Geographic information forms an essential component of government held information. Its collection is usually a long term, large scale and capital-intensive. In order to operate, Government collects and maintains large amount of geographic information on a regular basis. Government is mandated by Acts and regulations not only to collect information but also to use it for day-to-day operation of public administration. The Department of Land Affairs, Statistic South Africa and other departments collect large amount of information on a regular basis. Government manages and processes the information on behalf of the wider community.

The rapid ongoing development of the tools of GIS for capturing, managing, manipulating and analyzing spatial or spatially related data has stimulated the utilization of spatial information within both the public and private sectors. Components within all spheres of government are consequently finding an increasing number of uses of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) in improving service delivery and supporting sound decisions.

However, most organizations have not realized the full potential of GIS. This is due to the various problems associated with integration and sharing of data, institutional issues and non-interoperability of systems. The purpose of the CSI sub-committees is to promote the integration and sharing of data sets in order to eliminate duplication of data collection and optimize benefit to be derived from the use of GIS in integrating spatial information from diverse sources.

The Spatial Information Act establishes the Committee for Spatial Information to perform the following functions:

• To promote, through this Act, co-operation and co-ordination within the public and private sectors in the development and implementation of the South Africa Spatial Information Infrastructure (SASDI);
• To eliminate overlapping and duplication with regard to the collection, management and supply of spatial information by public bodies, and achieve the alignment of spatial information systems under development; and
• To promote and safeguard an environment supportive of efficient collection, management, distribution and utilisation of spatial data and spatial information.

The bill provides for the creation of sub-committees to undertake various activities under the auspices of the committee towards the achievement of its objectives. Three sub-committees created by the committee are:

• Technical

  The responsibilities of this sub-committee will include:
  

  • The development and implementation of national standards
  • Recommendation and implementation of international standards
  • Development of product specifications
  • Undertake national projects of common interest
  • Development of tools of national interest
  • Adhoc projects and activities of national interest identified by the other sub-committees.

• Liaison

  The responsibilities of this sub-committee are as follows:

  • The development of a communication strategy
  • Resolving conflicts
  • Giving feedback to custodian in terms of level of services and clients requirements
  • Identify and inform the committee on the absence of vital information for planning and development
  • Inform the committee on issues of duplication
  • Identifying projects and issues of common interest
  • Informing the committee of all similar and or related initiatives and activities.

• Policy

  The policy sub-committee will address policy related issues. These include:

  • Coherence in policies
  • Pricing policies and cost models
  • Policy on custodianship
  • Process modeling
  • Version control policy
  • Use of data standards
  • Security of datasets
  • Development of a national policy
  • Spatial information maintenance
  • Information sharing
  • Minimum IT infrastructure
  • Accessibility and availability of spatial information

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