With the increasing demands that human beings place on the environment, a concerted effort needs to be made to ensure that the environment is conserved and utilised in a sustainable manner. Therefore, it is imperative that all development actions be carefully scrutinised. The Integrated Environmental Management process may be just the process to address such development problems. The IEM process aims not only to identify those activities that would have excessively negative impacts on the environment it also looks at proposing alternative development strategies that may reduce the environmental impact of development. A tool which is being well received as being able to assist in such decision making is a Geographic Information System (GIS). The most suitable location for road networks that would have least environmental impact within the Eastern Shores State Forest, KwaZuluNatal, were determined by implementing the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) along with Multi-Criteria Evaluation (MCE) process within real-time GIS. The location of road networks is a fundamental aspect of development due to the many negative impacts they may have on the environment. The AHP not only aided in identifying all the elements required to make a decision more accurately. It also allowed one to recognise the interrelationship between the various elements. The biggest advantage however, of using this model is that it allowed for the establishment of relative mathematically-based weights for the criteria. This effectively aided in identifying which of the vegetation types (ie. wetlands, swamp forest, grasslands, wetlands and coastal forest and thicket) in view of environmental consultants and ecologists would be most conducive to development. In so doing minimising the impact of the development. iii The MCE provided the ideal tool to incorporate these relative weights in order to combine them to arrive at an image that contained all the relative weights of all the various factors. A spatial database was constructed and a number of relevant images developed, using various GIS techniques. From these images it was possible to determine the most suitable locations for road networks within the Eastern Shores State Forest. Particular attention was focused on how GIS may be integrated within the IEM process. It was found that GIS could not only accurately determine where development should take place, but also established that it is an effective tool for aiding in the decision making process by providing accurate detailed maps of the area proposed for development. The success and overall simplicity of the procedure in this study suggests that GIS would be valuable to the IEM process. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1999.

A large number of spatial datasets have inconsistent and/or outdated metadata. In certain cases, metadata is entirely absent. Some spatial data producers suggest that metadata creation and maintenance is a time consuming and labour-intensive process. Conversely, users experience difficulties in understanding and accessing spatial datasets, if associated metadata is insufficient or non-existent. Eventually, deficient metadata use may lead to loss of spatial data meaning and cause its very existence to be forgotten. The purpose of the study was to assess the main challenges hindering metadata creation and maintenance on the part of producers and its usage on the part of users in South Africa. The main findings showed that: data was accessed at expected levels via the internet; most data users accepted alternative spatial data media including compact disks and hardcopy; the spatial data industry is generally under financial budget constraints; particularly in the public sector, lack of skilled personnel in spatial metadata management resulted in staff turnover problems; the framework datasets indicated outdated metadata; and different producers used inconsistent metadata standards and a number of organizations were at rudimentary stage of spatial metadata development. In conclusion, spatial data producers should be encouraged to maintain data with complete documentation in a standardized spatial metadata to assure information consistency for users. Raising awareness about spatial metadata benefits may encourage data managers and top leaders to build on metadata priorities. Moreover, strong compliance with the SDI policy necessitates solid cooperation amongst the spatial data community. / Thesis (M.Sc.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the potential of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in South African local planning. Planning is facing great challenges in contemporary South Africa and one of them is to consider new technologies to enable effective and efficient planning for the future. In meeting the overall aim of the study, a number of goals were set. The first goal was to provide an overview of GIS implementation in local governments from an international perspective. This goal was achieved by reviewing literature on the subject which encompassed the technology's evolution and factors affecting implementation. Practical examples were cited to demonstrate the application of GIS in planning. The second goal was to examine the role of GIS within the South African planning context. An investigation of the relevant legislation provided a context within which GIS could be implemented at the local level. In order to arrive at the second goal, a suitable planning process was derived from a review of applicable planning theory. The third goal was to illustrate practically how GIS could be implemented and integrated into the planning process at the local level. This goal was achieved by carrying out a project within the Pietermaritzburg suburb of Mountain Rise. The results of the case study showed that GIS has a potentially significant role to play in planning at the local level. / Thesis (M.Env.Dev.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1999.

Malaria incidence in the province of KwaZulu-Natal is influenced by seasonal climatic variations, drug and insecticide resistance, and population mobility within the region. Current control methods are directed at the malaria vector, the Anopheles arabiensis mosquito, through indoor residual spraying. Control of the dominant malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, is done by treatmenting the symptomatic and asymptomatic parasite carriers with prophylactic medications of. A ceiling of effectiveness with current control efforts have been reached, necessitating the search for supplementary methods. The study area is located in the Ingwavuma District of northern of KwaZulu-Natal which adjoins the Mozambique border to the north, and includes the malaria areas of Ndumu and Makanisdrift. Homestead location coordinates were obtained with Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers and linked to malaria case records through homestead numbers which have been allocated to all homes in the area. The study includes the cases reported during 1993 and 1994 as this was the only data available when the project commenced in 1995. A geographic information system was used to undertake the spatial analysis to test the hypothesis that the malaria vector, Anopheles arabiensis, is localised to certain breeding sites during the winter months in northern KwaZulu-Natal. Identification of these winter 'seed point' breeding sites from which the onset of transmission spreads during the following malaria season, will allow them to be targeted for winter larval control measures. This will contribute to limiting the distribution and lowering the levels of malaria intensity in the region as a whole. The analysis also provided evidence of the maximum likely flight distance of the female mosquito given an adequate host supply in close proximity, thereby identifying those areas requiring additional prevention and control activities. Understanding the local epidemiology of the disease was necessary to determine which monthly malaria cases to include in order to identify the winter breeding sites, due to seasonal variations in the length of the mosquitoes life cycle. Medical geography, as a sub-discipline of geography, combines investigating spatial patterns with the epidemiological principles of medicine and zoology through scientific methods. It is traditionally divided into two approaches, the first being the geography of disease, under which this research falls, and the second being the geography of health care. The integration of the two disciplines allowed the results of the analysis to be presented in maps, graphs and tables in order to describe, interpret, test and explain possible associations between the location of the potential breeding sites and the homesteads at which the malaria cases were reported. The potential breeding sites consisted of the perennial pans, non-perennial pans and dams. Zones were created in the GIS at one kilometre intervals from these sites up to a distance of four kilometres, and the number of cases within each zone determined and corrected for the population at risk per 1000 people for comparative purposes. This spatial analysis was followed by the statistical analysis of the results to verify the findings. The results of the spatial and statistical analysis indicated that the perennial pans were used as the winter 'seed point' breeding sites, and that the maximum likely flight distance of the female mosquito, given an adequate host supply in close proximity, is 4 kilometres. The results will be made available to the local malaria research and control community who will assess the feasibility of implementing supplementary control measures. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.

Since the birth of a new democracy in the Republic of South Africa in 1994, municipalities across the country have embarked on several service-oriented programmes primarily to improve the quality of life of ordinary citizens within their areas of jurisdiction. Subsequently, these programmes which include Land Use Management System (LUMS), Integrated Development Planning (IDP), Integrated Sustainable Rural Development, Local Economic Development (LED), Urban Renewal Strategy, Property Rate Implementation and Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) have been tailored to fast track service delivery in municipalities by building capacity and promoting small, medium and micro enterprises in local communities as a means of alleviating poverty (Local Government Programmes, 2004, paragraph 4). In order to speed up the development planning processes in the Province with regards to Integrated Development Planning, Spatial Development Framework and Land Use Management, Integrated Sustainable Rural Development, Local Economic Development (LED) and Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG), it has been identified that local authorities require a GIS application to integrate spatially related municipal information with other business information (Sarkar, 2004, paragraph 1). In view of this, the Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs (DLGTA) has for the past six years, provided financial and technical support to the ten (10) District Municipalities and about thirty (30) Local Municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal to facilitate the establishment of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in these municipalities (DLGTA Municipal GIS Capacity Building Manual, 2004). It is further noted that although a substantial amount of grant funding and technical support has been provided to the 10 District Municipalities and thirty Local Municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal, the full utilization of GIS as a decision-making support tool has not, as yet, been realised in some of these municipalities. This scenario thus calls for the need to ascertain municipalities' expectation and perception of the quality of GIS support services rendered to them by the Department and also to measure the gap thereof. To do so, the researcher employed SERVQUAL scale methodology to measure the service quality gap between municipalities' expectation and perception of the quality of GIS support services. A selfadministered questionnaire, which covers the five (5) dimensions of service quality, namely; tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy, was compiled and forwarded to the 10 District municipalities and 20 Local Municipalities in the Province to complete and return to the researcher within a specified time period. Fourteen (14) of the thirty (30) questionnaires sent out to these municipalities were returned to the researcher. The data was then analysed and conclusions were drawn. The research discovered that responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangible dimensions are significant to municipalities in that they all had average expectation statement scores above 6 on the Likert 7-point scale. This means that respondents strongly agree to the expectation statements relating to these dimensions. On the other hand, the average expectation statement score relating to reliability dimension is below 6. The research result has shown that DLGTA is perceived by municipalities for rendering a desirable level of services to municipalities with respect to aspects relating to reliability, assurance, empathy and tangible dimensions. However, DLGTA seems not to provide prompt service to most of these municipalities and not showing signs of readiness to respond to their requests on GIS matters. It is also noted that there is a wide gap between municipalities' perception and expectation for responsiveness (-1.19), empathy (-0.90) and assurance (-0.98), and this seems to confirm the view that responsiveness and assurance dimensions are the most significant variables out of the five determinants of service quality, and thus require service improvement attention. The outcome of the survey reflects that the GIS concept is relatively new to some of these municipalities, and thus municipal officials want to feel safe in their transactions with DLGTA on GIS matters. As a result, they expect DLGTA officials to attend to them promptly and must have the knowledge to answer their GIS related questions. They strongly require DLGTA staff to give them individual attention and possibly have their best interest at heart. In this study, the responsiveness dimension is classified as having a poor service quality whiles the reliability dimension (with a narrow gap) has the superior service quality. To minimise or eliminate these gaps, it has been mentioned that DLGTA should be guided by the eight principles of Batho Pele which seem to take care of the key requirements of the five service quality dimensions as discussed in this dissertation. Based on this outcome, recommendations were made and a future research proposal outlined. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

This thesis examines transportation planning at the University of Manitoba Fort Garry campus with the view to improving efficiency, equity and reducing economic loss. Through a broad approach of Transportation Demand Management (TDM) a number of avenues are explored including a comprehensive literature review of sustainable transportation planning; the documentation of selected university TDM programs including University of Colorado, University of British-Columbia and the University of Ottawa; a University of Manitoba commuter web survey, and key informant interviews. Cost-benefit analysis, geographical information systems and key informants interviews are used. Twelve key recommendations are outlined in the concluding chapter. The research suggests optimal solutions can be reached if there is strong leadership from the University of Manitoba central administration in Transportation Demand Management (TDM) including a more collaborative approach to transportation and land use planning, as well as working closely with its stakeholders in reforming current practices. A series of incremental changes can give higher priority to walking, cycling, transit, and car pooling ahead of those driving alone resulting in a more equitable and efficient transportation system and leading to a healthier population and a healthier environment for the University of Manitoba community. The author can be contacted by email at tompearce@hotmail.com

Yield monitors have become an indispensable part of precision agriculture systemsbecause of their ability to measure the yield variability. Accurate yield monitor data availabilityis essential for the assessment of farm practices. The current technology of measuring grainyields is prone to errors that can be attributed to mass flow variations caused by the mechanismswithin a grain combine. Because of throughput variations, there are doubts regarding thecorrelation between the mass flow measurement and the actual grain volume produced at aspecific location. Another inaccuracy observed in yield monitor data can be attributed to inexactcut-widths values entered by the machine operator.To effectively address these yield monitor errors, two crop mass flow sensing deviceswere developed and used to correct yield monitor data. The two quantities associated with cropmaterial mass flow that were sensed were tension on the feeder housing drive chain and thehydraulic pressure on the threshing cylinder's variable speed drive. Both sensing approacheswere capable of detecting zero mass flow conditions better than the traditional grain mass flowsensor. The alternative sensors also operate without being adversely affected by materialtransport delays. The feeder housing-based sensor was more sensitive to variations in cropmaterial throughput than the hydraulic pressure sensor. Crop mass flow is not a surrogate forgrain mass flow because of a weak relationship (R2 andlt; 0.60) between the two quantities. The cropmass flow signal does denote the location and magnitude of material throughput variations intothe combine. This delineation was used to redistribute grain mass flow by aligning grain andcrop mass flow transitions using sensor fusion techniques. Significant improvements (?? = 0.05)in yield distribution profile were found after the correction was applied.To address the cut-width entry error, a GIS-based post-processing algorithm wasdeveloped to calculate the true harvest area for each yield monitor data point. Based on theresults of this method, a combine operator can introduce yield calculation errors of 15%. Whenthese two correction methods applied to yield monitor data, the result is yield maps withdramatically improved yield estimates and enhanced spatial accuracy.

Recent researchers have suggested that the combination of horizontal curves or “bendiness” of a length of road contributes to traffic crash occurrence. A previous study of New Zealand fatal crashes using an aggregated approach found no significant correlation between crash occurrence and road bendiness for rural roads but a minor correlation for urban roads. This thesis further explores the effect of road bendiness on traffic crash occurrence in New Zealand by developing a method more suited to traffic engineering. The method involves Geographical Information Systems (GIS) firstly to process data and secondly to calculate bendiness values. The following bendiness measures: bend density, detour ratio, cumulative angle, mean angle and standard deviation of angles; are applied to “influence areas” surrounding crash and comparison sites. The method then dictates that some form of statistical analysis should be performed to distinguish between the bendiness of crash and comparison sites, while accounting for other influencing factors. Binary logistic regression is recommended. The method was applied in a case study of New Zealand fatal crashes, with two main analysis techniques employed. Firstly, binary logistic regression models were developed. It was found that, for rural roads, sections with consistent and frequent curves were safer than completely straight sections or those with isolated curves. The urban model was less conclusive, which suggests that the method was not appropriate in the urban situation. The second analysis method involved comparing bendiness values of a site’s “immediate area” with those of its influence area. It was found that, although the spreads of the comparison sites’ distributions were smaller than those of the crash sites, the mean values were generally very similar and no appropriate bendiness ratios could be specified to reduce crash risk. Overall it appears that, if design consistency is maintained, bendiness is a protective quality for rural roads.

This creative project was proposed to develop a GIS model for transportation planning purposes with the ARC/INFO software. The urban street network in the GIS model was based on urban arterial systems in the city of Muncie, Indiana. The model was also expected to demonstrate the applicability of GIS technology in transportation planning. Several transportation planning techniques were tested with the model which included road and traffic data inventory, optimum pathing, road capacity analysis, traffic shift study modeling, and graphic presentation. The case study was targeted on road capacity analysis of urban arterial network as well as study of alternative traffic route for the urban route of State Road 32 in Muncie. The project began with an discussion of GIS technology, GIS application in planning, and ARC/INFO software programs. Then an urban street information model was developed in form of digital network in the computer database which could perform the functions of data inventory, spatial traffic analysis, and mapping manipulation. Finally the case studies were performed to demonstrate the application of this GIS network model. The findings and analysis results generated by GIS operation were used to evaluate the traffic conditions as well as to determine the feasibility of alternative route for State Road tables, ARC/INFO macro programs, traffic maps, and print-out of analysis results. / Department of Urban Planning

Mobility is not just a synonym for movement. It is the combination of movement and the situation, meaning, and context in which that movement takes place. One way that geographers can examine mobility and its context, including mobility in contexts of the past, is through the use of geographic information systems (GIS). A historical GIS incorporates data from historical sources to combine spatial, attribute, and temporal information to visualize spatial patterns as well as see how those patterns change over time. But what if the time period under study is prior to a written language or other documentation? Is a GIS applicable for an examination of a prehistoric landscape? One method employed to visualize spatial patterns of movement is a least cost analysis which can be used to study migration, trade, transportation, or rituals. A case study of the exchange network of the Middle Mississippian center of Cahokia was conducted to test applicability of using GIS on a prehistoric landscape. Input locations included archaeological sites where objects or structures associated with Cahokia (such as platform mounds and certain types of pottery and chert hoes) have been found as well as possible source locations for exotic objects found at Cahokia (such as copper and a certain type of clay). An examination of the least cost paths at varying scales revealed some problems at larger scales including vector/raster mismatches and gaps between datasets. Even though this type of analysis would not typically be used at larger scales, the problems and the root causes of those problems could possibly impact any analysis at any scale. An understanding of the limitations involved with using a GIS to examine a prehistoric landscape (data availability/accuracy, processing requirements, etc.) as well as the scope of any individual project will dictate whether GIS is applicable for that project. / Introduction -- Literature review -- Case study : Middle Mississippian exchange : background -- Case study : Middle Mississippian exchange : model -- Case study : Middle Mississippian exchange : results -- Discussion -- Conclusion. / Department of Geography