[OSGeo Africa] Custodian of provincial shapefiles

[Adi Eyal]

That's fascinating and somewhat worrying. From my understanding of the
discussion:

1. There is no legally mandated body that is the custodian of the
provincial boundaries.
2. The MDB is the de facto custodian since provinces are defined in terms
of the sum of a number of boundaries proposed by the MDB according to
schedule 1A of the constitution.
3. The official boundaries are gazetted but are completely useless in
practice due to their low resolution.
4. In lieu of detailed gazetted boundaries, It is generally accepted that
the shapefiles on the MDB site are the canonical source of municipal
definitions but this isn't legislated anywhere.
5. I suspect that there isn't an explicit auditable data governance process
that the MDB uses when uploading shapefiles to their website. If that is
the case then anyone who has access to the website, say a web developer,
has the power to change municipal, and by extension, provincial boundaries.

Is this correct?



On Thu, Oct 4, 2018 at 6:08 PM Adrian Frith <adrian at adrianfrith.com> wrote:

> My understanding is yes, from a strictly legal perspective, the printed
> pages in GN1998/2005[1] and GN1490/2008[2] define the boundaries of our
> provinces. In practise I think everyone accepts that the shapefiles the MDB
> publishes are definitive for municipal boundaries and therefore for
> provincial boundaries as well.
>
> [1] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Notice_1998_of_2005.djvu
> [2] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Notice_1490_of_2008.djvu
>
> On Thu, 4 Oct 2018 at 16:40 Adi Eyal <adi at openup.org.za> wrote:
>
>> So, are we relying on printed pages in the gazettes to define the
>> boundaries of our municipalities, districts and provinces? Are the
>> shapefiles on the MDB website the definitive source?
>>
>> On Thu, Oct 4, 2018 at 3:57 PM Adrian Frith <adrian at adrianfrith.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Adi,
>>>
>>> The constitution (Schedule 1A) defines the provinces by reference to
>>> maps of the district and metro municipalities, which were published in the
>>> Gov Gazette by the Municipal Demarcation Board. So the closest thing to an
>>> official custodian would be the MDB and its shapefile of district
>>> municipalities at
>>> http://www.demarcation.org.za/site/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/2016-Boundaries-District.zip from
>>> which you can assemble the provinces.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Adrian
>>>
>>> On Thu, 4 Oct 2018 at 14:18 Adi Eyal <adi at openup.org.za> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi All
>>>>
>>>> Who is the official custodian of the provincial boundary data?
>>>>
>>>> Regards
>>>> Adi
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Adi Eyal
>>>> Director
>>>> OpenUp
>>>> Promoting informed decision-making
>>>>
>>>> phone: +27 78 014 2469 <+27%2078%20014%202469>
>>>> skype: adieyalcas
>>>> linkedin: http://za.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Adi/Eyal
>>>> web: http://www.openup.org.za
>>>> twitter: @soapsudtycoon
>>>>
>>>> Follow us on twitter at @OpenUpSA
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>>>
>>
>> --
>> Adi Eyal
>> Director
>> OpenUp
>> Promoting informed decision-making
>>
>> phone: +27 78 014 2469 <+27%2078%20014%202469>
>> skype: adieyalcas
>> linkedin: http://za.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Adi/Eyal
>> web: http://www.openup.org.za
>> twitter: @soapsudtycoon
>>
>> Follow us on twitter at @OpenUpSA
>> Sign up for Naked Data, our weekly round-up of what's happening
>> locally and internationally in data journalism and data visualisation.
>> Register here: https://openup.org.za/nakeddata.html
>> Also check out our data storytelling short courses:
>> https://openup.org.za/trainup/ <https://openup.org.za/courses.html>
>>
>

-- 
Adi Eyal
Director
OpenUp
Promoting informed decision-making

phone: +27 78 014 2469
skype: adieyalcas
linkedin: http://za.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Adi/Eyal
web: http://www.openup.org.za
twitter: @soapsudtycoon

Follow us on twitter at @OpenUpSA
Sign up for Naked Data, our weekly round-up of what's happening
locally and internationally in data journalism and data visualisation.
Register here: https://openup.org.za/nakeddata.html
Also check out our data storytelling short courses:
https://openup.org.za/trainup/ <https://openup.org.za/courses.html>
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