An underwater rope-cutting device

A practical solution to the cutting of steel wire hoisting ropes at a depth 2500 ft (762 m) under water. The ropes were attached to conveyances that were held at the bottom of a flooded mine shaft… (more)

Surveying work acquisition and allocation methods to change

The Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport (GDRT) is evaluating alternative procedures for acquiring survey work to meet the mandated service delivery levels. Henk Bresler from the GDRT has called on surveyors to assist with the evaluation and suggest possible new ways of acquiring and allocating surveying work which the department is unable to handle itself… (more)

Advertising is key to unlocking LBS revenues

Social networking, asset tracking, marketing, and safety and security applications are set to drive the growth of South Africa’s location-based service (LBS) market over the next two years, creating and driving significant new revenue opportunities for mobile network operators. There is growing adoption of a wide range of LBS offerings among South African consumers and businesses. Navigation, personal safety and entertainment applications are leading the way, creating multiple revenue opportunities for the mobile industry… (more)

Karoo fracking debate triggers legislative overhaul

The debate surrounding hydraulic fracturing or fracking of the Karoo’s potentially massive shale gas reserves continues to rage. There are strong arguments both for and against harvesting the gas which could potentially alter South Africa’s energy and development outlook for many years to come. The issue has also triggered major legislative changes including extending state powers for the expropriation of land and shortening the approval time for projects by government authorities… (more)

Zen and the art of GIS communication

Expectations of spatial knowledge providers have risen as people have become more geographically literate. To meet these demands and to facilitate spatial thinking, we need to deliver accurate, timely data that is easily found, consumed and understood on any device… (more)

Monitoring of mine tailings using satellite and lidar data

This study looks into the use of high resolution satellite imagery from RapidEye and WorldView 2 sensor systems in conjunction with high resolution lidar data for mine tailings pond rehabilitation monitoring in South Africa… (more)

Land cover mapping of North West province completed

The Chief Directorate: National Geo-spatial Information (CD:NGI), a component of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, is mandated by the Land Survey Act 8 of 1997 to provide accurate, up-to-date and accessible national mapping and other geospatial information. As part of this mandate, CD:NGI has expanded its initiatives to include programmatic land use and land cover mapping and deliver relevant products at predefined intervals with consistent and defined standards… (more)

Seven tips to succeed in big data in 2013

What a year 2012 was for big data. From the White House to your house, it’s hard to find an organisation or consumer who has less data today than a year ago. Database options proliferate, and business intelligence evolves to a new era of organisation-wide analytics. And everything’s mobile… (more)

New GIS tools and geospatial data sets for surveying and mapping

This article highlights the advantages that the soil surveyor can gain by analysing high resolution imagery and DEMs in a 3D environment… (more)

Clipping map marginalia from NGI raster map products

The Chief Directorate: National Geo-spatial Information (NGI) receives numerous enquires related to the clipping of the 1:50 000 and 1:250 000 map series product. The enquiries normally refer to the white pixels between adjacent clipped raster map sheets and the georeferencing thereof… (more)

Spectral classification using lidar and hyperspectral data – Part 2

To overcome the inherent inter-species and high intra-species spectral variability, typical of savanna environments, a new novel decision tree multiple end member Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM) classification approach was introduced… (more)

Bespoken health system and spatial information dissemination tool

The purpose of this article is to discuss and demonstrate the findings of an in-house, proof of concept, pilot project that was conducted on the use of an intranet open source system to migrate an existing old proprietary intranet GIS system, which was no longer supported by the vendor… (more)

Creating business value through location-based intelligence

This article explores the value of location within both operational and analytical applications with the objective being to provide an introduction to “location-based intelligence” as it relates to the common view of an “address,” as well as to provide an overview of geocoding and geographic data services… (more)