Assessment of GIS in Africa’s Space Ecosystem

The world converged in South Africa in August 2002 to mark the 10th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), of which Agenda 21 was the most prominent. Agenda 21 outlined global strategies to clean up the environment after various studies showed that it was fast deteriorating, and would harm humans and animals if the world did not intervene. Agenda 21 also had incentive plans to encourage institutions to implement environmental and social development. The target of the summit held in South Africa was to “reinvigorate the global commitments agreed to in 1992, and achieve a higher level of international solidarity and partnership in the promotion of sustainable development” [1]. With African countries being the focus of the summit, the committee charged African nations with the application of geographic information (data) in sustainable development projects. The result of this charge pushed many institutions in Africa to start considering the use of geographic data; investigating potential technologies such as satellite remote sensing systems and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) proven to provide reliable support to decision-makers.

Africa has small but fast-growing communities of data providers and processors at many levels. The communities are mostly conducted by international partners, universities, private companies, and foreign government space agencies. An example of a foreign government partner is the US government that has a public-private partnership called Geographic Information for Sustainable Development (GISD). GISD focuses on the following regions of Africa: Upper Niger basin in West Africa, the Limpopo-Zambezi region of southeastern Africa, and two in East Africa (the African Great Lakes region and the Kenya/Tanzania coastal zone).

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Fig 1: GISD regions in Africa (source: Dan Zimble, ESRI)

Geographic information in Africa requires two main infrastructures, spatial data and telecommunication infrastructures, to facilitate the proper use of data. According to the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGCD), spatial data infrastructure (SDI), is an “umbrella of policies, standards, and procedures under which organizations and technologies interact to foster more efficient use, management and production of [geographic] data” [2]. In the EIS-Africa 2002 [3], the relevance of SDI in Africa’s geographic data infrastructure is quoted as:

“Building infrastructure for geo(graphic) information use is becoming as important to African countries as the building of roads, telecommunications networks, and the provision of other basic services. The rationale for investing in information infrastructure is analogous to that for physical infrastructure: the provision of many other services is contingent upon their existence. The cost-effective development of a spatial data infrastructure requires the coordinated harnessing of resources and expertise residing in various government agencies, the private sector, universities, non-governmental organizations, and regional and international bodies”.

It can therefore be inferred that SDI promotes data access, use, and sharing to improve the standard, and accurate application of geographic information by decision-makers.

Telecommunication in Africa has witnessed massive growth over the last decade with an average Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 21% and average mobile revenue of USD $45 billion, representing about 4% gross domestic product (GDP) contribution [4]. Fixed-line and wireless telephone services, computer infrastructure, Internet infrastructure, and media are necessary tools for the dissemination of geographic information. It is keenly observed that many African countries are going through a familiar phase of geographic data collection that many developed countries have gone through, whereby different sectors engage in GIS activities without coordination.

The value of spatial decision support systems (SDSS) is dependent on a well-coordinated geographic information. The task of gathering large geographic data is in itself insufficient to assess and manage the complex process of sustainable development. Capacity is a must-have to evaluate the broad implication for the environmental, economic, health, and social issues that confront policy-makers and citizens. An example of a SDSS is GIS whereas ArcGIS, QGIS, and MapInfo are applications (software) used to facilitate the collected geographic data. The tools allow decision-makers to build a relationship between spatial data, merge multiple spatial layers, and perform forecast analysis.

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Application examples of GIS in Africa.

Geographic information technologies are used in African countries and elsewhere but are rarely used in routine support of policy-making, natural resource management, or planning. Let’s explore some regional and local applications of SDSS.

The Mapping Malaria Risk in Africa (MARA) project maps malaria risk areas using in situ data together with spatial modeling to predict the geographic distribution, seasonality, and endemicity of the disease. The project was first conducted by the South Africa Medical Research Council from 1996-1999. MARA receives financial support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation [5].

Fig. 2: Map of existing and planned large dams considered in a new study that analyzed rates of malaria infection near the dams in areas where malaria transmission is stable (perennial) versus unstable (seasonal) [6].

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Fig. 3: Map of African vegetation, showing the Miombo woodlands in dark green

One of the most prevailing environmental threats in the Africa region is fire. The Miombo Network, an example of SDSS was formed to create a regional network for environmental research on the domicile biome of Miombo Woodlands in Southern Africa. The network has integrated a remote-sensing approach to fire detection and mapping using the MODIS sensor onboard NASA’s Terra satellite.

Various researches in the spatial data sector in Ghana exposed how there are not enough information systems in environmental decision-making. Below are some identified reasons:

1.    No clear objective, goals, and responsibilities of local agencies that are assessing collected spatial data.

2.    There is a focus on data production and updating rather than usage or application.

3.    Constructed database systems or centers under poor utilization.

4.    Lack of inclusion of universities (schools) in the environmental network reducing the chance for research projects.

In conclusion, despite the growth of GIS communities, conferences, and summits in Africa, top management officials (public and private) still lack the awareness of the valve of geospatial information. A strong interdependency organization model will only happen with strong leadership. Leadership must recognize the fact that integrating geo-spatial technology is an important part of national development. GIS is not an end in itself, however, but provides a valuable foundation for further analysis.

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Michael-Sam Vidza Jnr.

Michael-Sam is a result-oriented analyst in data science, GIS, and geo-marketing crowning it with a portfolio of diverse successful projects across various fields including telecommunication, satellite application, and STEM. Driven by passion, he has also spoken at various stages in Africa (Ghana, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, South Africa, etc) and Europe (United Kingdom) surrounding Africa’s technology space, the evolution of the use of data, and entrepreneurship. He is a Member of the Institute of Engineering and Technology (MiET).

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[1] T. Pogge, "The First UN Millennium Development Goal: A Cause for Celebration?," University of Oslo, 2003.

[2] Federal Geographic Data Committee, "FGDC Standards Reference Model," 1996. [Online]. Available: https://www.fgdc.gov/standards/process/FGDC-standards-reference-model. [Accessed 2020].

[3] EIS-Africa, "EIS-Africa," 2002. [Online]. Available: https://www.yumpu.com/fr/document/read/43515036/1-eis-news-issue-8-december-2002-eis-africa. [Accessed 2020].

[4] Deloitte, "Deloitte - The future of Telecoms in Africa," 2014. [Online]. Available: https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/fpc/Documents/secteurs/technologies-medias-et-telecommunications/deloitte_the-future-of-telecoms-in-africa_2014.pdf. [Accessed 2020].

[5] Global Health Data Exchange, [Online]. Available: http://ghdx.healthdata.org/organizations/mapping-malaria-risk-africa-mara. [Accessed 2020].

[6] S. Kibret, J. Lautze and M. McCartney, "Malaria impact of large dams in sub-Saharan Africa: maps, estimates and predictions," Medical Journal, vol. 14, p. 339, 2015.

[7] N. Ribeiro, S. Syampungani, D. Nangoma and A. Ribeiro, "Miombo Woodlands Research Towards the Sustainable Use of Ecosystem Services in Southern Africa," Biodiversity in ecosystems - linking structure and function, pp. 493-409, 2015.