Page 1 of 3 Next  Phil Farrant Manager, GIS Unit, Buffalo City Municipality philipfarrant@yahoo.com This presentation is based on experiences gained from the implementation of the corporate GIS in Buffalo City Municipality. History of GIS in the Buffalo City Municipality First implemented in 1988 by East London Municipality to replace the paper-based record keeping system, GIS development did not gain any momentum.
Like other cities in South Africa, in relation to the amalgamation process, Buffalo City confronted a serious (geographic) information management problem. While the area of jurisdiction has expanded to embrace rural committees, little or no base line information was available to support planning and management activities. Likewise, the focus on Integrated Development Planning with objectives to combat the highly inequitable spatial distribution of resources stressed the need for relevant and updated data as well as methods to analyse and improve the situation. Effective integrated planning, service delivery and project implementation rests on the ability of key decision-makers to correctly interpret and understand information derived from data. Consequently, a corporate approach to implementing GIS, managing spatial data and developing appropriate decision support tools has received high priority in Council's strategic thinking. Implementing a GIS requires careful planning of time and resources and must be done in a carefully planned logical sequence. If this is done correctly the easier it will be for the organisation to better meet its strategic goals. The Development Process The most important limitations and obstacles to the operational use of GIS are not of a technical nature. They are rather institutional, organisational, procedural, and information quality issues. To address these obstacles, a GIS Strategy dealing with institutional mandates and linkages, human skills development, technology strategies and financial management was developed. The first step was to define organisational framework and the information needs and priorities, and relate this to the state of existing information and capabilities of data producers and users. The Strategic plan Probably the most important step in the entire process was the development and acceptance of a GIS Strategy plan. This plan was paramount to the successful implementation of the corporate GIS. The strategy focussed on achievable goals and included the following components. Define and decide upon the institutional framework of the GIS function in terms of the location of the GIS component in the organisation In order to be recognised in the municipality, the GIS must have some corporate muscle. Hiding the GIS in, for instance the IT department will ensure that it does not receive any priority in terms of development and resource allocation. Like Buffalo City Municipality, most municipalities are very much understaffed and under resourced. GIS should never be placed in an environment where it needs to compete for resources. There is also the danger of placing the GIS in an environment that places excessive operational demands on the GIS. For example placing the GIS in the planning department will see a focus on meeting the immediate needs of the planners at the expense of corporate development. With the focus on IDP and the need for support tools, it would be more strategic to place the GIS as close to the IDP as possible.
Page 1 of 3
Next |