For the first time in many years, winter is approaching us gently and we are thereforeexperiencing autumn in all its glorious colours. How lucky we are!

From previous newsletters you would have gathered that CGIS is a beehive of activityat this time of the year, as the end of June signals financial year end closure. Onceagain our staff have worked relentlessly in achieving key performance indicators onannual scorecards. Read more about this in the progress reports and special projectssection.

The Auditor General has also once again started with intense auditing of our processesand procedures, especially as related to the property value chain. In this regard CGIShas, for the last two years, embarked on a special project, namely the Deeds Alignmentproject Phases 1 and 2. Two areas were chosen where all property data was verifiedto ensure correct property status (e.g. registered) legal area, lineage (parent/childrelationship) as well as ownership as supplied by the Deeds Office(s). The zoning aswell as the street addresses are verified too, to complete the picture. The next stepis to obtain an independent data source to compare to our (registered) propertydatabase to identify properties for further investigation. Watch this space for anupdate.

The harder we work the more important it becomes to keep our spirits high as acoherent team. In this regard the CGIS sections engaged in a team building exercisewith a "twist". The end result was an art exhibition at the Civic Theatre where ourown artists (CGIS staff) exhibited their artworks, namely collages that portrayed eachsection - who they are, strive to be and their own slogan that they work by. What agrand affair this was and how proud it made me feel to know that this is CGIS andthis is how we excel. Thank you to each and every individual who makes up CGIS!

We know how important GIS is in our everyday lives, however there are many otherswho don't and who need to be made aware of the benefits to them. We haveembarked on a marketing campaign which will include an event for schools in September. The other is a competition called GeoJozi to start in June, where young and upcomingdevelopers will be able to showcase their skills in developing an App to address aspecified town planning problem. A website will be created for the competition andyou will be informed of the link to be able to follow the excitement.

Knowing what we do right and where we need to improve is important to us.Your participation in our customer survey is thus appreciated.

Enjoy the newsletter, stay GIS aware and thank you for your loyal support!

Marcelle HattinghDirector: Corporate Geo-Informatics

JoGIS News ProgressReport

Communique to allJune 2015

A beehive of activity

Cover Story 1

Progress Report 2

Census 2011 2

Aerial 2015 3

ArcGIS for Server 4

Data Inventory 4

Property Information 4-5& Services directory

Geographic Names Bank 5

A Journey to be proud of 5-6

Zoning Data cleanup 6

Esri Maps for Office 7

Art Exhibition 7-8

We value your commentsand suggestions.

Please e-mail comments andsuggestions tocgis@joburg.org.za

In this issue

Contact Corporate GIS

02

Spatial Information section: (July 2014 to April 2015)The Spatial Info Section has captured 6 808 newly registeredand S.G. Approved properties. A total of 216 Sectional Schemeswith a total of 10 115 units were attended to.

32 119 Cadastral corrections were done and 9 989 statuschanges were attended to. 169 New CGIS centre lines (roads)and JRA road links were captured. 261 Corrections to the CGIScentre lines (roads) and JRA road links were done.

Street Address Section: (July 2014 to May 2015)Activation of 11 518 permissible street numbers were identifiedon registered properties. 4 940 permissible street numbers havebeen activated to date.Duplication of 7 490 active street address numbers were identifiedon registered properties. 2 409 active street address numbershave been corrected to date.

Fax service section: (July 2014 to May 2015)There are currently 417 subscribed clients with 5300 requestsattended to within 2 working days (16 hours).

There were a total of 625 license applications submitted whichcomprised of 1 Gambling license, 241 Health licenses, 204Liquor licenses and 179 Trade licenses.

Projects section: (July 2014 to May 2015)A total of 254 requests were attended to with an average of96.11% requests completed within 5 days.

Online Maps website: (July 2014 to May 2015)The internal website on “City Maps” via Jozinet received a totalnumber of 2 793 993 hits with an average of 253 999 hitsper month.

The external website via eservices (http://eservice.joburg.org.za)experienced a total of 2 179 756 hits with an average of 198160 hits per month, for the same period.

This is a total of 4 973 749 hits for internal and external websiteover an 11 month period.

Top 5 themes accessed:Property ThemeZoning ThemePlanning Theme (Internal access only)Transportation ThemeCensus Theme

Top 5 usersCorporate Geo-InformaticsValuations DepartmentPlanning DepartmentRevenue & BillingJohannesburg Property Company

Website training: (July 2014 to May 2015)A total of 261 clients were trained on how to best utilize theonline maps.

Free training is offered. Booking is essential.To book contact Lesley Adams at 011 407-6203 or emailLesleya@joburg.org.za

Progress Report

Demographic data such as Race groups by Sex, Age, Education, Gender, Income, Labour Force, Language, Lighting, PopulationGroup, Sanitation and Water based on the 2011 census is now available in the Online Maps website. You will also be able tosee the dwelling type and employment/social status per Ward, Region or Township.

Census 2011 Data

03

Since 1997 the Cities Revealed digital othophotos have beenupdated by Corporate Geo-Informatics (CGIS). The first set ofdigital orthophotos was supplied by Geoinformation GroupU.K. Three years later, Joburg 2000 orthophoto imagery wassupplied by Emoyeni Survey Company in 2000. In 2003 CGISacquired a new dataset which was generated by AOC Geomatics.In 2006 Airborne Laser Solutions generated a new dataset usingLIDAR (Light detection and ranging Laser). In 2009 a morecomprehensive set was acquired in order to assist the JMPDwith planning and security for the 2010 Soccer World Cup. Thedataset consisted of oblique imagery1 of the various CBD's and2010 focus areas (stadiums and training venues) together withcolour digital orthophotos, DEM and contours. In 2012 theimagery dataset also included Lidar data, 3D building modelsand building footprints used extensively in the Corridors ofFreedom project by City Transformation.

All six sets have been used extensively in the GIS (GeographicalInformation System) environment by various departments andMunicipal Entities and can be viewed by all Council staff on theIntranet mapping website and on the Internet mapping websiteby external users, ratepayers and property related companies.

Significant land use changes, developments and new informalsettlements have taken place since 2012. There is a need toobtain an updated orthophoto database to reflect these changes.Furthermore, the new orthophotos can be compared with theold database(s) to investigate where changes have taken place

and the extent of the change. The new orthophotos will addvalue to the corporate database, increasing client satisfactionand CGIS marketability. By using the latest available imageryto assist in future planning of the City, supports the City ofJohannesburg's vision to become a world-class African city andassists the Valuations department greatly in the compiling ofthe GV roll.

A new bid A612 was advertised on the 6 March 2015 forthe following items.

• Item 1: Colour Digital Orthophotos, Lidar, DEM andContours for the City of Johannesburg

• Item 2: Oblique imagery for the City of Johannesburg• Item 3: 3D Building Models and Building Footprints (as

and when required) for the City of Johannesburg. This itemhas 4 sub items to be awarded as a bundle.

• Item 4: Multi-spectral imagery for the City of Johannesburg

At EAC on 29 April 2015 the recommendations were made tothe committee and all items were approved. The appointmentletters were drafted and checked with assistance from GroupLegal and Contracts and sent for signing. We are awaiting thesigned appointment letters from the Group Chief FinancialOfficer.

1Oblique images are geo-referenced images that are taken at an angle.

Aerial Photography 2015

04

The long wait is over! Corporate Geo-Informatics is in the finalstages of deploying ArcGIS for Server.

The City's Information Technology Department (GICT & IM) hasdone extensive Data Centre refurbishment at the Metro Centrein Braamfontein and at the Roodepoort Centre, to house state-of-the art vBlock server infrastructure. This powerful serverinfrastructure will include, inter alia, the ArcGIS for Serverenvironment.

There are twenty two Virtual Machines (VM) dedicated to theArcGIS for Server project on vBlock. The VM's consists ofDevelopment-, Quality Assurance- (QA), Production-, Staging-and Common servers.

Corporate Geo-Informatics, in partnership with Esri South Africa,has done extensive redevelopment of all custom GIS desktopapplications (GUI's), which includes many enhancements toensure streamlined data capturing and data quality.

Both internal and external online map viewers, crucial to ourCustomer Service Desk, Internal User Departments and externalclients, has been redesigned to capitalize on the power andflexibility of ArcGIS for Server.

Esri South Africa has concluded testing on their development

environment and is currently deploying and customizing thevarious ArcGIS for Server components on the dedicated vBlockVM's.

Mayor differences between the current GIS operationalenvironment include the migration of the geodatabase fromIBM DB2 to SQL, the change of Operating System (OS) fromAIX / UNIX to Windows Server and the utilization of SharePointto securely store, organize, share, and access information withinthe City of Johannesburg.

Data migration workshops are currently in progress (May / June2015) to ensure seamless cut-over to the new ArcGIS for Serverenvironment.

As per the City's IT policy, the ArcGIS for Server developmentwill have to be tested (UAT) by the various Sections withinCorporate Geo-Informatics and relevant User Departments andbe submitted to the City's Change Advisory Board (CAB) forapproval, before the deployment can go live on production.ArcGIS for Server will be launched internally first. The expectedgo-live date is 30 June 2015. The external online map viewerwill be launched thereafter.

Watch this space for further news!

ArcGIS for Server Go Live

CoJ Spatial Data InventoryWhere do I find a list of available spatial data within the Cityof Johannesburg (CoJ) in order to meet my businessrequirements?

The primary purpose of the CoJ Spatial Data Inventory is toallow users to track data availability and to contact the correctdata custodians when the data is required for planning and

decision making. The CoJ data inventory can be viewed onhttp://www.Joburg.org.za. Alternately, you could search for“data inventory”.

Corporate Geo-Informatics (CGIS) held a Customer focusconversation on 4 June 2014.

Ten top customers based on the usage of products and serviceswere invited to participate in the conversation. Each customerhad to highlight their main requirements based on their current

working environment.

These requirements were grouped under four key areasnamely:Technology, Data, Processes and People.

Property Information and services directory

05

In recent years, the volume of work in the area of place namingand re-naming has been on the increase, due to the increasedmobilization around the re-naming of streets and public places,as well as the growth of new townships and settlements. Thereare a large number of properties that cannot be allocated byan address or a street number, due to the lack of street names.

In order to meet the need for street names, the City has begunto establish a Geographical Names Bank database to serve allRegions within the City.

The database consists of existing, approved geographical namesfor the City of Johannesburg. These names can be drawn onfor allocating to a specific street or public place, which can thenbe advanced for community consultation and Councilconsideration and approval. In order to avoid duplication, allnew and proposed names should first be verified against theGeographical Names Bank.

The Development Geographic Names Bank Interface has recentlybeen completed. A user Assessment Testing of the application

on the Quality Assurance Server (SA Server) has been scheduledfor completion by the end of March 2015. Once the SQL Serverupgrades projected for implementation by the end of April 2015have been done, the Geographical Names Bank Interface willthen be installed on the new SQL production Server whosedatabase has an improved capacity and processing speed.

Content development for the Geographical Names Bankwill involve the following:

• Community consultation and mobilization at Regional andlocal level

• Engagement of a professional researcher of geographicalnames

• Screening and where appropriate uploading compliant setsof names from other jurisdictions and localities.

To ensure that content development and the submission ofnames for the Names Bank receives the necessary attentionacross the regions, community input should be facilitated throughthe Regional Directors and Citizen Relationships and UrbanManagement (CRUM).

The Development Geographic Names Bank Interface

In 2009 the Property Information Systems section (team of only4) was established with the responsibility of managing the LandInformation System (LIS) and the supporting of other applicationsfeeding into the LIS. Apart from the property related applicationdevelopment and support, a huge focus was (and still is) ondata quality in preparation of future integration of interfacesbetween LIS and the billing system. With the implementationof SAP (billing system) in 2010, the team became responsiblefor the loading and processing of Deeds data within the Council.Prior to 2010 deeds information were processed separately bydifferent departments resulting in different interpretations anddatabases (GIS, Valuations, Billing) being out of sync.

From 2010 huge efforts were made to clean and improve thequality of data in terms of properties, ownership and interfaceprocessing. Within the “beehive of activities” to develop andenhance new functionality, improve data quality and processingcontrols, managing the interfaces and responding to AuditorGeneral queries, we tend to forget where we started and whatwe have achieved over time.

From the figures below it is evident that this small team isextremely dedicated, skilled and knowledgeable and has a lotof perseverance and determination.

A journey to be proud of …

A Property related council directory as a guide forcustomers was identified as a possible priority action duringthe 2014/2015 financial year. In May 2015, the directory toprovide property related information and services was completed.

The directory was created in order to make Batho Pele work forcustomers and CoJ, and includes information and contact detailsfor ownership, zoning, street addresses, GIS spatial data and

services such as rezoning, subdivisions and consolidations andbuilding plan applications.

To access the directory go to http:// www.joburg.org.za andclick on the “QuickHelp” tab and scroll to “PropertyInformation”. Alternatively, you could search for “PropertyInformation”.

06In 2011 there were over 108 000 properties on SAP not on LISand over 42 000 properties on LIS not on SAP. A lot of timewere spent by the team (and Rates and Taxes) on investigationsand resolutions to minimise the mismatches. By 2012 therewere just over 26 000 properties on SAP not on LIS and justbelow 8 000 properties on LIS not on SAP. The match done atthe end of February 2015 indicated that there were 37 propertieson LIS not on SAP and 7 properties on SAP not on LIS. This isregarded as work in progress.

A project was launched in 2012 to update and correct all fulltitle and sectional title properties that do not display anyownership on LIS. In 2012 there were over 28 000 full titleproperties without owner information and approximately 42000 sectional title units without owner info. Significant progresshas been made on this project. Currently there are less than 4800 full title properties and approximately 52 sectional title unitswithout owner information on LIS. Most of these records haveerrors in the Deeds Office or are records where the Deeds Officedo not have the electronic data available.

The team processes and updates the weekly deeds transfer files.In 2012 there were more than 7 000 unresolved deeds recordsin the system for the period 2010 to 2012. All these errors wereresolved by June 2012 and weekly files are monitored on amonthly basis. Currently there are less than 6 errors remainingfor this financial year. Approximately 2 000 transfers are processed

per week with an average of between 15% and 25% error ratein the raw deeds data that requires intervention by business.

In June 2010, interfaces between LIS and SAP were implementedto update property, ownership and valuation information fromLIS to SAP. Initially there were no visibility on the interfaces andno assigned responsibilities. By 2012 an LIS/SAP Task Teamconsisting of representation from CGIS, AD & SS, Rates andTaxes, Revenue and Valuations to monitor and resolve interfacerelated issues. The errors in the property interface (TMD) bythen accumulated to over 20 000, the Deeds interfaceaccumulated to over 100 000 and the Valuation interface wasstanding on 30 000 errors. The Property Information Systemssection took the responsibility of resolving all property relatederrors. Currently the TMD errors are on average less than 5errors per day. Less than 1% of the Deeds and Valuation Interfaceerrors are due to property related issues.

The improvement in the quality of the data is also evident inthe number of SAP customer queries. During 2012 there wereon average over 500 queries per bi-weekly list. The queries havenow dropped to less than 20 per list and by the time the listsare provided, most of the queries have already been resolvedas part of normal operations.

The above is evident of a dedicated and determined team.

The Zoning section had embarked on a zoning data clean-upproject.

The main objective:• An error free zoning;• Update and maintain use zone according to recent

promulgated amendment scheme;• Ensure all the properties have zoning;• Ensure all amendment schemes are complete and linked

to the corresponding properties;• Add value to the City's revenues by having complete,

accurate and updated zoning data.

The challenges encountered:• Incomplete amendment schemes linked;• Incorrect amendment schemes linked to properties;• Unclean cadastral boundaries (slivers);• Unable to locate amendment scheme from archive

(Records);

• Non delivery of latest promulgated rezoning documentsand/or new townships;

• Delivery of zoning documents with discrepancies.

The AchievementThe project for this financial year is 100% complete. The creditgoes to the senior management of the CGIS for having trust onus as zoning team. Also the zoning team, their dedication andeffort will not go unnoticed. Keep up the team spirit!!!

Zoning data cleanup project

07

Using Esri Maps for Office to map health household datafrom excel spreadsheet

Art Exhibition

The Ward Base Outreach Teams (WBOT) is a COJ health project. Phase 1 was a pilot study of 10 clinics. This year phase2 sawcommunity health works per clinics assigned to do outreach at ward level, in order to gather information of statistics per wardhousehold and health information.

Corporate Geo-Informatics used Esri Maps for Office to map the health data. Esri Maps for Office allows you to create dynamicmaps of your Excel data. You can analyse your data in a location based context by creating clustered point maps or heat mapsto understand the density of point features. You can also share the maps that you create in Excel to ArcGIS Online or copy andpaste them into your PowerPoint presentations or Word documents.

Art Exhibition continues...