The first AfriGIS Data show for the year took place on 11 March 2015 at Bytes Conference Centre in Midrand. New and long standing clients using the AfriGIS Datasets in their various industries and sectors attended the event. The AfriGIS data show has been a constant on the Data Events calendar for the past ten years.
During the course of the event clients received an in-depth look into the changes that occurred in the various datasets over the past quarter. AfriGIS datasets adhere to strict growth and confidence levels. Updates that need to be incorporated on datasets are the changes that we see happening around us in the real world on a daily basis; road closures, street name changes, new developments and many more. This can occur in the form of additions, updates or deletion from the Datasets. "AfriGIS clients also play an integral role in updating of data and each client has the prerogative to change the priority for data updates, in order to accommodate their immediate requirements" said AfriGIS Data Manager, Christopher Ueckermann.
AfriGIS clients represent a vast spectrum of industries with unique applications and expectations of the AfriGIS Data. Ueckermann guided attendees through the different datasets from the biggest dataset, the AfriGIS National Dictionary (NAD) to the various derived datasets. A statistical view of all datasets with comparative slides showing the growth over the past ten years, both graphically and spatially, were presented.
Brian Civin, AfriGIS Chief Business Officer, asked the ever important question: What is the single biggest challenge your business faces? "What is the impact or consequences if not addressed? What is the benefit if it is resolved? You have to identify the value by following a process to determine the single biggest task or challenge you face. And you have to look at what has already been implemented and learn from that. Why it did not work, and not follow the same approach" Civin explained.
One of the biggest challenges we've come across involves capturing and maintaining clean, verified addresses. Our clients have to understand the benefits of capturing verified data. The problem normally is that you have a database with dirty addresses which need to be cleaned and verified. But what about the new addresses captured? You have to ensure that that the process of capturing and geocoding happens simultaneously so that you clean up your existing address database and ensure that newly captured addresses are also clean and verified.
AfriGIS has sophisticated online capturing tools that enable organisations to geocode in the same instance as capturing. We increasingly deal with bigger and bigger data. The only way we can ensure the quality of these datasets are ensuring that the first point of capture is done in the proper fashion. This can impact any number of service and billing delivery aspects in dealing with the clients in future. "Instead of dealing with the problem when it reaches the bottleneck, rather start the process in such a way that it eliminates any future bottleneck scenarios" Civin said.
AfriGIS clients present at the Data Show commented:
"We can now sort out various issues by using the AfriGIS Farm Portions data - adding value to our service delivery: Talita Nel - Neotel
"We are impressed with the Points of Interest, Cadastral and related Urban Edge data - it will assist us in many ways." Eskom
AfriGIS looks forward to showcasing our Data and data related improvements and developments at the next AfriGIS data show, to be held in June 2015.
Should you require any further information on AfriGIS Data please email az.oc.sigirfa@stcudorp
