Geographic Information Systems, commonly known as GIS, is playing an ever-increasing role in improving efficiencies in the affairs of local government, to identify and minimise the risk to which citizens are exposed.

According to Senior Scientist, Maryna Strydom, of SRK Consulting, GIS is being used increasingly for cross-sectorial planning and to pre-empt development planning, thus pre-empting and ultimately reducing disaster risks.

From its early beginnings, GIS has shown its incredible potential in implementations ranging from improving spatial data communication and cooperation between departments in local government, to the identification and sup- port of the management of potential disaster risk areas, to efficient planning and budget- ing.

Strydom adds that GIS consulting services and municipal GIS divisions have made considerable strides in terms of the quality of service that can now be provided commercially and to the public sector.

Further, she indicates that GIS is a popular tool which in many instances is used not only by GIS specialists and technicians but by a wide spectrum of engineering and scientific professionals in their daily tasks.

Though this brings its own challenges, it presents opportunities to both the GIS industry and new users, says Strydom.

``While GIS is easily accessible and easy to use, users still have the responsibility to adhere to certain principles, procedures and spatial data standards for the data to be of benefit to a wider user community.

``Users need to be aware of the pitfalls of a lack of spatial metadata and data quality,`` she says.

``Spatial data, even that which is not directly generated or used in a GIS, requires associated metadata (information about the origin, projection, scale and so on) to authenticate the value, accuracy and usability of data.`` Analysis Strydom says that GIS software with its myriad of functions includes not only visualisation and mapping tools, but also functions such as network, route, spatial and three-dimensional analysis of spatial data.

When these functions are combined, new opportunities are provided for better decision making on a daily basis.

``For example, we are currently busy with hydrological modelling and prioritisation of flood management and stormwater management systems using spatial overlay techniques,`` she says.

``This interesting development using GIS enables local government to identify, prioritise and build scenarios with regard to capital project costs for budgeting in an interactive manner.

``IT reduces the time that it takes to generate and adjust capital project budget estimates, thereby decreasing project lead times and increasing productivity.`` The model has been developed by SRK Consulting, a South African-founded global group of consulting engineers and scientists.

``As far as I am aware, this is the first of its kind to be implemented in South Africa. ``The model that we have developed provides advantages because understaffed engineering departments in municipalities can now do their planning and budgeting more accurately management risk assessments for municipalities and metropolitan areas.
Using GIS, hazards and vulnerabilities within municipal areas are not only mapped but also analysed to ultimately identify planning and structural measures for disaster prevention and mitigation.

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