Abstract
Most of the countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) are poor but rich in various natural and agricultural resources. The vision of SADC is a common economic well-being, improved standards of living and quality of life for all people in the member states. Geographical information science (GISc) plays a vital role in managing the natural and agricultural resources to achieve the vision of SADC. Spatial data infrastructures (SDIs) facilitate access to geographical information and provide policies to manage access to geographical information. These are key success factors for finding sustainable solutions to the challenges of all member states. In order to implement SDIs and to strengthen the use of geographical data in solution finding, these countries need GISc education to train the necessary professionals and scientists. The objective of this study is to investigate if there is a relationship between the availability of GISc education and SDI implementation in the SADC countries. To our knowledge a similar study has not been undertaken. Previous studies have been conducted to determine the current state of GISc education and SDI implementation respectively on the African continent. In this chapter we compare the findings of the two studies to determine if there is a relationship between the availability of GISc education and the state of SDI implementation in SADC countries. The results indicate that SDI implementation in SADC is not influenced by the availability of GISc education.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
4icu.org (2012) 4th international colleges and universities directory 2012, viewed 19 April 2012, www.4icu.org
Adian KAN, Nawawi MNM, Abdullah K (2012) Assesing the accuracy of GIS-based elementary multicreteria decesion analysis as a spatial prediction tool—a case of predicting potential zones of sustainable groundwater resources. J Hydrol 440–441:75–89
AIMS (2008) Agricultural information management systems. http://aims.sadc.int/. Accessed 9 Oct 2012
Chien L, Tseng, W Chang, C, Hsu, C (2012) A study of ocean zoning and sustainable management by GIS in Taiwan. Ocean Coast Manage 69:35–497
Coetzee S, Eksteen S (2012) Tertiary education institutions in Africa: cloudy with a chance of GISc education in some countries. S Afr J Geomat 1(2):119–132
Eksteen S (2012) Coetzee S, Grundling C (2012) Tertiary GISc education at African universities: is the sun shining in South Africa? GISSA Ukubuzana 2012. Ekurhuleni, South Africa, pp 2–4
Fernández T, Kate D, Cuba L, Margaret B (2005) Assessing an SDI readiness index. FIG Working Week
Grus L, Crompvoets J, Bregt AK (2007) Multi-view SDI assessment framework. Int J Spat Data Infrastruct Res 2:33–53
Harvey F, Iwaniak A, Coetzee S and Cooper AK (2012) SDI past, present and future: a review and status assessment. Spatially enabling government, industry and citizens: research and development perspectives. GSDI Association, Needham, pp 23–38
Hjelmager J, Moellering H, Delgado T, Cooper AK, Rajabifard A, Rapant P, Danko D, Huet M, Laurent D, Aalders HJGL, Iwaniak A, Abad P, Düren U, Martynenko A (2008) An initial formal model for spatial data infrastructures. Int J Geog Inform Sci 22(11):1295–1309
ISSA (2012) Institute for security studies. http://www.issafrica.org/. Accessed 17 Oct 2012
Makanga P, Smit J (2010) A Review of the status of spatial data infrastructure implementation in Africa. S Afr Comput J 45
Marais H (2008) The challenges of GIS education and training: GIS use municipal urban and regional planning. Asian conference on remote sensing. http://www.a–a-rs.org/acrs/proceeding/ACRS2008/Papers/TS%2024.1.pdf. Accessed 20 Oct 2012, pp 1–19
Masser I, Rajabifard A, Williamson I (2008) Spatially enabling governments through SDI implementation. Int J Geog Inform Sci 22(1):5–20
OCHA (2012) United nations office for the coordination of Humanitarian affairs. http://ochaonline.un.org/rosa/HumanitarianSituations/tabid/3459/language/en-US/Default.aspx. Accessed 17 Oct 2012
SADC (2012) Southern Africa development community. http://www.sadc.int/. Accessed 10 Oct 2012
SA Web (2009–2011) South Africa web—all about South Africa. http://www.southafricaweb.co.za/. Accessed 17 Oct 2012
Toure N, Kane A, Noel JF, Turmine V, Nedeff V, Lazar G (2012) Water-poverty relationships in the coastal town of Mbour (Senegal): relevance of GIS for decision support. Int J Appl Earth Obs Geoinf 14(1):33–39
UNECA (2004) SDI Africa: an implementation guide. http://geoinfo.uneca.org/sdiafrica/default1.htm. Accessed 12 Oct 2012
UNjobs (2012) UNJobs a Swiss association. Botswana country report submitted to the African regional consultations on disaster reduction workshop, 2–3 June 2004, Midrand, South Africa. http://www.unisdr.org/2005/mdgs-drr/national-reports/Botswana-report.pdf. Accessed 17 Oct 2012
Webometrics (2012) viewed 19 April 2012. http://www.webometrics.info
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Eksteen, S., Coetzee, S. (2014). The State of GISc Education and SDI Implementation in the SADC Countries: A Comparative Study. In: Buchroithner, M., Prechtel, N., Burghardt, D. (eds) Cartography from Pole to Pole. Lecture Notes in Geoinformation and Cartography(). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32618-9_34
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32618-9_34
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-32617-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-32618-9
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)