Date :

09 May 2011

Time :

12:15 – 13:30

Presenters :

Mr Tholang Mokhele

The applications of Geographic Information System (GIS) in the socioeconomic sciences are rapidly growing, especially for census data, which is a powerful tool for world development & poverty reduction.  

It is anticipated that many, if not all countries will be using some element of GIS during 2010 round of population censuses. GIS is a computer-based system that allows geographically referenced information to be captured, stored, edited, displayed, analysed and printed. The use of GIS in censuses dates back to the mid 20th century. In South Africa, GIS was used for the first time during a census in 1996 and is therefore still a relatively new tool in the census environment. The importance of population census, census geography, and the applications of GIS in census will be discussed. In addition, the challenges and opportunities, especially in developing countries, in the applications of GIS in census will be presented. Examples of GIS applications in census data will be explored using South African 2001 census data. 

Mr Tholang Mokhele is a GIS Doctoral Research Fellow in the Knowledge Systems Programme. He holds an MSc with Distinction at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009. Before joining the HSRC on 1 August 2009, he was a Tutor and Demonstrator for GIS and Remote Sensing courses at the University of KwaZulu-Natal for a period of two and half years. He has also worked at the Aids Foundation of South Africa, Durban, as a Research Intern for few months. His areas of research interest include: GIS and Remote Sensing in socioeconomics (census), spatial statistics, spatial analysis & modeling, regionalisation, computational geography, infrastructure, disaster management, environmental monitoring & assessment and human diseases such as HIV/Aids, Malaria and TB patterns. Mr Mokhele’s publication record spans the authoring and co-authoring of more than 5 conference presentations and journal articles. His most recent work, published in Sugar Cane International Journal, 2009 , investigated the potential use of hyperspectral remote sensing in sugarcane health monitoring. 

The presentation from the seminar is now available for download

The audio presentation from this seminar is available for download

Venues

Cape Town: HSRC, 12th Floor, Plein Park Building (Opposite Revenue Office), Plein Street, Cape Town. Contact Vuyokazi Ngxubaza, Tel +27 (0) 21 466 8004, Fax (021) 461 0299, or VNgxubaza@hsrc.ac.za , Cell: +27 (0) 82 050 8453

Durban: First floor HSRC board room, 750 Francois Road, Ntuthuko Junction, Pods 5 and 6, Cato Manor, Contact Mr Redwaan Khan, Tel +27 (0) 31 242 5400, cell: +27 (0) 83 788 2786 or RKhan@hsrc.ac.za

Pretoria: HSRC Video Conference, 1st floor HSRC Library Human Sciences Research Council, 134 Pretorius Street, Pretoria. Arlene Grossberg, Tel: +27 (0) 12 302 2811, e-mail: acgrossberg@hsrc.ac.za  , or Baby Twala at Tel +27 (0) 12 302 2368, E-mail BTwala@hsrc.ac.za