United Nations Expert Group Meeting on
on the 2010 World Programme on Population and
Housing Censuses: International standards,
contemporary technologies and regional cooperation.
Census Geography in the Pacific
Statistics and Demography/Population Programme
Secretariat of the Pacific Community
Pacific Islands region - Background
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•
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CNMI
Guam
Palau
Marshall Islands
Federated States
of Micronesia
Papua New
Guinea
22 member countries (15) and territories (7)
9.3 million people over 34 million square km of ocean
Unique Pacific challenges
–
–
–
–
Distance
Scale
Scattered populations
Challenging physical geography
Nauru
Kiribati
Solomon
Islands
Tuvalu
Tokelau
Cook
Wallis et Samoa
Islands
Futuna
Am
Fiji
Samoa
Vanuatu
New
Caledonia
Niue
French
Polynesia
Tonga
Pitcairn
Islands
Population and Housing Censuses, 2010 round
2005
2006
2007
Kiribati
Palau
Cook Islands
Niue
Samoa
Tokelau
Tonga
Fiji
2008
Wallis et Futuna
2009
2010
Marshall Islands
Solomon Islands
Vanuatu
Am. Samoa
CNMI
FSM
Guam
PNG
CNMI
Guam
Palau
Marshall Islands
Federated States
of Micronesia
Papua New
Guinea
Nauru
Kiribati
Solomon
Islands
Tuvalu
Tokelau
Cook
Wallis et Samoa
Islands
Futuna
Am
Fiji
Samoa
Vanuatu
New
Caledonia
Niue
French
Polynesia
Tonga
Pitcairn
Islands
Province
District
Papua New Guinea
Census Unit
LLG
Group
Island
1000 km
Village
4 feet above sea level
largest land area of any atoll in the world.
Past experience - What are the constraints?
$ Cost and financing
•
PICTS experienced difficulties financing their census operations in 2000 round.
Base maps did not exist
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Some censuses in the past were planned and collected without a clear GIS capability in
mind and a lack of geographic identifiers. Digital base maps were not always available.
Staff
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Lack of skilled personel and loss of experienced staff (turnover) If there is continuous
change of staff it impacts on the sustainability of census activities.
Know how ?
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Traditionally census mapping was given low priority. Some NSOs countries relied heavily
on assistance from their resident Lands and Surveys Dept or Mapping Agency.
Collaboration with other government agencies has been challenging
Time
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Pre census mapping is usually done late in the planning phase of the census cycle (often
ad-hoc and too late).
PICT National Statistics Office staff numbers
Country
Staff
Country
Staff
Country
Staff
American
Samoa
7
Marshall
Islands
7
Samoa
27
Cook
Islands
10
Nauru
3
Solomon
Islands
22
FSM
19
New
Caledonia
41
Tokelau
1
Fiji
80
Niue
3
Tonga
25
Northern
Marianas
6
Tuvalu
5
Vanuatu
14
Wallis and
Futuna
8
French
Polynesia
n.a.
Guam
16
Palau
5
Kiribati
8
PNG
140
No digital maps used in EA definition
No up to date maps existed in 1999 census
Populations numbers in some of the urban EAs were difficult
to manage resulting in unreasonable workloads for enumerators
Blacksands 835
Port Vila, Vanuatu
Blacksands (peri-Urban) Enumeration Area
In the 1999 Census this area was enumerated with
: 943 Households
: 4818 Population
Port Vila, Vanuatu
Freshwota (peri-Urban) EA 840
In the 1999 Census this area had
: 492 Households
: 2715 Total Population
1997
2005
Problems with census mapping
EA delineation: South Tarawa, Kiribati
2005
EA’s in yellow
2000 EA’s in green
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Most recent census November 2006
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No digital census block maps from 1996 were available only hard copy
printed maps.
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NSO staff worked with Ministry of Lands and Survey and Natural Resources
on long term attachment (building capacity, improving relationship and less
resource intensive on NSO)
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Census block maps showed essential features (land parcels) and clear
boundaries, as well as useful features such as churches gas station and
roads that would help enumerators locate households and buildings shown
on the map.
‘Old school’ vs ‘New School’ techniques
•Automated cartography approach
•Mapping of cadastral data (land parcels) which made up each census block
•Manual digitization and plotting points (quite a manual labour intensive and
time consuming process )
•However project moved from manual process to digital GIS by acquiring a
scanner and satellite imagery for most of the Kingdom of Tonga
•Establishment of revised Tonga Map Grid (TMG)
Remote sensing approach
Aerial
photography
1:5,000 and
1:50,000 scale
Digital map layers
(roads, Rivers,
contour lines and
major buildings)
for whole of
Samoa
Digitisation of
census map
Sheets (878 EAs
and approx
30,000 HH).
Satellite Imagery and GPS
Case : Republic of the Marshall Islands
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2006 the Economic Policy, Planning and Statistics Office conducted socioeconomic Community Survey on six Atolls to investigate basic living
conditions and economic situation.
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Used small hand held mobile Global Positioning System (GPS) units and
high resolution satellite imagery
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The team surveyed 1,205 households across 6 Atolls with data collected on
9,491 individuals (roughly 20% of the estimated population of the RMI.
Majuro Survey Team being trained in GPS
Case : Republic of the Marshall Islands
Pre Survey Mapping
Case : Republic of the Marshall Islands
Data Collection
Survey map provided to Ebeye
Survey Team
GPS coordinates, and selected
households
Case : Republic of the Marshall Islands
Post Survey mapping
Children living adjacent to the
current public dump in Majuro.
PopGIS for data dissemination and utilization
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There was a need to simplify population data, and to make these data more
accessible at levels of geography below simply national levels.
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The SPC developed a customised software (Population GIS) for
statisticians and planners, to improve the effectiveness of census (and other
socio-economic) data dissemination and utilization
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So far 10 national systems have been developed covering the Federated
States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Samoa, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Cook
Islands, Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, Tonga and Wallis et Futuna
Two distinct groups of intended users
• The producers of data and statistics (NSO)
• The main users of this data (Planning)
Output: Population Atlas RMI
Future Outlook - Demand for small area data
Solomon Islands 2 April Tsunami
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In the pacific for some time there has been a growing demand for small
.
area statistics below the national sub-national level
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A prime example is the need for village level population and housing data
required for assessing, monitoring and managing disaster preparedness,
given the Pacific islands' exposure to cyclones, earthquakes and other
natural disasters.
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More recently an earthquake measuring 8.1 struck the Solomon Islands on
2 April creating a tsunami causing significant damage in the Solomon
Islands. Information on displaced village population was needed in targeting
emergency response work.
Future outlook – Dissemination: Internet mapping
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Maps have become common place on the internet with the recent
emergence of new “geobrowsing” technologies such as Google Earth,
Google Maps and NASA World Wind.
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Low -cost, easy-to-use alternatives to the more traditional heavyweight GIS
applications.
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SPC member country NSO’s also publish census mapping outputs via their
national PRISM websites.
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Internet based map servers being deployed in many Pacific Island countries
will also make dissemination of census data to a wider audience also
possible
Map Server in Pacific Island Countries
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To reduce vulnerability for Pacific Island States through availability of
mapping information on the Internet. (SOPAC EU)
Map server, presenting maps via the web, developed with OpenSource
software operating in 14 PICTs
GPS used for collecting coordinates of individual
houses
The use of GPS for census taking has a distinct advantage in
allowing the linking of census records to an actual physical location.
In most PICTs, as is the case in many developing countries, no
exact location database of dwellings exist for census project use,
and a lack of street names and numbers mean no address lists are
available.
GPS also serves as a management tool:
It is also expected to streamline the process for census workers and
managers. here cross checking can be made and if necessary
enumerators can be sent back to areas they have missed.
In this situation handheld GPS and satellite imagery
will greatly increase the accuracy of residence
locations particularly in rural areas
GIS GPS/PDA INTEGRATION
•PDA (Personal Device Assistant)
A small, handheld lightweight field
computer with GPS enabled
•Simple navigation for
enumerators using maps and
Satellite Imagery
•For updating EA boundaries
•and also able to take GPS
locations of Households
•Automated questionnaire entry
Household listing example
Model Census Questionnaire example
•Simple synchronization of field
updates with laptop.
Critical success factors
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Building an effective mapping capacity is very much tied to relationships
built with other spatial data gathering agencies. (E.g. GIS user groups and
Lands and Survey departments)
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Develop a regional approach to training capacity building (sharing) or
capacity- supplementation. Perhaps establish a regional census and
survey cartographic capacity with a regional organization, like SPC.
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Sharing of technology such as a stockpile of GPS units provided on loan
to PICTs prior to census and survey undertakings). SOPAC allow use of A0
scanner for countries to use and satellite imagery.
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NSOs could benefit from the exchange of experience among countries
through South South collaboration and synergies created.
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The participating countries and agencies would serve as resources to each
other and form a repository of knowledge and implementing practices.
E.g. – Census Knowledge Base
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Censuses and surveys need to be properly planned, resourced and
collected with a clear GIS capability in mind. Needs to become an
ongoing process rather than implemented as an ad hoc task too late in the
census cycle.
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Political will and leadership is needed to make it work.
• Tank yu tumas Meataki ma’ata Malo aupito
Ko raba Thank you Vinaka vakalevu Tangio
tumas Sulang Faafetai tele lava Merci