EDIT: I see SAGNS has updated and improved their website since this article (edited: 15 September 2009) A while back, while working on a rural settlements database, we were asked to consider the SAGNS database as a reference for settlement names. The data that we received was, to put it mildly, very poor. Locations were in the sea, in the northern hemisphere, in South America and for 50% of the database - nowhere at all. added to that, the alphanumeric data was full of mistakes a.....

The 2008 FOSS4G conference has just officially closed today (well....apart from some workshops and code-sprints). On reflection, I personally found the conference extremely beneficial, both from communication and contacts, and learning what is new and great. So what did I learn? The developers of these FOSS products we are using are really clever! The OSGEO team is doing a fantastic job in the promotion of FOSS products Bearing in mind that this is a developer's conferenc.....

It appears that my last post on the lack of alignment of the BB-BEE codes of practice and the procurement policies of organisations arose from my ignorance! First, some background for those who are not familiar with the objectives of the South African government to address the inequalities of the past. South African government policies exist to encourage companies to employ previously disadvantaged individuals (PDI, this is also known as affirmative action) and to contract black .....

Planning and development, as a function of local government, is experiencing difficulties in KwaZulu-Natal as a province of South Africa. This is mainly due to the critical shortage of experience and skills, lack of up to date information and limited recognition of the importance of this function in government. This discussion focuses on the question of information management and accessibility and identifies a concept which could be applied in improving the current situation. Com.....