Public information on the GCR (2014)

Building on the initial success of the GCRO GIS website, this project entailed further investment in this Web GIS facility to ensure the continued development of innovative Web GIS tools and spatial data, and the development of new data tools, especially with a view to innovation that makes available information more accessible to the public.

The project was divided into two different focus areas:

• The first was the on-going development of the GIS website, which was launched in September 2010, with a second phase of development that included new functionality and data themes (including the 50 priority viewer and Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (GDARD) environmental theme) completed in the 2011/2012 financial year. The GIS website has benefited both local and provincial government, students from UJ and Wits, and the general public.To ensure that the latest information generated or collated by GCRO was made available, and new Web GIS tools were developed to maintain interest in the application, a few developments and enhancements were proposed for this project, these included:
  • Updating the transport theme with data and maps generated from the University of Johannesburg and University of Pretoria’s reports on understanding mobility in the GCR, which were outputs from the Understanding Mobility project. The map layers represented a dynamic visualisation of the transport questions in the 2009 and 2011 Quality of Life surveys. The exact layers and functionality was dependent on the final data delivered.
  • Minor application fixes, tool enhancements and upgrades.
• The GCRO has always maintained an open data policy and made the QoL data available on request (in SPSS format) for research/non-financial gain purposes. However, not everyone has access to statistical software and often a basic or quick query is all that is required. The GCRO QoL Survey Viewer was therefore developed to provide easy online access to the QoL survey data. The viewer offers users the choice of a single or multiple variable report. Single variable reports produce a table and graph once a variable is selected, whereas multiple reports provide the functionality to select an indicator variable and crosstab it by a list of selected demographic variables. Tables (and single variable graphs) can be viewed as row or column percentages. The reports are generated at a Gauteng or municipal level, in the case of the 2011 data, or at a Gauteng, municipal or city-regional level for the 2009 data. The results can also be printed or exported to Excel, PDF or Word format. The QoL Survey Viewer promotes access to, and extended use of, these valuable sets of data by researchers, students, local and provincial government officials and the general public, enabling a better understanding of the GCR.

OUTPUTS

GCRO (2012) GCRO Quality of Life Survey Viewer