GIS Update

We have made great strides on the GIS system and are now in a position to start adding more data to it.

Ultimate Vision for the project

  • Up to date time-stamped repository of spatial data of concern to the CRR, and containing amongst others up to date data about:
    • Properties and property boundaries;
    • Property statuses (e.g. Nature Reserve, Protected Environment, Buffer, In Progress to be included, Not in Protected Area;
    • Natural Assets (e.g. landscape features like wetlands and ridges, vegetation types, etc)
    • Developments/ development footprint on properties;
    • Eco-crime hotspots;
    • Alien Vegetation types;
    • Firebreaks and occurrence of both controlled and uncontrolled fires, etc
  • Ability to share this data with external agents such as academic institutions, relevant municipalities for spatial decision making purposes, GDARDE, SANBI, DFFE, town planners, Magaliesberg Biosphere Committee etc
  • Use this data for decision-making purposes
  • Front-end that will give selected CRR members the ability to add data such as poaching activity
  • Produce maps of high quality for sharing with those that have an interest (e.g. police with eco-crime data, GDARDE and DFFE to report-back activity of invasive species occurrence and removal, etc)

Where we are

  • GIS database created in QGIS with property data, some landscape features and some invasive species data
  • Public domain data of interest was sourced and included (e.g. already mapped wetlands, rivers, roads and servitudes)
  • Spatial data collected during creation of the Protected Area and of the Integrated Management Plan was included
  • Limited eco-crime data was included for snaring data on the eastern side of the CRR
  • We are busy testing EarthRanger as a way of adding more field data (snaring, invader species). It will also give us access to NASA satellite data on fires so that we can be aware of any fires within a certain distance of CRR boundaries, or within our boundaries.
  • We are in the process of adding undocumented wetlands within the CRR to the database.

What still needs to be done

  • Integration between what we already have in the database with what is collected via EarthRanger
  • A means of producing reports on activities such as eco-crimes, sightings of wildlife, birds, plants etc
  • A means of comparison of data over time (e.g. are footprints of invasive species increasing / decreasing over time, do we see an increase or decrease in eco-crimes? Are eco-crime hotspots changing? Is bush encroachment becoming a problem? What are the effect of fires on vegetation? Are there signs of overgrazing?)
  • A way of including all members as well as other interested parties in gathering data about eco-crimes, invasive species, sightings of wildlife / birds / plants)