February 7, 2005
By Ndaba Dlamini
JOHANNESBURG'S Corporate Geographic Information System department is offering Internet mapping services courses to members of the public.
The courses will help people who want to access the city's maps, which include stand numbers, street addresses, townships, agricultural buildings, wards, regions, roads and even points of interest such as shopping centres, libraries and museums.
Courses will be particularly helpful to surveyors, architects, developers and estate agents.
"The courses run every second Friday at the Indaba Room on the eighth floor of the Metro Centre's A Block in Braamfontein," says the department's director, Marcelle Hattingh.
The next course will be held on Friday, 11 February between 9am and 11am.
"People have to book in advance and candidates will be allocated places on a first come, first serve basis. They should supply us with their name, and contact details."
Although members of the public must pay a fee to register for the courses, "at the moment, we are changing the fee structure" so the cost of the course is not yet available.
The Corporate GIS department creates and maintains several geographical datasets for the City.
The department conducts regular customer surveys to identify priorities and it comes as no surprise that the cadastral dataset is the top scorer year after year.
This dataset includes the more than 600 000 stands in the City of Johannesburg to which information from various fields can be attached.
Accordingly, geographic information is an integral part of almost every council function or service, Hattingh says.
"The department works closely with the City's utilities. We share information with the Johanneburg Roads Agency, Johannesburg Water, City Power, City Parks and Pikitup and the information collated assists in analysis, planning and providing visuals."
The online maps reflect the latest aerial photos of the city, which were taken in July 2003, which, Hattingh says, provide vital information to various City departments and members of the public.
The photos are updated every three years.
"The aerial photos assist in the demarcation of new ward boundaries in preparation for the forthcoming municipal elections. They also provide information for Joburg residents who want to find out about any new ward boundaries."
Members of the public can either access the Corporate GIS department's free online site and click on "IMS Online Maps" to get basic information or the subscriber site, which has "more detailed information and functionality".
A subscription fee online or offline has to be paid by members of the public before they can access the maps on the subscriber site, says Hattingh.
For more information, contact Lesley Adams on 011 407 6203 or email lesleya@joburg.org.za.
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