Web-based spatial information system for coastal management
and governance in South Africa.
Richard Knight1 and Martin P. Cocks2
1
Biodiversity and Conservation Biology (BCB) Department, University of the Western
Cape, Private Bag X17, Bellville, 7535, email: rknight@uwc.ac.za
2
International Ocean Institute – Southern Africa, BCB Department, University of the
Western Cape, Private Bag X17, Bellville, 7535, email: mcocks@uwc.ac.za
Introduction: Information Sharing and Agenda 21
At the beginning of the 21st century it is becoming increasingly important that we are
able to utilize the world’s resources in a sustainable way if society is to face a future.
Few scientists and politicians do not accept that humans have been altering the world’s
climates, or oare last amplifying a natural warming of the earth. Unfortunately
developing countries will have the least capacity to adapt to climate changes, despite their
minimal contribution to the problem and consequently the most to loss. As a
consequence of both climate change and depletion of renewable global resources it is
necessary that each country develop its own strategies to mitigate these environmental
issues that affect global sustainability. National strategies nevertheless need to articulate
with each in order to bring about the greatest synergy of benefits for the world and the
Rio Earth Summit held in 1994 and the World Summit on Sustainable Development held
in 2004 addressed such a need for integrating national responses. Arising from the Rio
Earth summit was Agenda 21 of the Convention on Biological Diversity which
recognized the critical role that information plays in being able to make accountable and
scientifically rigourous decisions, permit wiser use of resources in manner that is more
fairly distributed amongst the world’s population. Consequently “Sustainability” and
“Equity” were defining concepts (reference) and Agenda 21 states
“In sustainable development everybody is both a user and a provider of information”
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and “The need for information arises at all levels from senior decision makers at
national and international levels to grass-roots level and individual levels.”
It therefore recognizes the urgency to bridge the information gap between those that have
ready access to good quality, relevant up-to-date data and information and those that do
not. Bridging this gap will have to be done by both increasing the quality and relevance
of information and its open access to all levels of society. In this way virtually all
Governments should be made more accountable for the decisions that they are making
with respect to the environment.
Coastal Environments
As more of the World’s population are moving to the coast, together with most of the
oceans and seas being an international commonage for exploitation of fish, and the coast
lines being vulnerable to oil spills since the oceans still transport the majority of the
world’s manufactured goods, this environment is especially important for sustainable and
equitable management. Consequently the Department of Marine and Coastal
Management of the South African government proactively engaged with these issues
through the development of the South African Coastal Information Center (SACIC).
SACIC provides up-to-date, relevant spatial information to department managers and the
members of the public in order that more informed decisions can be made regarding the
utilization of coastal resources and coastal conservation.
The Internet and Implementing Agenda 21
In order for the data or information, which is needed for good governance at all of society
to be effective, it should be well managed such that data/information
1. acquisition needs to be accurate, relevant and up-to-date,
2. management needs to be efficient and centralized to prevent unnecessary
duplication and effort,
3. dissemination must to be to where it is needed to the widest audience.
2
The three above steps will be ineffective without providing the appropriate training in the
collection, management and dissemination of the data /information. Developing an
effective information strategy and delivery system that is accessible is the challenge for
governments that are increasing required to provide such services to all levels society
including thousands of managers and members of the public who are geographically
dispersed and resourced with infrastructure.
How is the South African government with its limited resources going to be able to
implement the recommendations of Agenda 21? The Internet has been recognized as
possibly playing a crucial role in all three management necessities mentioned above
[reference?] and together with modern eLearning approaches to deliver the training
needs. This paper analyses the Internet infrastructure and its projected growth together
with providing working Internet-based solutions for the management and governance of
two coastal issues, namely
1) An electronic transaction system for applying and granting of permits for vehicles
to access the beach to selected user groups.
2) An electronic tracking system for the management of illegal structures (beach
cottages) that have proliferated along the Wild Coast (the Transkei region of the
Eastern Cape Province)
Both applications are integrated into the South African Coastal Information CenterSACIC which is an interactive web-portal providing information about the South African
coast in three broad areas, namely
1. Education and awareness material,
2. Information about sustainable development initiatives including various coastal
projects
3. Provide spatial information useful to manager and the general public through
Web Map Services (WMS)
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Internet Penetration and Use in the African Context
The development of SACIC, initiated in 2001 as an International Ocean Institute –
southern Africa was to provide a public clearing house for coastal information, through a
web portal. Since this time use of the Internet has expanded with increased bandwidths
and lowered costs of bandwidth in most countries (South Africa remains the exception
with exceptionally expensive bandwidth due to lack of competition in the
telecommunications industry). Nevertheless the implementation of Agenda 21 Chapter
40 is largely being undertaken using the Internet and effectively enabling regulation and
governance of environmental, social and economic activities through developing of an
eGovernment solution.
Despite the high prevailing costs of bandwidth and securing it in Africa the Internet will
play an important role in the implementation of Agenda 21. Africa is the least connected
continent with only 1.5% of the population having access to the Internet and this
compares to a global average of 13.9% and North America and Europe at 67.4% and
35.5% Internet access respectively (Figure 1)
13.90%
WORLD TOTAL
146.20%
48.60%
Oceania / Australia
113.50%
10.30%
Latin America/Caribbean
211.20%
67.40%
North America
Middle East
104.90%
7.50%
266.50%
35.50%
Europe
Asia
Africa
151.90%
8.40%
164.40%
1.50%
198.30%
0.00%
50.00%
Usage Growth 2000-2005
100.00%
150.00%
200.00%
250.00%
300.00%
% Population with Internet access )
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Figure 1 Usage growth in the use of the Internet 2000 – 2005 and % of Population with Internet Access for
various regions of the world. Statistics were taken from www.internetwordstats.com
While the penetration of the Internet is low in Africa it has the world’s third highest
usage growth. In the last five years Africa’s Internet usage grew 198.3% and only
Middle East (266.5%) and Latin America and the Caribbean (211.2%) experienced more
growth (Figure 1). As global bandwidths costs drop this will put pressure on local
telecommunications to follow so that Africa will hopefully receive such benefits and this
will stimulate more investment in Internet infrastructure. Rapid urbanization in Africa
will likely mean more concentrated spatial demography that could also facilitate faster
penetration of Internet usage.
Within Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Cote d’Ivoire and Egypt have the greatest internet
usage growth of > 500% in the last five years (Figure 2). South Africa has the second
highest Internet availability on the African continent with Mauritius having the highest
(Figure 2) but in terms of absolute numbers South Africa has seen an increase from 2.5 to
3.5 million in the last four years (Figure 3).
South Africa
Zimbabwe
Zambia
Uganda
Tanzania
Swaziland
Nigeria
Namibia
Mozambique
Mauritius
Malawi
Lesotho
Kenya
Egypt
Cote d'Ivoire
Botswana
Angola
0.00%
200.00%
400.00%
Use Growth (2000-2005)
600.00%
800.00%
1000.00%
% Population with Internet Access
Figure 2 Usage growth in the use of the Internet 2000 – 2005 and penetration into the population for
selected African countries. Statistics were taken from www.internetwordstats.com.
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4,000,000
8.00%
3,500,000
7.00%
3,000,000
6.00%
2,500,000
5.00%
2,000,000
4.00%
1,500,000
3.00%
1,000,000 Users (number)
2.00%
500,000
1.00%
0.00%
0
2000
2001
Users
2002
2003
% Population
2004
% Population (penetration)
Figure 3 Increase in the total number and percentage of the population of Internet users in South Africa
from 2000 – 2005. Statistics were taken from www.internetwordstats.com.
Consequently the Internet is likely to becoming increasingly feasible for dissemination
and managing information in South Africa and is likely to get to the same % penetration
as the mobile phone telecommunications industry within five years.
Coastal Management structures in South African
Coastal Management in South Africa falls mostly within the responsibility of the
Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) and the Marine and Coastal
Management (MCM) is the Branch tasked with this responsibility. The South African
Government’s White Paper on Sustainable Coastal Development (Anon. 2000) lead to the
establishment of a directorate of Integrated Coastal Management and Development
within MCM with the following four sub-directorates:
1. Integrated Coastal Management,
2. Marine and Coastal Pollution Management,
3. Sustainable Livelihoods and Socio-Economic Development,
4. Subsistence Fisheries Management.
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This White Paper also specifically identified the Internet to be used for information
provision in order to further the aims of the above four sub-directorates and herein lies
the role of SACIC which is specifically to disseminate information for the first three of
the four sub-directorates. Funding for SACIC is currently in the second phase and has
concentrated on projects that specifically help coastal managers in the Integrated Coastal
Management and Development Directorate to make more informed decisions in coastal
matters particularly those operating in a spatial context.
Coastal Web Map Services (WMS)
Central to SACIC developing decision support systems was the use of a Web Map
Service. In the beginning these Web Map Services provided little more than basic map
viewing (zooming, panning), making queries (identification and searches, both spatial
and non-spatial) and printing maps with user-defined layers of information and at userdefined scales. While these services were useful the products remained little more than
customizable maps. The first Generation SACIC Web Map Services were exclusively
developed using Windows-based ESRI ARC IMS architecture for the map services (the
actually GIS) and a front-end developed using HTML and Java Scripts. The Second
Generation SACIC Web Map Services still used Windows-based ESRI ARC IMS but
now used Java Server Pages to connect to the GIS and all scripting is done using XML.
In this way both a faster and more robust WMS was delivered and allowed the first
customization based on users inputs. Various “Map Themes” were developed so the user
could use these to open up a specific view (or combination of layers) of the South African
coast and this together with the ability to locally store various geographical scales as
Book Marks meant much faster navigation with fewer key strokes. The strategy here was
to provide as direct access to desired map products so as to reduce loads on the server and
permit greater (and faster) access to the WMS. The current SACIC maps are based on
our second generation technology, but in the meantime a third generation WMS has been
deployed to provide “Shareable” Web Map Services – which includes both ESRI ARC
IMS map services and the Open GIS Consortium (OGC) map services. The Sharable
Architecture extends to users being able to annotate the maps, save map projects, prepare
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some basic GIS layers, upload their own GIS layers or GPS points and extract layers of
information clipped to their Area of Interest from the server. All of these functions can
also be stored on the server and made accessible via your Browsers Book Marks
(Favourites) and even emailed to other people as an accessible URL. The thirdgeneration WMS are opening up enormous opportunities for developing and sharing
spatial information. In order to demonstrate how this is possible we discuss two system
which use Web Map Services for making management decisions. The first is a system to
help in the issue of permits for vehicle beach access along the South African coast. The
second is a system to manage information about illegal structures (beach cottages) which
have proliferated along Wild Coast (Eastern Cape) in South Africa.
Management of vehicle access to beaches.
In 1994 prohibition on vehicle access to beaches was declared as a general policy
promulgated in terms of the Environment Conservation Act in the South African
Government Gazette on 29 April 1994. This was due to the environmental damage that
off road vehicles were causing to the coastline. Permits for vehicle access would have to
be obtained from the relevant authority in the South African Coastal provinces. A need
was identified to help managers to make informed and consistent decisions when granting
or refusing permits.
In order to do this a consultative process with stakeholders was engaged and from this a
set of standardized (and scientifically defensible) criteria for allowing or refusing beach
access for vehicles was identified (reference). This aspect of the project was undertaken
by the GIS consulting firm GISCOE in combination with Anchor Consulting as Coastal
Specialists. IOI-SA implemented the decision making analysis within a WMS and
developed the mechanisms to apply, analyze and accept/reject permit applications.
Initially four user groups were identified as having legitimate needs for having access to
the beach using vehicles and these are
1. under the provisions of the Marine Living Resources Act,
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2. for disabled persons,
3. for tour operators,
4. for recreational use (e.g. angling competitions).
The coastline was then examined and four GIS coverages developed that show areas in
which vehicle access is either strongly discouraged or may be allowed in terms of the
four criteria. The final decision on whether access is allowed still remains with the
manager concerned who has the greatest knowledge of local conditions. Here we
demonstrate an Web Map Services, which uses these coverages and other GIS
information to help the public apply for permits and mangers to make informed and
consistent decisions when granting vehicle beach access permits.
An example of using an Web Map Services to apply for a vehicle beach access
permit
In this hypothetical example we examine the case of Mr. André Cloete who lives in
Noordkuil on the west coast of South Africa. Mr. Cloete has been successful in his
application to collect drift kelp along the beaches near his hometown. However, he now
needs to apply for a vehicle beach access permit so that he may access a beach on which
he can collect the washed up kelp. We examine the steps he would under take to apply for
his permit using the Web Map Services. This process may be divided into five main
steps. These are;
1. Finding the area of interest,
2. Examining whether vehicle beach access is allowed in terms of the criterium for
which he want to apply for the access (In this case he wishes to apply in terms of
the marine living resources act),
3. Examining any additional GIS information,
4. Making an annotated map,
5. Sending in an application for a vehicle beach access permit.
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Finding the area of interest

Using the find location tab in the Web Map Services Mr. Cloete may choose
Noordkuil from dropdown list of towns along the South African coast, which
appear in the left hand window. The right hand map window then zooms into the
area around the town of Noordkuil (Figure 4).

To help Mr. Cloete to orientate himself the system automatically applies scanned
1:50 000 topographical map sheets as a backdrop to the map.
Examining whether beach access is allowed in terms of the marine living resources act
and additional GIS information

Using the layers tab in the Web Map Services it is possible for Mr. Cloete to add
or remove layers to or from his map. He may add a layer showing where vehicle
beach access is allowed or strongly discouraged in terms of the marine living
resources act (Figure 5).

Using the legend tab he may call up a legend, which shows that a double red line
indicates that beach access is discouraged along the section of the coastline
nearest to Noordkuil (Figure 6).
Figure 4 Web Map Services: finding a location
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Figure 5 Web Map Services: adding new layers to the map
Figure 6 Web Map Services: examining the legend, zooming out using the scale and using the pan tool
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Figure 7 Web Map Services: using the measuring tool

By examining other layers he can find out why vehicle beach access is
discouraged. In this case if he adds the layer for coastal habits he can see by
examining the legend that this area of beach is marked as a sensitive beach >
25km in length (Figure 6).

If he wishes he can now zoom out a little to examine more of the coastline at
once. This is done by adjusting the scale of the map by entering a new scale in the
scale box below (Figure 6).

He may now pan along the coastline by using the pan tool to look for an area of
coast line where vehicle beach access is allowed (Figure 6).

While panning along the coastline to the south of Noordkuil Mr. Cloete comes
across an area of the coast which is mark with a double green line i.e. vehicle
access to this section of the coast is allowed. He is not sure how long this stretch
of coastline is however and whether it will be worth his will for collecting his
kelp. He can now use the measurement tool to measure the length of the stretch of
coastline. By clicking along the coastline next to the double green line the
coordinates of each point where he clicked appear in the left hand window with
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the length in kilometers. This shows that the stretch of beach is too short
measuring just over two kilometers (Figure 7).

Further panning now locates stretch of coastline further south which is of an
appropriate length. Using the identify tool Mr Cloete can obtain more information
about the section of beach he has chosen. This information appears in the left
hand window and confirms that the section of beach is available for vehicle beach
access (Figure 7).

Mr. Cloete now decides to apply for a permit for this stretch of coastline as it will
be ideal for collecting his kelp. Vehicle beach acces is allowed, it is long enough
and there is easy access from nearby roads.
Adding annotations to the map

A set of annotation tools is available to draw on the map (line, rectangles and
polygons) as well as adding text to the map.

Mr. Cloete now marks the area of beach he wishes access to using the polygon
tool and labels it using the text tool.

He traces the along the road he will use for beach access using the line tool and
labels it using the text tool.

He places a point at his point of access using the point tool and labels it using the
text tool.

He saves his annotations on his map to the server using the save to server tool.
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Figure 8 Web Map Services: annotating the map and saving changes to the server. The generated link may
be saved in list of favourites or emailed.
Sending an application for a beach access permit

The save to server tool generates a link. There is an option to save the link to his
list of favourite URL’s so he can access his work later as well as an option to
email the link the link to somebody (Figure 8).

Mr Cloete can now emails this link to the relevant authority [Northern Cape
Conservation] along with his request for a permit (Figure 8).
On receiving Mr Cloete’s application the manager opens the link. The Web Map Services
arrages the scale, layers and annontations on the maps exactly as Mr. Cloete saved them.
He can now see exactly which section of beach Mr. Cloete would like to drive along to
collect his kelp as well as how he intends to access the beach. Mr. Cloetes request is
granted as vehicle beach access is allowed along this section of coastline and there is an
appropriate beach access route.
It is clear from this example that this process allows the relevant government authority to
make consistent and accurate decisions when granting permits. Time is also saved as
sensible requests for permits are submitted by the public to areas where these are likely to
be granted.
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Management of information about illegal coastal cottages
Since the first democratic election in South Africa in 1994 there has been a proliferation
of illegal structures, mostly holiday cottages, along the section of the Eastern Cape coast
know as the Wild Coast. This was formerly within the homeland area of the Transkei and
had a separate administration. Various unscrupulous individuals used the hiatus caused
by the change of government in the area to obtain false permission to build holiday
cottages along the coast. The situation is further aggravated by the fact that most of these
structures fall within a conservation area brought about by ministerial decree which
proclaimed the entire coastline inland to one kilometer from the seashore a conservation
area.
As there are over 300 of these structures it has become problematic to maintain accurate
information about the location, ownership and court proceeding details needed for the
successful prosecution or suing of the structures’ oweners.
To help with this problem a database has been developed within SACIC which captures
sensitive information about each illegal structure, for example:
i.
Details about the owner and neighbours of the structure These include names,
contact details, vehicle descriptions and registration numbers. As it is not always
known who the owner of a structure is these details are maintained in a separate
table in the database and linked to the table of illegal structures details.
ii.
Details of the illegal/legal structure These include amongst others details about
the area where the structure is e.g. municipality and magisterial district, y and
coordinates, photographs of the structure, links to the owners and neighbour
details, aerial photography, environmental reports etc. The legal process
information concerning the structure such as important uploaded documents and
court proceeding details are also kept (Firgure 9).
iii.
An Web Map Services makes it possible for managers to locate the illegal
structure on a map.
All this information is password protected within a management system of SACIC.
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Figure 9 A data capture/viewing screen of information about an illegal structure
From a spatial point of view two aspects of this database are of importance.
The first is that when new x and y coordinates are added to or changed in the database the
Web Map Services is updated and the changes are immediately available to managers
when viewing the cottage’s data on a map.
The second is that the Web Map Services can be used to locate cottages along a stretch of
coastline and retrieve their details. For example a manager may wish to retrieve all the
information about any illegal structures with in a two kilometer radius of a structure
located near Port St Johns (Figure 10). To accomplish this he chooses the radius identify
tool. If he sets a two kilometer radius and selects the cottages layer in the appropriate
dropdown box which appear in the left had frame once the tool is selected, all cottages
within a two kilometer radius of where he clicks on the map will be listed in a pop up
window. If he is logged into the system he will be able to retrieve the full details of each
cottage by clicking on the link which accompanies each list cottage.
As the system and be viewed and maintained remotely several managers can help to keep
the database up to date and the information can be used the legal authorities for the
information for successful prosecution and suing of the owners.
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Figure 10 Web Map Services: using identify in radius tool to find illegal structure with a 2km radius.
Conclusions
These two proofs of concept illustrate how it has been possible to build on the experience
which was gained with the delivery of a fairly simple Web Map Services in the initial
phase of SACIC. It is now possible to build more complex decision support tools which
can be used by managers and the public for more effective management of South Africa’s
coastal resources. Such tools can be used by both managers and members of the general
public, can be made to be open and accessible where appropriate and can be kept
constantly up to date thus bringing South Africa a step closer in realizing the information
goals set in Agenda 21.
References
Anon. 2000. White paper for sustainable coastal development in South Africa, our coast
our future. Chief directorate Marine and Coastal Management. Department of
Environmental Affairs and Tourism.
http://www.internetworldstats.com/ 20 October 2005 Internet world stats usage and
population statistics
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