Addresses Unlock

Session

GISc, mapping and cartography

Full Paper Review

No

Authors

Magnus Rademeyer, AfriGIS (Pty) Ltd, South Africa, magnus@afrigis.co.za
Kshetra Govindasamy, AfriGIS (Pty) Ltd South Africa,kesh@afrigis.co.za

Abstract

The perception of the importance of geographic addresses as one of the basic building blocks of society has markedly changed over the years and is starting to take its rightful place in the plethora of government and business priorities. Close to or at the top. Addresses unlock value and supports economic growth. Much as the prevalence of cellular network coverage influences GDP, so does a proper, geographic relevant address database. Finding an address and understanding geographic address data is an important cog in the gears that makes both business and government turn.

From geographic risk management, land ownership through to route optimisation and environmental management, the address unlocks these activities from the bottom up. This paper deals with the status of address data in South Africa and gives some examples on the application of addresses in every day society. It also touches on the initiatives in place to standardise and coordinate this vital national asset and aims to give some guidelines for other African countries in their various stages of developing address databases and address standards. The SANS 1883 standard is used as a base reference for the discussion and illustrated with the AfriGIS National Address Database.

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