Page 35 - C:\Users\Evans Moetji\Desktop\DPSA Guideline Digital Flipbook\

GENERIC STEP-BY-STEP APPROACH STEP TWO

If the required data is unavailable on the EMC it may be necessary to obtain the data directly from
custodial departments or organisations. If the data is not available at the required spatial level and
format, it might be necessary to acquire it from private-sector vendors or to collect it yourself.

Service point data

The Public Service Regulations require government institutions to publish their service point data.
Unfortunately such data is often difficult to obtain and it may be necessary to request it formally in writing
from departments. Some departments make their service point data freely available on their websites in
Excel or csv file format, enabling others to download the data.

Some departments provide geographic facility locators on their websites. Among others these locators
provide the names and types of service points, physical addresses, contact details, directions and
interactive maps to aid people in finding their closest service points. In some instances departments
publish pre-prepared maps showing the location of their service points. Unfortunately this data is
generally not in a GIS format and it cannot be downloaded from the websites except as PDF documents.
Possible service point data challenges that may be encountered, among others, relate to the accuracy
and completeness of the data and the lack of metadata. Furthermore, few departments have officially
approved datasets for their service points and data that available often lack important attributes.

Population and socio-economic data

Departments can obtain detailed StatsSA census population data and information, including geographic,
demographic, socio-economic and other variables, at various geographic scales.

Information on data sources, metadata and tools to access and extract data are provided on the StatsSA
website. It is possible to browse, analyse, tabulate and download datasets from a wide variety of census
and household survey data and users are able to create their own tables and view the results easily as
charts and maps. Official statistical publications are mostly in PDF format.

Figure 11: Population density map of North West Province (2011 Stats SA data)
30
30