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Joburg's CGIS unit is marking International Geographic Information Systems Day by setting up stands on geographic information systems and its uses.
THE eleventh Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Day will be celebrated on 18 November at the Metropolitan Centre in Braamfontein.
The City of Johannesburg will join 80 other countries in marking the occasion.
GIS is a computer-based mapping tool that takes information from a database about a location, such as a street, and turns it into visual layers.
A previous GIS Day event
The day is celebrated annually on the Wednesday of National Geographic's Geography Awareness Week, which is always held in the third week of November.
"This year's event will feature four different stands with CGIS staff placed on the ground floor, Metro Link, second floor and eighth floor to market and draw attention to the many products and services offered by the directorate," says the unit's Bernadette Rigney.
Corporate Geo-Informatics (CGIS) is the core of the City's database, providing data for all its departments. It has partnerships with relevant concerns within and outside the council.
"MOEs [municipal-owned entities] such as Pikitup and Johannesburg Water are also expected to take part in GIS Day," she adds.
"This year the directorate will be introducing the Joburg 2009 aerial photography and oblique imagery which was flown in June 2009," says the deputy director, Lesley Adams. "The public will have the opportunity to view the aerial photography and oblique imagery every half hour from 10am to 3pm."
GIS Day is a global event. Organisations across the world that use GIS are invited to participate by holding or sponsoring an event of their own. The day is used to build geographic awareness, and to provide an international forum of users of geographic information systems technology to display real-world applications that are making a difference to society.
Uses of GIS
GIS is used in digital maps, like Google maps, in global positioning system (GPS) units, such as Garmin, and in navigators on some cellphones. GPS units such as these are often used to gather data for export to and use in GIS. Mapping tools have become easy to use and advanced expertise is not needed.
Joburg is the first city in South Africa to have a single integrated property information system in place, in the form of the Land Information System (LIS). It brings together the Deeds Office, valuations, GIS and the planning department in one database.
This database provides information on a variety of issues, including billing, making it perfect for revenue collection and as a service delivery tool for the City. It links maps, property information and billing information.
GIS is used in digital maps
GIS is critical for urban planning, disaster response, crime analysis, conservation monitoring and transport planning.
Geography Awareness Week has been sponsored by the National Geographic Society, the American publishers of the renowned National Geographic magazine, since 1987 to promote geographic literacy in schools, communities and organisations, with a focus on the education of children. Aligned with this mission, 20 Johannesburg high schools spent two days exploring GIS with the City's CGIS unit in Auckland Park in September.
In Joburg, the primary aim of GIS Day is to ensure the timely provision of accurate and relevant geographically referenced spatial and related information.
Activities
Visitors to GIS Day stands will be guided through the online maps website application and will be able to learn more about the ways in which GIS is used, as well as view the map galleries and GIS information packs.
"Visitors will have the opportunity to take a guided tour through the directorate to experience how maps and GIS can be used in local government," concludes Adams.
CGIS works closely with the City's utilities, sharing information with the Johannesburg Roads Agency, Johannesburg Water, City Power, City Parks and Pikitup. It also acts as data host to the Johannesburg Property Company (JPC) and the economic development department. Collated information assists in analysis and planning, and provides visuals of how areas have changed geographically.
The unit supplies an interactive mapping service to the public, available through its Eservices website. Click on the online maps (GIS) option listed on the left of the page.
It also offers free training on the use of the online maps.
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