Geographical Information Systems (GIS)

In a rapid changing society like South Africa, up to date and accurate information on the socio-economic,service delivery, demographic, substance abuse, disease and other conditions of the nation is needed on a regular basis. The gathering of representative information in a vast country like South Africa can be a costly exercise. A well-designed sample, however, can lay the base for the collection of information and for further research and analysis.

Utilising a good sample design together with a spatial extrapolation method provides an alternative to frequent and expensive surveys.

The society in which you live has a significant influence on the type of information that you require to address particular socio-economic, development or environmental issues. For example, the apartheid policy in South Africa resulted in the concentration of black people in small regions in the country where there was little employment opportunity, limited investment in development and this resulted in the excessive exploitation of natural resources. Indicators covering these particular factors must be considered in the development of the information system for purposes of reconstruction and development in South Africa.

This paper will explore the philosophical issues associated with the development of the spatial information system and will focus on its application to the context of an African Renaissance. Examples of spatial information systems developed in South Africa will be discussed.

Demographers are often called on to segment populations according to behavioural characteristics such as consumer, reproductive or other types of behaviour. This inevitably involves balancing representational information that may contain contradictions, superfluous or confusing data. Additional challenges include the increasingly unacceptable practice of using "traditional" indicators of behaviour like gender, race and income, since the present political climate demands that categorizations that are unbiased, "value free" and yet functional be used. The changing way in which information is becoming available highlights the need to present information by spatial zones rather than social categories. These presentations simultaneously need to take cognisance of the cultural and economic diversity within such zones or communities.

The need and access to spatial information in South Africa for use in decision making and development planning has been a long-standing issue. With the implementation of the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) in 1994 a strategy was implemented which provided the necessary policies and social incentives for comprehensive spatial data to be made available and developed for use in transforming South Africa into a new state under the guidance of the Government of National Unity (GNU).