GIS time series mapping of the Ciskei homeland

This study reports on the creation and evaluation of a spatio-temporal mapping of the Ciskei, one of the so-called ‘Bantustans’ or ‘homelands’ located in South Africa. The Ciskei was created as a result of race-based legislation during the colonial and apartheid periods. Its geographical extent changed over time, and the spatial changes coincided with the promulgation of different legislation. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology was used to create a time series animation and a static map to display the spatial change of the Ciskei boundaries. Questionnaires and interviews were used to investigate two main aspects. The questionnaire’s purpose was to investigate and compare map-readers’ cognition at detecting change between static and animated maps. Interviews allowed the researchers to qualitatively assess the value of such an exercise. Both the animated and static maps have advantages over each other but neither one of them has an overall clear advantage, confirming previous research. There is value of such mapping to decision-makers in government, as such an exercise can contribute to a more nuanced understanding of legislative, cadastral, planning and historical effects

Critical posthumanism in geomatics education: A storytelling intervention

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD (Post-School Studies)This study is located in engineering education at a South African university of technology, and is theorised using relational ontologies such as critical posthumanism, feminist new materialism and non-representational theory. It explores the potential of a digital storytelling intervention in an undergraduate geomatics diploma programme. Geomatics qualifications in South Africa are critiqued for their embedded humanism and subtle anthropocentrism despite attempts at post-apartheid curricular reform. Additionally, these qualifications are focused on technical content, and heavily influenced by Western knowledges

Using Multi-criteria Evaluation and GIS for Flood Risk Analysis in Informal Settlements of Cape Town: The Case of Graveyard Pond

Rural-urban migrations have contributed to the steady increase in the population of Cape Town. Many of the migrants have settled in informal settlements because they cannot afford to rent or buy decent housing. Many of these settlements are however located on marginal and often poorly drained land. Consequently, most of these settelements are prone to flooding after prolonged rainfall. Current flood risk management techniques implemented by the authorities of the Cape Town City Council (CTCC) are not designed to support informal settlements. In fact, owing to a lack of information about the levels of flood risk within the individual settlements, either the CTCC has often been uninvolved or has implemented inappropriate remedies within such settlements. This study sought to investigate a methodology that the CTCC could use to improve flood risk assessment. Using a case study of an informal settlement in Cape Town, this study proposed a methodology of integration of community-based information into a Geographic Information System that can be used by the CTCC for risk assessment. In addition, this research demonstrated the use of a participatory multi-criteria evaluation (MCE) for risk assessment. A questionnaire was used to collect community-based information. The shack outlines of the informal settlement were digitised using CTCC aerial imagery. The questionnaires were captured using spreadsheets and linked to the corresponding shacks in the GIS. Risk weights were subsequently calculated using pairwise comparisons for each household, based on their responses to the questionnaires. The risk weights were then mapped in the GIS to show the spatial disparities in risk

Haunted Walks of District Six: Propositions for Counter-Surveying

This article traces a pedagogical trajectory in South African higher education that started in engineering education and leads to walking-as-research. Situated on District Six, a well-known site of apartheid forced removals, a cartographic and diffractive methodology is utilized to trace the development of this pedagogy, as well as walks that have emerged out of mapping the site by means of geographic information system (GIS). We develop propositions related to a practice we call counter-surveying, and we trace two walks of District Six with people who are connected to the site. Recognizing the hauntological power of walking, we walk into the past and diffractively read the walks together with South African history, geomatics education, and posthumanist theory. Premised on relational ontologies, we attend to the ghosts of District Six and explore different ways of interrogating issues of land and education, while opening up a space for Otherness

Participatory approach to data collection for GIS for flood risk management in informal settlements of Cape Town

Also published in PositionIT, April/May 2012 under the title "GIS data collection for flood risk management"Inadequate flow of information between stakeholders can hamper development of sustainable flood risk management strategies. Using the case study of a flood prone informal settlement in Cape Town, this paper demonstrates a methodology for the collection and integration of community-based information into a Geographic Information System (GIS) that is useable by the Cape Town City Council (CTCC) for risk assessment. The study contributes to the body of Participatory GIS (PGIS) research. It demonstrates a practical approach to data collection towards development of sustainable flood risk management strategies in informal settlements

Diffracting socially just pedagogies through stained glass

This article emerges from our relationship with Theo Combrinck, a colleague, a passionate social and academic activist, a recovering addict and a PhD student, who left our living space during 2014 - a death that was unexpected yet a consequence of an iterative desire to end a troubled/ing life. The intensity of Theo's physical absence retains a vibrant presence and continues to intra-act with us as we consider socially just pedagogies. Theo's work lives on through memories, audio recordings and different forms of texts written by him, all representing his views of socially just pedagogy. Our entanglements with Braidotti's posthuman and Barad's diffractive methodologies shape our understandings of the past and present intra-actions with Theo in time and space. The generative process of our individual and collective becomings through Theo illustrate how the collaborative energy of co-constituted relationships contribute an affective response towards developing socially just pedagogies.DHE

A camcorder-based rapid mapping system

Bibliography: leaves 93-100.This thesis reports on investigations into the potential of off-the-shelf camcorder imagery for rapid mapping. Video technology was chosen as it has the advantage of continuous image capture, enabling quick acquisition times in environments where access may be limited. Video imagery is also very low cost compared to metric photography, and has the advantage of on-line control of the photography, which, for applications with low to medium mapping accuracies, make it an attractive and cheap alternative, well suited for application in developing countries and dynamic environments. Two case studies are presented. In the first, Hi-8 camcorder imagery was acquired for informal settlement mapping under the UrbanModeler project being run by the Department of Geomatics at the University of Cape Town. The informal settlement of Marconi Beam in Milnerton, Cape Town serves as an application for the UrbanModeler project, whose objective is the development of image exploitation tools for automating the geo-spatial modeling of urban settlements, primarily informal (or "squatter") settlements. Rapid production of georeferenced mosaics from the video imagery is reported on, and these mosaics were used in conjunction with a GIS database of Marconi Beam. This GIS database, containing an inventory of shacks and occupants of the settlement, would ultimately help in relocating the occupants of Marconi Beam to Joe Slovo Park, a low cost formal housing settlement nearby. An analysis of the mapping potential of this data source is made with respect to image interpretability, and three-dimensional point positioning accuracy. The second case study lies in the terrestrial photogrammetry domain, in a joint project between the Department of Geomatics and the Department of Archaeology at the University of Cape Town. In June 1996, the fieldwork for the photogrammetric mapping of a newly discovered shipwreck was carried out. A Sony Hi-8 camcorder was used for video image capture, and control for the imagery was obtained by a combination of GPS and theodolite survey. Retroreflective targets were placed along the surface of the wreck to tie the imagery together. This thesis reports on the mapping of one of the sections of the shipwreck, and discusses the use of video imagery for the production of surface maps

Book review: Posthumanism and the Massive Open Online Course. Knox. J.

This is a review of Knox, J.  2016.  Posthumanism and the Massive Open Online Course: Contaminating the Subject of Global Education.  New York: Routledge

In/between science and art: Posthumanist ruminations on Geomatics education

This paper reports on a pedagogical intervention in an engineering curriculum at a South African university of technology. A storytelling intervention was introduced into an undergraduate geomatics diploma programme, and was theorised using critical posthumanism. The storytelling intervention was introduced in the curriculum to investigate how points of compatibility between the ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ sciences can be identified and demonstrated, as called for by numerous theorists. It was also used as a means to develop students’ social, environmental and ethical awareness, as well as to foreground student subjugated knowledge through the lens of geomatics. The basic tenets of posthumanism are explicated and the philosophy is used as both a navigational and analytical tool. A cartographic, diffractive methodology was developed (mainly from the work of Rosi Braidotti and Karen Barad) and employed for analysis. The analysis shows that geomatics education in South Africa is intensely humanist and anthropocentric, even though there have been attempts to reform the curriculum. It makes the case for fostering novel relations across disciplinary boundaries, and contributes to the development of transformative pedagogical techniques that are aimed at decolonisation and social justice

Feet on the ground : using participatory GIS as a tool for marketing the geomatics profession

The paper demonstrates a practical sustainable approach to marketing the Geomatics industry, where more students are needed in this field of expertise. Using a case study of participatory Geographic Information Systems (GIS) research in a flood prone informal settlement in Cape Town, this paper demonstrates how participatory research can be used as a marketing tool towards furthering interest in the Geomatics industry. Land surveying is arguably one of the oldest professions in the world. Yet various academic institutions offering land surveying and more recently, Geomatics qualifications in South Africa, have found it increasingly difficult to attract the necessary number of students