Standards for exchanging digital geo-referenced information

The purpose of this dissertation is to assess digital geo-referenced information and standards for exchanging such information, especially the South African National Exchange Standard (NES). The process of setting up a standard is exacting. On the one hand, the process demands a thorough scrutiny and analysis of the objects to be standardised and of all related concepts. This is a prerequisite for ensuring that there is unanimity about their meaning and inter-relationships. On the other hand, the process requires that the standard itself be enunciated as succinctly, comprehensibly and precisely as possible. This dissertation addresses both these facets of the standards process in the context of standards for exchanging digital geo-referenced information. The dissertation begins with an analysis of geo-referenced information in general, including digital geo-referenced information. In chapters 2 and 3, the various aspects of such information are scrutinised and evaluated in more detail. The examination of concepts is backed up by a comprehensive Glossary of terms in the domain under discussion. Chapter 4 examines the nature of standards. It also proposes a novel way to approach a standard for the exchange of digital geo-referenced information: namely, that it can be viewed as a language and can accordingly be specified by a grammar. To illustrate the proposal, NES is fully specified, using the Extended Backus-Naur Form notation, in an Appendix. Apart from the advantages of being a succinct and precise formal specification, the approach also lends itself to deploying standard tools such as Lex and yacc for conformance testing and for developing interfaces to NES, as illustrated in a second appendix. As a final theme of the dissertation, an evaluation of such standards is provided. Other standards that have been proposed elsewhere for purposes similar to that of NES are surveyed in chapter 5. In chapter 6, features of NES are highlighted, including the fact that it takes a relational approach. Chapter 7 concludes the dissertation, summarising the work to date, and looking ahead to future work. AFRIKAANS : Die doel van hierdie verhandling is om versyferde geo-verwysde inligting en standaarde vir die uitruil van sulke inligting te ondersoek, met spesifieke verwysing na die Suid- Afrikaanse Nasionale Uitruilstandaard (NES). Die proses om ’n standaard op te stel is veeleisend. Aan die een kant vereis die proses ’n volledige bestudering en ontleding van die objekte wat gestandaardiseer gaan word, asook van al die verwante konsepte. Hierdie is ’n voorvereiste om te verseker dat daar oor hul betekenisse en onderlinge verwantskappe eenstemmigheid bestaan. Aan die ander kant vereis die proses dat die standaard so kernagtig, volledig en presies moontlik gestel moet word. Hierdie verhandeling spreek beide hierdie fasette van die standaardiseringsproses aan, en wel in die konteks van standaarde vir die uitruil van versyferde geo-verwysde inligting. Dié verhandling begin met ’n oorhoofse analise van geo-verwysde inligting, insluitend versyferde geo-verwysde inligting. In hoofstukke 2 en 3 word verskeie aspekte van dié inligting in meer detail ondersoek en geëvalueer. Hierdie ondersoek van konsepte word deur ’n omvattende woordelys van terme in die veld onder bespreking gesteun. Hoofstuk 4 ondersoek die aard van standaarde. Dit stel ook ’n nuwe manier voor om ’n standaard vir die uitruil van versyferde geo-verwysde inligting te benader, naamlik dat dit as ’n taal beskou kan word, en dat dit gevolglik deur middel van ’n grammatika gespesifiseer kan word. Om die voorstel te illustreer, word NES volledig in ’n aanhangsel deur middel van die Uitgebreide Backus-Naur Vorm notasie gespesifiseer. Afgesien van die voordeel van ’n kernagtige en presiese formele spesifikasie, ondersteun die benadering ook standaardgereedskap soos Lex en yacc wat vir konformeringstoetsing en vir NES koppelvlakke gebruik kan word, soos in ’n tweede aanhangsel illustreer word. As ’n finale tema van die verhandeling word ’n evaluasie van tersaaklike standaarde voorsien. Standaarde wat elders vir soortgelyke doeleindes aan dié van NES voorgestel is, word oorsigtelik in hoofstuk 5 beskou. In hoofstuk 6 word kenmerkende eienskappe van NES uitgelig, insluitend die feit dat dit op ’n relasionele benadering gebaseer is. Hoofstuk 7 sluit die verhandeling af met ’n opsomming van werk tot op datum en ’n blik op toekomstige werk.Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 1993.Computer Scienceunrestricte

What is an address in South Africa?

Addresses come in many forms as they have a variety of uses. In our paper we illustrate the need for standardized addresses in South Africa by describing scenarios where standardized addresses are required, or where standardized addresses would improve the current situation. We present the eleven address types described in the current draft South African address standard (SANS 1883), which has been developed under the auspices of the South African Bureau of Standards. We go on to show that these address types represent an all-encompassing description of an address in South Africa. The address types have to accommodate the current situation where there are no mandated authorities that assign standardized addresses according to a set of guidelines, and we provide a critical evaluation of this situation. Our contribution is threefold: illustrating the need for standardized addresses, showing that there is an all-encompassing description for an address in South Africa, and describing the potential negative impact of the current lack of mandated authorities on unambiguous address specification and the benefits that address standardization would bring.http://www.sajs.co.za

Perceptions of virtual globes, volunteered geographical information and spatial data infrastructures

The Internet has spawned the development of virtual communities or virtual social networks which generate and share information with one another, and with the public at large. Volunteered geographical information (VGI) refers to user-generated content that is made available as base data on public mapping web sites or as third party data overlaid on virtual globes such as Google Earth and NASA World Wind. Several attempts have been made to determine and categorise what motivates the contributors of VGI. However, while the contributors themselves might generally understand VGI, this is not necessarily the case amongst geographical information professionals at large. We used a questionnaire to explore this by gathering some data on the perceptions held by geographical information professionals of virtual globes, VGI and spatial data infrastructures (SDI). These perceptions are important because they influence how VGI and virtual globes will be used in future in the more formal SDI environments of official mapping agencies and other official custodians of spatial data. The questionnaire was administered at a meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in April 2009 and at another in Ekurhuleni, South Africa, in June 2009. The results are reported on here. Some of the results confirm previous research, while others raise questions that warrant further research.http://pubs.cig-acsg.ca/journal/ci

Perceptions of virtual globes, volunteered geographical information and spatial data infrastructures

The Internet has spawned the development of virtual communities or virtual social networks which generate and share information with one another, and with the public at large. Volunteered geographical information (VGI) refers to user-generated content that is made available as base data on public mapping web sites or as third party data overlaid on virtual globes such as Google Earth and NASA World Wind. Several attempts have been made to determine and categorise what motivates the contributors of VGI. However, while the contributors themselves might generally understand VGI, this is not necessarily the case amongst geographical information professionals at large. We used a questionnaire to explore this by gathering some data on the perceptions held by geographical information professionals of virtual globes, VGI and spatial data infrastructures (SDI). These perceptions are important because they influence how VGI and virtual globes will be used in future in the more formal SDI environments of official mapping agencies and other official custodians of spatial data. The questionnaire was administered at a meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in April 2009 and at another in Ekurhuleni, South Africa, in June 2009. The results are reported on here. Some of the results confirm previous research, while others raise questions that warrant further research.http://pubs.cig-acsg.ca/journal/ci

Qualitative insights into the acceptance of QGIS in South Africa

We conducted a study to find out whether and why South African users accepted QGIS. In the quantitative part of the study, we found that QGIS acceptance is primarily influenced by habit, followed by facilitating conditions, price value, and social influence. To better understand and explain these results, we conducted a qualitative study in which semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 geospatial practitioners. While a geographic information system (GIS) product was often prescribed by their workplace, interviewees had clear preferences for a specific GIS product for certain kinds of tasks, supporting the finding that habit is the main reason for using a GIS product. Interviewees used QGIS because it opens most data formats and there is one license for all functionality (facilitating conditions), is free (price value), and/or had been advised by someone important (social influence). The interviews revealed why software support (commercial or free) was not significant in the quantitative results: users think GIS support is not necessary or else available online. Identical to the quantitative study, interviews confirmed that customizability, no vendor lock-in, improved reliability, quality, and security do not play a role when deciding to use QGIS. These qualitative results provide a deeper understanding of the quantitative results and can be used by promotors of open-source geospatial software to increase uptake. In general, they can also help managers embed new products into any organization's workflows. In our study, interviewees and questionnaire respondents were selected to be users. Repeating the study for GIS developers and/or managers will provide further insight into QGIS acceptance.The South African National Defense Force (SANDF).https://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/tgishj2023Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorolog

Evaluating a public sector organisation for SDI readiness – the case of a South African government department

Spatial data infrastructure (SDI) facilitates the collection and sharing of geographic information developed by different organisations. As a result, SDI initiatives are occurring in different countries. Various government departments are implementing SDI in order to contribute to the achievements of its objectives. SDI assessments to evaluate the implementation thereof is also occurring from local levels to international levels. This paper establishes the availability of geographic information within the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) by describing DEA’s contribution to the South African SDI objectives and by assessing DEA’s SDI readiness.The qualitative method was used to collect data. The techniques used in this research were literature review, interviews, mainly in-depth interview, document and internet analysis. The results indicate that geographic information is available and the department continues to make more means to make it available. They also reveal that there are some challenges with respect to accessibility. Currently there is a process to make it even more easily accessible. The results show DEA’s willingness and capacity to contribute to the South African SDI. The voluntary participation in SDI activities and the ability to obtain additional funding for geographic information is a clear indicator of DEA’s willingness to contribute to SASDI’s objectives. The results contribute to the body of knowledge that if an SDI is still in the early stages of development, it is challenging to make conclusions on some of the key SDI assessment indices. Future research is required once South African SDI has reached mature stages.http://www.sajg.org.za/index.php/sajgam2017Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorolog

Capacitating local governments for the digital earth vision : lessons learnt from the role of municipalities in the South African spatial data infrastructure

The Digital Earth vision foresees the availability and accessibility of geospatial information to achieve the goals of sustainable development, economic growth and social well-being. In the case of urban areas, up-to-date geospatial information is essential for managing a city towards achieving these goals. The rapid shift from rural to urban areas globally puts pressure on local governments and they often struggle to find and organise the resources required to collect and maintain geospatial information that can help to address urban growth challenges. A spatial data infrastructure (SDI) can facilitate the availability and accessibility of geospatial information towards addressing national objectives, however, the involvement of local governments in an SDI can be a challenge. In this paper, we critique the role of municipalities against the backdrop of the developments of the South African SDI (SASDI) to date. The critique identifies five high-level shortcomings of the SASDI that have led to the limited participation of municipalities. Based on the shortcomings, we provide recommendations for capacitating municipalities through SASDI so that the Digital Earth vision can also be achieved for municipalities. These recommendations are aimed at involving the local sphere of government in a national SDI and are equally applicable to other countries.https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tjde20hj2022Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorolog

The use of physics engines in quantifying breakwater damage

The response of proposed breakwater packing strategies to incident waves is usually tested and evaluated in a model hall. There is currently also increasing interest in using numerical simulations to model both the packing of a breakwater, and its response to storms. In this paper, we test the use of physics engine software, which provides fast modelling of hundreds of units, as a means of gaining insight into damage quantification and breakwater disorder. Both dolosse and Antifer armour units are investigated. An order parameter P2 is proposed which is shown, using the numerical models, to be a useful measure of orientational order or disorder when the randomness of the packing is in question. A rootmean-square displacement parameter is proposed as a measure of the movement of armour units from their original positions under cyclic forces. Both parameters are easy to use in simulations, and the use of these parameters in model halls and in the field is discussed.This paper was transferred from the original CD ROM created for this conference. The material was published using Adobe Acrobat 10.1.0 Technology. The original CD ROM was produced by Document Transformation Technologies Postal Address: PO Box 560 Irene 0062 South Africa. Tel.: +27 12 667 2074 Fax: +27 12 667 2766 E-mail: nigel@doctech URL: http://www.doctech.co.zaPaper presented at the 32nd Annual Southern African Transport Conference 8-11 July 2013 "Transport and Sustainable Infrastructure", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.mv201

Are earth sciences lagging behind in data integration methodologies?

This article reflects discussions German and South African Earth scientists, statisticians and risk analysts had on occasion of two bilateral workshops on Data Integration Technologies for Earth System Modelling and Resource Management. The workshops were held in October 2012 at Leipzig, Germany, and April 2013 at Pretoria, South Africa, and were attended by about 70 researchers, practitioners and data managers of both countries. Both events were arranged as part of the South African-German Year of Science 2012/2013. The South African National Research Foundation (NRF, UID 81579) has supported the two workshops as part of the South African--German Year of Science activities 2012/2013 established by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the South African Department of Science and Technology.http://link.springer.com/journal/12665hb201

Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background: In an era of shifting global agendas and expanded emphasis on non-communicable diseases and injuries along with communicable diseases, sound evidence on trends by cause at the national level is essential. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) provides a systematic scientific assessment of published, publicly available, and contributed data on incidence, prevalence, and mortality for a mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive list of diseases and injuries. Methods: GBD estimates incidence, prevalence, mortality, years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) due to 369 diseases and injuries, for two sexes, and for 204 countries and territories. Input data were extracted from censuses, household surveys, civil registration and vital statistics, disease registries, health service use, air pollution monitors, satellite imaging, disease notifications, and other sources. Cause-specific death rates and cause fractions were calculated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model and spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression. Cause-specific deaths were adjusted to match the total all-cause deaths calculated as part of the GBD population, fertility, and mortality estimates. Deaths were multiplied by standard life expectancy at each age to calculate YLLs. A Bayesian meta-regression modelling tool, DisMod-MR 2.1, was used to ensure consistency between incidence, prevalence, remission, excess mortality, and cause-specific mortality for most causes. Prevalence estimates were multiplied by disability weights for mutually exclusive sequelae of diseases and injuries to calculate YLDs. We considered results in the context of the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a composite indicator of income per capita, years of schooling, and fertility rate in females younger than 25 years. Uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated for every metric using the 25th and 975th ordered 1000 draw values of the posterior distribution. Findings: Global health has steadily improved over the past 30 years as measured by age-standardised DALY rates. After taking into account population growth and ageing, the absolute number of DALYs has remained stable. Since 2010, the pace of decline in global age-standardised DALY rates has accelerated in age groups younger than 50 years compared with the 1990–2010 time period, with the greatest annualised rate of decline occurring in the 0–9-year age group. Six infectious diseases were among the top ten causes of DALYs in children younger than 10 years in 2019: lower respiratory infections (ranked second), diarrhoeal diseases (third), malaria (fifth), meningitis (sixth), whooping cough (ninth), and sexually transmitted infections (which, in this age group, is fully accounted for by congenital syphilis; ranked tenth). In adolescents aged 10–24 years, three injury causes were among the top causes of DALYs: road injuries (ranked first), self-harm (third), and interpersonal violence (fifth). Five of the causes that were in the top ten for ages 10–24 years were also in the top ten in the 25–49-year age group: road injuries (ranked first), HIV/AIDS (second), low back pain (fourth), headache disorders (fifth), and depressive disorders (sixth). In 2019, ischaemic heart disease and stroke were the top-ranked causes of DALYs in both the 50–74-year and 75-years-and-older age groups. Since 1990, there has been a marked shift towards a greater proportion of burden due to YLDs from non-communicable diseases and injuries. In 2019, there were 11 countries where non-communicable disease and injury YLDs constituted more than half of all disease burden. Decreases in age-standardised DALY rates have accelerated over the past decade in countries at the lower end of the SDI range, while improvements have started to stagnate or even reverse in countries with higher SDI. Interpretation: As disability becomes an increasingly large component of disease burden and a larger component of health expenditure, greater research and developm nt investment is needed to identify new, more effective intervention strategies. With a rapidly ageing global population, the demands on health services to deal with disabling outcomes, which increase with age, will require policy makers to anticipate these changes. The mix of universal and more geographically specific influences on health reinforces the need for regular reporting on population health in detail and by underlying cause to help decision makers to identify success stories of disease control to emulate, as well as opportunities to improve. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 licens