersurvey and mappingexercise withoutknowing probablyfive years earlieror three year ear-lier another onehas been done.To stop this kindof duplication ofefforts and touse resourceswisely, SDI isimportant forcountriesdespite beingunder
mapped. We have to ensure that there isno duplication of already mapped areas.We, as a regional center, have held work-shops and trainings to sensitise govern-ments to establish SDIs. A number ofcountries now are on that path.Advanced countries like South Africahave passed legislations and now puttingin institutional frameworks. Countrieslike Kenya, Malawi, Ethiopia are also atvarious stages of progress.
What are the major initiatives ofRCMRD?Apart from our regional mandate wherewe have 15 member States who are con-tributing to RCMRD, we also are involvedin continental initiatives along with other
partners like UNECA.AFREF or
African
35
Dr Hussein O. Farah
Director General, Regional Centre for Mapping of Resourcesfor Development (RCMRD), Kenya
GIS DEVELOPMENTJuly 2009
GIS DEVELOPMENT36
Geodetic Reference Frame is an initiativeunder the Committee on DevelopmentInformation (CODI) and that was startedin 2003. The idea has been around forlong and we were selected by the CODIcommittee to hold the position of theAFREF Steering Committee. Our role isto coordinate the AFREF initiatives rightfrom the start and document how geo-detic reference in Africa should be mod-ernised and made uniform. Our biggestcontribution is to train the staff requiredto set up geodetic reference, run it anddo the computations. We have been con-ducting technical trainings for four yearsnot only to our member States but to allAfrican countries.
The SERVIR project was started inNovember 2008. This is an initiative tomake spatial data accessible to Africanscientists and researchers. Internationalorganisations like FAO and UNEP pro-duce lot of data under various themes.SERVIR initiative tries to bring datatogether on a Web data portal where peo-ple can get access to mapping data.
Using Web-based visualisation,some of this map data or satel-lite imageries could be madeavailable. This is somethingsimilar to Google Earth. Theother objective of SERVIR proj-ect is to raise awareness ofresearchers and scientists inAfrica of the possible applica-tions of satellite imageries andmaps. There are 3-4 importantareas where satellite images or
maps can be used extensively in Africa.
How do you see this industry andtechnology growing in this region inthe next five years?I expect rapid changes because mappingis one discipline that is being trans-formed by technology very fast. Forexample, the way we record positions tomake a map. Until recently, many coun-tries were still using the old method ofmapping with a tape and theodolite,which is time consuming and inefficient.Today, a GPS makes things easy. Thistechnology is expected to be taken upmore quickly in the next five years andimprove our mapping coverage. More pri-vate sector involvement in Africa isexpected because mapping is nowbecoming easier - right from the fieldwork to the actual product of the map -the chain of production has become verysimple and quite automated. More andmore players will come into the sceneand I see this as a positive thing as wedon't need to depend entirely on national
mapping agencies or government to pro-duce maps. For example, private compa-nies are producing street maps in Kenyawhich can be loaded on mobile phonesor on car navigation systems. Already,the ministry of health and ministry ofeducation in Kenya are using GIS andlocation based maps for planning, something that they were not doing a fewyears ago. The demand will come fromcitizens as they want to know where theyare in the city, direction of where theywant to go in another part of the city, allsuch information on their mobile phones.
But that does not mean national mapping institutions will be irrelevant. I see a role for them in that high skillwould be required in building high quali-ty basic maps which the private sector ora location service provider can't. This isa chance for national mapping agenciesbecause the demand for basic maps willgrow higher as the private sector comesin. We all are aware of how OrdnanceSurvey has made profits because thedemands of the private sector to get thebasic maps and the willingness to pay forit. The problem in Africa has been thatdemand for basic maps is not there. But that situation is changing. With theadvent of mobile technology, telecomcompanies are offering more and morelocation based services to their clients.This creates more demand and putsmore pressure to produce basic maps.That's how I see the future of mapping inAfrica.
July 2009
past 33 years in different fields of geoinformation and
application. It has implemented over two hundred proj-
ects of different magnitudes across the continent. RCM-
RD is now providing service on demand. RCMRD is now
moving into the future with confidence and endeavours
to live up to its values of upholding the highest standards
of services to its customers and continuously improving
the quality of services and products.
The Centre offers several courses in geoinformation and
IT. The courses last between one week to three months,
and are offered throughout the year. The Centre also
offers tailor-made courses to suit the specific needs of cor-
porate clients. Courses are also offered at a location of the
client's convenience. In providing the consultancy servic-
es, the Centre often teams up with partner institutions
and the private sector. The Centre has a full fledged
research and development capacity. It conducts R&D
activities in collaboration with partners. The Centre in
collaboration with European Space Agency (ESA) and
EUMETSAT has established a facility for direct satellite
reception for MERIS, MODIS, NOAA and EUMETSAT
second generation Metosat data.
Champion
Apart from consultancy and capacity building exercises,
RCMRD is active in advocating for the development,
utilisation and spread of geospatial knowledge. It has
been spearheading the cause of ‘Mapping Africa for
Africa’ through initiatives like determination of funda-
mental datasets, AFREF and SERVIR. The Centre has
been working closely with professional bodies, govern-
ments, multi-lateral agencies and UN bodies to create
awareness. In sync with the popular African reggae musi-
cian Lucky Dube’s song, “We have got to come together
as one,” RCMRD is all out to bring in the member states
geospatially together!!
Trimble® ®
In 2003, the US President's Emer-
gency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEP-
FAR) was launched to combat
global HIV/AIDS - the largest com-
mitment by any nation to combat a
single disease in history. On July 30,
2008, the United States expanded its
commitment authorising up to $ 48
billion over a period of five years to
combat global HIV/AIDS, tuberculo-
sis and malaria. Through 2013, PEP-
FAR plans to work in partnership
with host nations to support treat-
ment for at least three million people,
prevention of 12 million new infections;
and care for 12 million people, including
five million orphans and vulnerable chil-
dren. To meet these goals and build
sustainable local capacity, PEPFAR
will support training of at least
140,000 new health care workers in
HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment
and care. PEPFAR is implemented by
seven US government agencies.
The public health sector is increas-
ingly turning to the use of GIS to
improve HIV/AIDS programme
monitoring, evaluation and planning.
HIV/AIDS epidemic is characterised
by enormous geographic variation,
PEPFAR in HIV/AIDS care
GIS DEVELOPMENT38 July 2009
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Training to combat
Dorina Maris
John Spencer
James Stewart
MEASURE EvaluationAndrew Inglis
MEASURE DHS
Nathan Heard
support contractor to the U.S.Department of State's Humanitarian Information Unit
with striking sub-national, national and continental dif-
ferences in the distribution of HIV prevalence and densi-
ties of those who are infected. Since sub-Saharan Africa
remains the most heavily affected region, PEPFAR focus-
es most of its efforts in this part of the world, with servic-
es provided not only in facilities, but often at the commu-
nity level (Figure 1).
Mapping and spatial analysis help decision makers and
programme managers visualise relationships that might
be hidden or otherwise hard to understand in tables or
charts. Among the many challenges GIS can help address
are measuring geographic coverage of HIV/AIDS services;
locating orphans, vulnerable children and critical popula-
tions; coordinating activities across multiple sectors and
actors; and evaluating programme implementation.
In an effort to encourage data-driven decision making
across sectors and programmatic areas, beginning in 2005,
PEPFAR started placing special emphasis on strengthen-
ing GIS capabilities on the African continent through the
support of development of key spatial data layers, geospa-
tial tools, and capacity building. PEPFAR programmes
continue to work with African ministries of health,
national AIDS coordinating agencies, NMAs and others
to increase the use of geographic data and develop deci-
sion support tools that incorporate mapping. To provide a
sample of PEPFAR’s GIS work, a few select examples
implemented through USAID are highlighted below.
Improving data infrastructure –
OVC mapping
Substantial effort in the capture, formatting and organisa-
tion of data is usually required prior to mapping. As a
result, the process of map generation can help identify
critical data gaps and provide a framework within which
data from different sources may be integrated to answer
programmatically important questions. For example, to
improve health services to orphans and vulnerable chil-
dren (OVC) affected by HIV/AIDS, the Office of the US
Global AIDS Coordinator (S/GAC) and USAID enlisted
MEASURE Evaluation to assess the data available for
mapping OVC activities and to produce maps that would
assist in decision-making processes. Twelve countries par-
ticipated in the effort, 10 of which were in Africa:
Botswana, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Namib-
ia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. The
OVC mapping activity was executed in two phases: data
evaluation and mapping.
In the data assessment phase, MEASURE Evaluation
analysed the availability and quality of data for OVC map-
ping purposes. For every country that provided mappable
data, maps were produced. In those cases where the data
could not be mapped, an evaluation document was pro-
duced that provided guidance on why the data could not
be mapped and where possible, offered suggestions on
how to improve the data. MEASURE Evaluation then
Fig. 1 Continuum of Care
GIS DEVELOPMENTJuly 2009 39
worked with key decision makers in selected countries to
improve data collection system and explore ways that the
data could be used to create maps showing OVC popula-
tions as well as health facilities and aid services that could
help these populations (Figure 2). A key finding of this
activity was the value of geographic data to facilitate new
linkages between OVC data with other datasets such as
those found on http://www.hivspatialdata.net/. These
linkages provide valuable context to the OVC issue and
broaden the evidence base used for decision making.
E2G tool
Because GIS technology is too costly for many to imple-
ment, MEASURE Evaluation developed the E2G the-
matic mapping tool to enable countries to map data using
the free mapping programme Google Earth. This tool
allows users with administrative-level data (e.g., percent
OVC by district) stored in Excel to produce maps of the
data in Google Earth. The Google Earth display can be
printed, saved as a JPEG file for publications, or stored in
a Web-accessible space. 13 African countries that can
currently be mapped with the tool. The E2G thematic
mapping tool is free to all users and is available on the
MEASURE Evaluation Web site.
Training and capacity building in Kenya
Quality data is the keystone for effective evidence-based
decision making. Geographic data can not only improve
the decision-making process, it can help strengthen over-
all data quality by bringing to light inconsistencies in data
that might otherwise have been overlooked. An example
from Kenya is instructive in this regard.
In June 2008, at the request of USAID, the MEASURE
DHS project organised a GIS training workshop for
provincial monitoring and evaluation staff of the PEP-
FAR-supported AIDS, Population, and Health Integrated
Assistance (APHIA II) project in Kenya. APHIA II collab-
orates with the Government of Kenya and local imple-
menting partners to expand the availability of quality, sus-
tainable, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis prevention, treat-
ment, care and support.
The workshop aimed to train APHIA II staff to use GIS
software and link geographic coordinates to the Kenya
PEPFAR monitoring system (KePMS). Participants
learned how to query databases, conduct basic proximity
analysis and export maps for reports and presentations.
During the training, provincial teams produced maps
using their project data and presented their findings to
project leaders, gaining valuable experience in making
data accessible to key stakeholders. Following the train-
ing, teams returned to their provinces and worked on inte-
grating GIS into their monitoring and evaluation work,
leading to improvements in data quality.
Conclusion
In the long term, success is contingent upon strengthened
partnerships and coordination across sectors and among
national stakeholders engaged in mitigating the impact of
HIV/AIDS. Geography can provide a useful framework for
integrating activities, organising data and answering ques-
tions important to HIV/AIDS programme implementa-
tion. Support of national SDIs and capacity to use
geospatial technology within the health sector will ulti-
mately benefit a wide array of public health programmes
in addition to HIV/AIDS.
DISCLAIMER: The views and conclusions contained in this article are those of the authorsand do not necessarily reflect the policies of the U.S. Government. Any use of trade, product, or firm names in this article is for descriptive purposes only and does not implyendorsement by the U.S. Government.
GIS DEVELOPMENT40 July 2009
Fig. 2 Map from OVC Mapping Activity
Dat
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HIV/AIDS is major public
health concern in many coun-
tries in Africa. Making sure
that people in need of HIV/AIDS care
get access to treatment in an equi-
table way requires taking several
parameters into account, making
planning decisions sometimes diffi-
cult. Geographic data and analysis is
an integral component to improve
our knowledge about equitable access
to anti-retroviral therapy (ART).
This article presents the case of
Malawi, a land locked country in
southeast Africa, and the cross-sector
collaborative process that took place
and resulted in two indicators
describing the level of coverage
offered by ART sites in 2006 as well as
the location for potential new sites.
This exercise allowed strengthening
the connections between health sec-
tors, key institutions involved in
NSDI process and other international
entities outside the country.
Introduction
Intensive efforts have been made in
recent years to increase awareness and
to prevent the spread of AIDS in
Malawi. These efforts have been rein-
forced in 2001 by the establishment
of the National AIDS Commission (NAC) and Malawi’s first National AIDS
Policy launched in 2004. Access to treatment is particularly limited in rural
areas, as problems such as a lack of transportation prevent many people from
getting access to health services. A good understanding of the geographic rela-
tionship that exists between the supply of ART and the demand among the
population is useful for decision makers to plan for the location of additional
treatment sites.
Performing such type of analysis requires taking into account conjointly the
location and the maximum coverage capacity of each ART site, the geographic
distribution of the population in need of treatment, the environment that the
patient will have to cross to reach the care provider, as well as the transportation
mode s/he would use. The geographic distribution of these parameters is gener-
ally the responsibility of different institutions. This is the case in Malawi where
the location of ART sites is collected by the National AIDS Commission
(NAC) and the Ministry of Health (MOH), the distribution of the population
WHO in Malawi
Ebener S.
Scientist, World HealthOrganisation
Naphini P.
Fleming P.
Kafakalawa W.
Kondowe O.D.
Makwiza I.
Manda K.
Mzembe J.
Moyo C.
GIS DEVELOPMENT42 July 2009
by the National Statistical Office (NSO), the roads and
other topographical features by the National Road
Authority (NRA) and the Survey Department.
These institutions do not necessarily work together, but
have been brought together in the context of a joint proj-
ect by the World Health Organization (WHO), REACH
Trust Malawi and the Southern African Network on Equi-
ty in Health (EQUINET) aiming at promoting an equity
and health systems approach towards treatment access
and responses to HIV and AIDS in Southern Africa [1].
Challenges at the start of project
When the project started in 2006, the major challenges
playing against a systemic analysis of the level of access to
HIV/AIDS care were linked to the fact that dispersed man-
dates and capacities among various stakeholders, limited or
even a lack of communication and/or working relations
between institutions producing health data and/or geographic
information of interest in public health (MOH, NAC, NGOs,
Survey Department, National Statistical Office (NSO),…), non-
participation of several stakeholders in the development of
NSDI. For example, the MOH, lack of agreed upon data collec-
tion standards and protocols, different coding schemes were
used without being linked together, lack of awareness about
data resources and GIS skills available in the country and com-
petition for funding. This was resulting in duplication of
datasets of questionable quality as well as an important
number of lost opportunities.
Addressing the challenges, leveraging the existing capac-
ity and data at disposal as well as improving the working
July 2009
Collaborate to reach out Collaborate to reach out
43GIS DEVELOPMENT
connection between stakeholders would not only benefit
each of them but also ensure the compatibility and quali-
ty of the data necessary to take decisions. The opportuni-
ty to work on some of these issues came from the "Pro-
moting equity and a health systems approach towards
treatment access and responses to HIV and AIDS in
Southern Africa: a joint project for WHO, REACH Trust
Malawi / Southern African network on Equity in Health
(EQUINET)" project. The GIS capacity and data avail-
ability assessment conducted, combined with the techni-
cal resources at disposal allowed going beyond the needs
of the original project and to propose a different collabo-
rative approach.
Results of Collaboration
The collaborative work concentrated on improvement of
4 GIS layers, namely the distribution of population, the
geographic location of the health facilities, the road net-
work, the river network. With WHO’s support, the differ-
ent data sources identified have been compiled, cleaned
and homogenised using satellite images as ground refer-
ence.The improved dataset has then been combined with
cover, a DEM as well as some survey and prevalence data
to form the input data for the application of the Access-
Mod extension for ArcView 3.x [2,3].
This extension developed by WHO provides users with
the capacity to measure physical accessibility to health
care, estimate geographical coverage (a combination of
availability and accessibility coverage) of an existing
health facility network, complement the existing network
in the context of a scaling up exercise or to provide infor-
mation for cost effectiveness analysis when no informa-
tion about the existing network is available.
In the case of Malawi, the application of AccessMod
resulted in two indicators. The first one presented in Fig-
ure 2 compares the spatial distribution of the travel time
to the nearest ART site for the all prevalence population
using AccessMod (red line) with the travel time reported
by ART patients in the context of patient exit survey
(blue line). The analysis of the comparison between the
two lines provide important information regarding popu-
lation behaviour (i.e. by passing) as well as the maximum
travel time that most patients accept to travel (3 hours)
The second one estimates the spatial distribution of the
prevalence population not covered by the ART site net-
work in place in 2006. This analysis demonstrates that
scaling up treatment sites should mainly take place in the
Southern and Central parts of the country despite the
fact that these are the regions where a higher density of
ART sites is already observed (Fig 3). The approach used
should be applied to other services in and beyond health.
Conclusion
It is important to build NSDIs to solve real problems (e.g
access to HIV/AIDS care) and only indirectly technical
problems. NSDI should involve policy makers, donors and
researchers to ensure that their data assist programmes
produce societal benefits. The project presented here
illustrates the benefits that might result from a collabora-
tive effort using this driver.. The work accomplished so far
in Malawi does nevertheless only represent a first step
towards a sustainable NSDI. For the moment, the collab-
oration remains mainly facilitated by external partners
and needs to learn from other experiences as well as find
resources to become sustainable.
GIS DEVELOPMENT44 July 2009
Fig. 2 Percentage of total considered population according to travel time
Fig. 3 Distribution of the prevalence population not covered by the existing ART sites(blue cross)
South Africa has always been
more progressive than other
African countries in terms of
use of ICT. In 1980s, South Africa
was characterised by a general lack of
awareness in national and provincial
governmental departments regarding
what spatial data was available as
well as what capabilities GIS offered
in practice. This lack of awareness
has since dissipated, in part, through
the provision of a mandate in the
1990s to the State institutions such
as the Chief Directorate: Surveys and
Mapping and the Chief Surveyor-
General of South Africa. These insti-
tutions were tasked with driving the
growth and development of GIS in
South Africa and currently play a
vital role in providing a basic geospa-
tial framework for data.
The availability of large-scale popu-
lation datasets and the proliferation
of open source desktop mapping sys-
tems in the 1990s have resulted in
GIS becoming a fast growing indus-
try in South Africa. The technology is
currently being harnessed by govern-
Anamika Das
Sr. Manager - Conferences GIS [email protected]
GIS DEVELOPMENT July 200946
South Africa
The availability of large-scale datasets andthe proliferation of opensource desktop mappingsystems in the 1990shave resulted in GISbecoming a fast growingindustry in South Africa
The availability of large-scale datasets andthe proliferation of opensource desktop mappingsystems in the 1990shave resulted in GISbecoming a fast growingindustry in South Africa
July 2009
ment, semi-private institutions and the private sec-
tor for research, planning as well as business
purposes. The application of GIS technolo-
gy in South Africa has provided the coun-
try with a crucial link to developments
in the region.
Local Government
The use of GIS in local government in
South Africa has risen tremendously
in recent years. Municipalities in
South Africa are a division of local
government and form the lowest level
of democratically elected government
structures in the country. The Munic-
ipal Demarcation Board (MDB) is
legally responsible for the drawing of
(outer) municipal boundaries and
municipal ward boundaries. It uses
GIS technology in policy and analyti-
cal work and map production. It has
embarked on several GIS initiatives
aimed at improving the quality of spa-
tial data and participating in pro-
grammes to facilitate data sharing.
The City of Ekurhuleni Municipali-
ty identified GIS as an important tool
to address and analyse in detail the
condition of the province and its peo-
ple with respect to addressing service
delivery in the province relating to
water, sanitation, waste removal and
electricity. “The long term objective
of the Ekurhuleni Municipality is to
have Internet mapping viewer and CRM system at previ-
ously disadvantaged areas” says Morena wa Letšosa,
Director Geoinformatics, City of Ekurhuleni Municipali-
ty. Most municipalities in South Africa are using GIS to
address issues relating to development planning, disaster
management, local economic development, tourism,
housing and infrastructure. In a nutshell, GIS has enabled
municipalities to effectively quantify basic needs and pri-
oritise service delivery.
The City of Cape Town integrated a GIS into its infor-
mation system infrastructure. While GIS technology was
used throughout the various local councils prior to the
amalgamation, it functioned primarily as stand-alone sys-
tems with little standardisation and limited compatibility.
To reform this legacy, Cape Town implemented an enter-
prise GIS. This allowed extensive functionality within a
multi-user environment and provided an effective spatial
data management platform for its users. “Initially, the city
concentrated on consolidating electricity and property
geodatabases into the GIS, and subsequently added the
water services geodatabase to the GIS process,” reveled
Russell Hope, Manager - Corporate GIS, City of Cape
Town. Since then, a number of other departments like
Planning and Valuations, have started implementing GIS
technology.
However, many of the developments in GIS are taking
place in a strategic and tactical vacuum because the
implementation in many municipalities in South Africa,
is failing. The outcome has been that GIS is not optimal-
ly utilised in local government and the benefits of invest-
ing in it are not being fully realised. One of the main rea-
sons why the implementation of GIS has failed in local
government has to do with how it was introduced and
how the municipality embraced it in the first place. The
development of GIS in most, if not all municipalities in
South Africa came about through the influence of a proj-
ect that required the use of GIS as a tool for capturing,
manipulating, analysing and presenting spatial informa-
tion. The shortage of GIS professionals and funding is a
key obstacle to the successful implementation of GIS in
local government.
Disaster Management
Implementation of integrated IT in disaster management
in South Africa began in 1998, the ‘El Nino year’. The
weather pattern that year was unusual. The Ministry of
the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry instructed
experts from the Strategic Planning Directorate to use IT
One of the main reasons why the implementation of GIS has failed in local govern-ment has to do with how it was introduced and how themunicipality embraced it in the first place.
47GIS DEVELOPMENT
for the management of rainfall, river flow and flood. The
National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) of
South Africa (at that time Y2K Centre) took up the task.
The idea was to monitor and register potential hazards as
early as possible and to increase lead warning time.
This is one of the main activities at the NDMC main
observation room, where there is continuous monitoring
of various hazards. In January 2003, the president of
South Africa signed the South African Disaster Manage-
ment Act, a backbone of national disaster management
legislation.
The main focus is on prevention, which represents a 180-
degree turn from historically inherited post-disaster man-
agement activity; the Act highlights the role of informa-
tion as the most significant driver. GIS systems play an
important role in the set-up of the system at NDMC.
Awareness of the importance of visual information led to
GIS being considered a very significant component for
interactive communication.
The main disaster management activity at national and
provincial levels is coordination, which has, in general,
two equally important components: temporal and spatial.
The temporal component assumes coordination as a con-
tinuous activity. Improvement in the coordination of haz-
ard, vulnerability and risk-related activities requires
improved understanding of complex mechanisms and
interaction between ‘mother nature’, society and technol-
ogy. The spatial component has three main directions of
coordination: horizontal, vertical and thematic.
Horizontally, coordination as part of the national frame-
work and activities involves bringing together national,
provincial and district institutions and organisations that
run programmes in support of disaster reduction like Gov-
ernment Departments of Water Affairs and Forestry, Agri-
culture, Environmental Affairs and Tourism, South
African Weather Services, South African Police Service,
National Defence Force, Non-Governmental Organisa-
tions (NGOs), public and private institutions and busi-
nesses and educational institutions. Vertically, coordina-
tion occurs among the province, district, metropolis and
municipality.
Frequent disasters with attendant damage have height-
ened climate change related environmental and social
vulnerability, emphasising the need for tools to support
disaster management. The National Disaster Hazard and
Vulnerability Atlas has been developed using Web-
enabled GIS as the primary user interface. Twelve hazards
are listed at the Atlas website but not all of these are
equally present over South African territory. The most
dominant natural hazards are forest fire, floods and
droughts.
Frequent disasters with attendant damage have heightened climate changerelated environmental andsocial vulnerability, emphasis-ing the need for tools to support disaster management
48 July 2009GIS DEVELOPMENT
Agriculture
The management and protection of agricultural land has
increasingly become important, viewed against the back-
ground of food security and sustained management of the
country’s natural resources. “This cannot be done with-
out the use of spatial information due to the complexity
in utilising the information as a basis for decision mak-
ing,” commented Anneliza Collett from the Department
of Agriculture. During the early developmental years of
GIS in late nineties, the National Department of Agricul-
ture, the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) as well as
the nine provincial Departments of Agriculture have
expressed the need to work towards a common goal, espe-
cially when working with spatial information. This initia-
tive has lead to the development of the Agricultural Geo-
referenced Information System (AGIS) - a Web based
spatial information system that mainly focuses on serving
spatial natural resource information to the broader pub-
lic, free of charge. Within AGIS a land use management
system has been developed that currently manages all
applications pertaining to the sub-division and change of
land use. The system, called AgriLand, allows for online
capturing of detail information pertaining to the applica-
tion, the relevant farm portion as well as the progress in
terms of the application process. Due to the fact, the sys-
tem is located within the AGIS environment, it also
allows the applicant to determine the status of the agri-
cultural resources relevant to the involved land parcel.
This data layers form the basis in evaluating the applica-
tion pertaining to its agricultural potential and surround-
ing land use. To date, the AGIS website has strived to be
the “single source of the truth” in assisting in the man-
agement of the mentioned. However, what is required is
the continued updating of natural resource data and the
refinement thereof. All role-players involved in this field
should commit themselves in making available relevant
spatial data that will assist in the expanding of the coun-
try’s natural resource base. Continued research also forms
an important factor in ensuring that the best possible
decisions are taken pertaining to the management and
utilisation of agricultural land.
Power
The South African government has set a target of univer-
sal access to basic electricity by the year 2012. Eskom Dis-
tribution, in conjunction with local municipalities, is
responsible for electrification, predominantly in rural
areas.Eskom devised a National Emergency Response
plan to manage both the demand and supply side of the
energy crisis. Load shedding is one of the features of this
plan. According to Eskom, "Shortages on the electricity
system unbalance the network, which can cause it to col-
lapse. By rotating the load in a planned and controlled
manner, the system remains stable. Eskom uses GIS tech-
nology to manage the network." To generate the load
shedding schedules, Eskom personnel query the database
by entering an attribute or a number of attributes. The
database creates a result in a table. The GIS technology
enables the Eskom personnel to determine the shortest
path for an electricity network extension, locate under-
ground pipes and cables, balance the load, plan mainte-
nance, track energy use and track faults.
For complete article, check
http://www.gisdevelopment.net/magazine/global/2009/july/46.htm
GIS DEVELOPMENT 49July 2009
INTERVIEW
GIS DEVELOPMENT50 July 2009
Tell us about Data World's products andservicesAs a group, we provide a wide range of geospatial services,mostly to public sector organisations. We have done a workin land information systems for municipal/local govern-ments. We work around property tax valuation and apprais-al system, from the ground to building to land registry,integrating it into some of our products. We have lot ofdomain expertise in South Africa where we have workedwith many premier organisations. A lot of times we findthat customers have lot of spatial data but they do notknow how to utilise it in their organisation. We try to inte-grate their business data, attribute data with spatial dataand present it in a fashion they can use it. We build toolsand have search engine type of facilities for bespoke serv-ices. We used ESRI platform in the past for this purposebut now we are building Buffalo, an open source platform.One of the areas that we have been trying to focus ishuman technology because we believe the future of com-puting is based on human technologies and writing tech-
nologies. Leopard is a tool people use to design the digitalpaper products, utilise digital pen capabilities and processthat information and integrate it with back end system.Simply put, it is the tool that allows you to write and asyou write gets converted into digital form and you canrecall what you have written. This is mobile based anduses GSM, GPRS or WAP networks to transfer data back,converts it to a copy of the document you have completedas well as a text document (html file) which people candownload into their databases. This can be used for multi-ple purposes. In our case, we are using it in the darkestparts of Africa where there is no electricity, no computers.This is being used for disease control and disease monitor-ing in a UN based project for FAO. We have cut down theinformation collection at the national offices from threemonths to three minutes. Its biggest benefit is that onecan date stamp, put the location and if you are using thelocation technology in conjunction with that, we can takethe GPS coordinates directly from the field where you col-lect the information. Document transfer and documentmanagement get very easy with Leopard.
'We make GIS acceptable
by increasing usability'
Willy GovenderGroup CEO, Data World
July 2009
Most of the Data World's clients are of public sector organisations. Do you find any specific challenges to convince and sell this technology to government organisations? If you look at our biggest projects in South Africa, we are successful largely because of our ability to think out of the boxand make things work quickly and efficiently. In South Africa,technology adoption is high. This is purely because the demandfor services is first world but the supply in terms of skills is thirdworld so the gap is bridged by technology. Technology is veryempowering and enabling agent here. Government is looking fortechnology solutions because they don't have people.
Being a strong South African company, can you tell us what brought you to India?We have been doing business with lot of Indian companies forthe past six years. We have been participating in South AfricanIndian CEOs forum, and we get to see lot of Indian companiesinvesting in South Africa and those from South African countriescoming to India looking for joint venture operations. We wantedto do something different. We had the capability and the skilland that's how we set our feet in our first office in Gurgaon. Thefruits of that experience has made us expand. As the group isexpanding, we want to make India our hub for expanding intoAsia and Middle East.
What is your perception about Indiangeospatial market?A: I think it is large and focussed, more as a BPO in the pastand has never been inward looking. The only company that Iknow as a business organisation that has done any thing innova-tive around the business is Reliance. From this perspective,there is still a lot of opportunity. There is lot of information thatwe need to collect to data manage anything and it's not aboutinformation system. It's about data. We look at India in twoaspects. One is to service. Secondly and more importantly, welook at penetrating into Indian market in the niche areas, indomains we are already in. The developmental challenges inIndia and South Africa are pretty similar. On that count, wehave lot of experience.
You have said that India has been a sort ofBPO to world geospatial market. But it isstrong in that. What is the USP of Data Worldthat can enable it stand to its contenders?Indian market is price sensitive. The two barriers that preventthe uptake of any technology are cost and technology. We aretrying to bridge both these barriers with our products. Buffalo isbuilt on open source technology. With this, we have overcomethe licensing barrier. We built a platform around open sourcewhich is as easy and simple as any other proprietary GIS solu-tion and at the same time more affordable. This removed theprice barrier. Our aim is to increase the overall GIS acceptabilityby increasing usability. We can deliver solutions to larger masseswithout the need of much technical knowledge. GIS is viewed asa decision making tool but most people use it as a map makingtool. We want to enable people to start making decisions, especially in the developing world, where the need is most.
As a boy Scout, I developed
immense interest in maps. I
was born and brought up in
South Africa but spent a large part of
my childhood in Swaziland. My
interest in maps took me to surveying
eventually. I did my Bachelor of Sci-
ence in Surveying from the Universi-
ty of Natal in Durban and registered
myself as a professional land surveyor
in 1979. In the 30 years of my service,
I was fortunate to have worked in a
variety of challenging environs that
gave me a lot of opportunities in pro-
duction, research, planning and
problem solving. Initially, I had good
exposure in photogrammetry, remote
sensing and cartography but not
First Person
Dr Derek Clarke
Chief Director: Surveys and MappingDepartment of Rural Development and Land Reform, South Africa
GIS DEVELOPMENT52
As a land sur-veyor or as thehead of GSDI,Dr DerekClarke’s heartbeats for thegeodetical unifi-cation of Africa
Boy Scout to surveyor
of world repute
July 2009
much in GIS. I got myself involved in a digital mapping
project in 1982 and that’s when my interest in GIS devel-
oped. This led to the initiation of the National Exchange
for Geo-referenced Information Standard Project in 1985.
There were several constraints in terms of the inability to
exchange data due to lack of standards and limitations of
proprietary systems. We realised not all organisations are
using the same language. So, it took lot of efforts to edu-
cate the people. Though we completed the project in
1986-87, the project didn’t match our expectations when
it came to the implementation of it owing to proprietary
software being used. Several leading GIS software compa-
nies competed with each other to capture the market
share. I agree competition is there even today, but they
tend to listen to users and are quite adaptable.
In 1989, South Africa initiated its efforts to build the
national land information system (NLIS), a forerunner to
national SDI. I was chosen to drive the programme. The
main objective of the programme was to improve on the
existing standards, try and coordinate the happenings in
the public sector so that duplication is minimised, to
encourage government departments to be custodians of
their datasets, make them accept their responsibility of
sharing. In 1997, it was decided to restructure the NLIS
into the National Spatial Data Infrastructure to be
aligned with international trends. In 1993, I was promot-
ed to the director of mapping and in 1997 to the Chief
Director of Surveys and Mapping (head of the national
geodetic surveying and mapping organisation). My new
role is more of managerial and programme management
rather than production. During that time, I did masters
degree in public administration in 1995 and achieved my
Ph.D in 2007.
Teaching to fish
In 1997, we structured the national SDI. There after, the
department started a new component and unfortunately
since then I have not had direct responsibility for South
Africa’s national SDI. But I hope that this situation will
change in the near future. My organisation has been one
of the major data custodians – geospatial data creators
and maintainers. Obviously we all have a great role to play
in the national SDI. In early 2000, the approach then was
to encourage people to participate, collaborate and coop-
erate. This wasn’t working. In late 2004, a new legislation
for the national SDI was drafted, which created a 40-
agency coordinating body to look into the issues of policy,
to ensure that duplication is minimised, standards are set
and maintained and very importantly to try and create
metadata.
Ultimately, SDIs need to be taken to the community
level. It should be made participatory. If we don’t look at
these societal issues, it would be too inward looking,
alienating the people, to whom we are supposed to cater
to. It is important to involve them as well. You know the
old Chinese proverb – give a man a fish and you feed him
for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for life.
That is the situation we have today. As people, as a coun-
try, we have to learn. There are people to take us to a par-
ticular level but after that you have to empower yourself
to grow on your own.
Africa Unite
The committee on Information Development (CODI),
now CODIST, meets every two years where African coun-
tries report on the progress they have achieved since the
last meeting. At the end, they make some resolutions.
They are meant for the African govern-
ments to implement the recom-
mendations and make
progress. But I noticed that
these conferences make
very nice resolutions but
the next time you
attend these confer-
ences, there is no
progress. African coun-
tries are reporting no or
minimal progress. I, per-
sonally, became disillu-
sioned of this inaction. I
felt we ought to have some-
thing more concrete and so I
put forward the concept of the
Mapping Africa for Africa ini-
tiative. That was in 2003.
It was fortunate
that the ICA
endorsed it
followed by
CODI in
2004. It
became
an essen-
tial part
of
July 2009 53GIS DEVELOPMENT
GIS DEVELOPMENT
CODI-Geo and they created a working group on funda-
mental datasets and the whole initiative came to be called
Mapping Africa for Africa. I have been driving this initia-
tive since 2003 trying to make a difference in Africa. One
of the reasons why this is close to my heart is that it has
been hard seeing my colleagues in other countries talking
and complaining without progress being made. South
Africa cannot work in isolation as a country. We need to
work in association with our neighbours. Otherwise, there
will be a flood of economic refugees into South Africa. It
will be a tremendous burden on the country’s public serv-
ices. Instead, if we work together, assist and support each
other, development will be more uniform in the region.
I acknowledge that it is the responsibility of the technol-
ogist to educate the decision makers at the highest level
for some tangible action. We can see the need for what we
are doing but we are unable to put it in a language that a
politician can understand.
Africa and beyond
I served as the president of GSDI in 2000-01. One of the
main reasons for me to be part of such an organisation is
to have international collaborations so that we can learn
from each other, share information and also when we look
at our country and region, we also need to look at the
world as well. We are also contributing to the Global Map
Project, to create a global dataset, which is being spon-
sored by the Japanese government. I am also serving as a
Vice-president of ICA. This is with an intention to net-
work internationally, particularly with developing coun-
tries. We don’t have the human resources, technology
know-how or the financial capabilities developed nations
have. But it is important
to use the resources at
hand optimally. So I
observe what the devel-
oped nations do correct-
ly and what went wrong,
so that we don’t make
the same mistakes.
Greater meaning
to life
I have had good support
from my family all
through. I realised life
has greater meaning
than just work and you
ought to have a balance. You just can’t be a technocrat,
you can’t immerse yourself in work. You have to look after
your body as well, without which you cannot perform. I
have one daughter from my first marriage, working as a
freelance illustrator and is a budding author. I am father
of three-year-old twins from my second marriage. To be a
father at this age is quite a change and enjoyable. When
you are a father, you certainly see things very differently
and I am more mature now. I am currently training as a
professional integral coach, which is immensely develop-
ing me as a person. I hope that I can use my coaching to
make a difference to the lives of those that I coach.
Long way to go
I still feel there is a lot for me to do in the organisation, a
lot to do and a lot to live for. We are just finishing the
redesign of our data model. We re-designed a fully inte-
grated topographical information system, which is the
heart of the organisation. We integrated various databas-
es, fully structured and integrated GIS and made it fea-
ture rich. But now we have to take it even further. We are
in the process of redefining the standards across the
organisation. I am also quite passionate about people
development. I believe in empowering people to have
choice. Everyone is an individual and maintain dignity in
their work. I don’t like to impose myself on others. I give
direction and guide. I follow coach and approach policy.
Unless they go critically wrong, I listen to people and go
with their recommendations and decisions. But yes, I am
capable of saying no as well. At the end of the day, if I can
make a difference to a person, a community, I feel I am
worthy and I have done my bit.
July 2009
With Santiago Borrero (Columbia) in the centre and Jack Dangermond (ESRI) at a dinner during GSDI-5 conference
54
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he 11th edition of the annual Global Spa-tial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) conferenceopened in Rotterdam on the 15th of June.The theme of this year’s conference was
Spatial Data Infrastructure Convergence: BuildingSDI Bridges to Address Global Challenges. Theopening day saw a series of workshops on topicsrelating to SDI.
The morning workshop discussed the ‘Legal Issuesof Geoinformation: A short introduction to IP, Privacyand Liability’. The proceedings were conducted byDrs Colette Cuijpers and Maurice Schellekens,Assistant Professors of the Tilburg University of Law,Technology and Society. Dr. Schellekens covered theconcept of copyright as applicable to digital geospa-tial data. He closed with a discussion on free accessversus cost recovery. Dr. Cuijpers took up the issueof liabilities. Simple issues can get exacerbated dueto internationalisation. She ended with a question:How far can we pursue liability before we start hampering innovation?
The second workshop was on ‘Best Practices in SDI’by Roger Longhorne. He defined six maturity levelsbeginning with 0 (no SDI) through 1 (ad hoc SDI), 2(SDI aware), 3 (refined SDI), 4 (quantitatively managed SDI) and finally 5 where the SDI is optimised to give best service. The third workshopwas on ‘Interplay of Budgets, Accountability and SDI’ was anchored by Kate Lance, NASA and twospeakers, Sylvain Latour from NRCan and Floris deBree from Netherland Geological Survey.
The second day of GSDI 11 focused on “BuildingSDI Bridges to address Global Challenges”. Introduc-ing the theme Dr Bas Kok, President GSDI, said thatbridges need to be built between technologies andacross boundaries. Leen Hordijk, Director, Institutefor Environment and Sustainability, JRC, EuropeanCommission, stated that environmental challengeslike climate change are global but have local impact.He highlighted the importance of citizen’s participa-tion. In the second plenary, Gary Nairn, former Spe-cial Minister of State and e-Government, Australiaspoke on ‘Spatially Enabling Society through E-Gov-ernment: A Political Imperative’.
The panel was chaired by John McLaughlin, President and VC of the University of NewBrunswick and one of the founders of GSDI. Thepanellists had to respond to three questions. Whatare the three primary achievements in your region inbuilding SDI? What are the three goals to make SDImeet the societal needs of your region? What are thethree key actions or goals for enabling workingacross regions?
The third day of GSDI was the opening of the 3rdINSPIRE Conference. The conference opened withtwo keynote talks and then went on to INSPIRE specific papers. In the first keynote delivered byDenise Lievesley, Head of the School of Social Sta-tistics, King’s College, London the topic chosen was‘Information is Power: Overcoming Obstacles to DataSharing’. Pirkko Saarikivi, Managing Director, ForecaConsulting Ltd was the next speaker. She spoke onROADIDEA: Ingredients for Innovative TransportServices. In the next session on INSPIRE: Buildingthe European SDI Massimo Craglia, Director Gener-al, JRC, EC gave an overview of the INSPIRE effortsfrom conception to the present. Hugo de Groof, DGEnvironment, EC, spoke on INSPIRE in the Euro-pean Shared Environmental Information System.
The fourth day of the conference focused on nation-al issues in Geonovum and RGI Plenaries. The session was entitled “Public Sector meets Scienceand Industry”. The Mayor of Rotterdam, AhmedAboutaleb spoke on the SDI opportunities in Rotterdam after which the National Geo Register ofthe Netherlands was formally declared open.
Bart Parmet, Secretary of the Delta Commissionspoke on how a living land builds its future by working together with water. Eelco H Dykstra, Professor, International Emergency Management atthe George Washington University Institute for Crisis,Disaster and Risk Management, in his comments onthe work of the Delta Commission in an internationalperspective, delineated the roles of prevention andrecovery in disaster situations.
In the next plenary mark a keynote was delivered by Cor van Tilborg, Chairman, Space for Geo-infor-mation. He spoke about the need for a viable geo-industry, effective government and the need toconnect business, government, and research todevelop an SDI. The last plenary covered DutchTrade and Pioneer Spirit in Geo-information. Fourindustry representatives outlined their activities andfuture plans.
The last day of GSDI 11 began with the corporatesector visions and perspectives: Building Bridges toStimulate Participation. The session was organisedby the platinum sponsors: Autodesk, Cyclomedia,ESRI and EuroGeographics. Four use cases werepresented by, Greta Remy, Coordinator Traffic Safety,Belgium, Dean Paull, CEO, PSMA Australia, Berik Davies, Global and GIS Coordinator, ShellInternational Exploration and Production, Dr JosefStrobl, Professor, Centre of Geoinformatics, SalzburgUniversity.
GIS DEVELOPMENT56
GSDI-11 talks on
building bridges
Conference Report
T
July 2009
Visit labs.erdas.com for a glimpse of ERDAS IMAGINE 2010. For more information on ERDAS,
please visit www.erdas.com or call +91 124 4633000.
16 - 18 September, 2009
Map Africa 2009
Birchwood Hotel & O R Tambo Conference
Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa
http://mapafrica.gisdevelopment.net
27 - 28 July, 2009
GeoIntelligence 2009
Hotel Inter Continental EROS
New Delhi
www.GISdevelopment.net/geointelligence
18 - 20 August 2009
Map Asia 2009
Suntec Singapore International Convention
and Exhibition Centre, Singapore
www.mapasia.org
Singapore
Singapore
India
India
Johannesburg
Johannesburg
July 2009
21- 23 July
GEO Summit - Latin America
Sao Paulo, Brasil
www.geobr.com.br
24-26 July 2009
healthGIS2009
Hyderabad International Conven-
tion Center, Hyderabad, India
http://e-geoinfo.net/healthgis2009/
August 2009
4 - 7 August
10th South East
Asian Survey Congress
(SEASC ’09).
Bali, Indonesia
www.seasc2009.org
August 4-6, 2009
Second Circumpolar Conference
on Geospatial Sciences and
Applications
Westmark Hotel, Fairbanks, Alas-
ka, USA
http://alaska.usgs.gov/science/geography/IPY-
GeoNorth/
27 - 28 August
GISCA’09
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
www.aca-giscience.org/gisca09
31 August - 4 September
International Association of
Geodesy Scienific Assembly --
IAG 2009
Buenos Aires, Argentina
http://www.iag2009.com.ar/
September 2009
2 - 4 September
6th International Symposium
on LBS & TeleCartography
Nottingham, UK
www.lbs2009.org
9 - 12 September
International Symposium on
Digital Earth (ISDE)
China National Convention
Center , Beijing , China
http://www.isde6.org
13 -17 September
GITA's GIS for Oil & Gas
Conference
Houston, Texas
gita.org/events/oil_gas/09/index.asp
22 - 24 September
Intergeo
Karlsruhe, Germany
www.intergeo.de
22 - 25 September
ION GNSS 2009
Savannah, GA
http://www.ion.org/
29 Sept. - 2 October
GIS Defence Asia-Pacific
Singapore, Asia
www.gisdefence.com.sg
30 Sept. - 1 October
DGI Central & Eastern Europe
Prague, Czech Republic
www.dgicee.com
October 2009
7 - 9 October
ESRI Latin American User
Conference (LAUC)
Colombia, USA
www.procalculoprosis.com/lauc09
11 - 15 October
51st Association of Nigerian
Geographers Annual Conference
Kogi, Nigeria
www.geo-planksu.org
21 - 22 October
GEOMATICS 2009
Quebec, Canada
www.geomatics2009.comwww.GISdevelopment.net/events/index.asp
GIS DEVELOPMENT58 July 2009
M a r k Yo u r C a l e n d e r
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