| Addressing |
 |
"Getting
there without getting lost" Click
for more
|
| Discussions |
|
Discussion
group on Situs Addressing Initiative. Please note that a login is required
to join the discussion group . Click
here to join
Subscribe / Unsubscribe to the Discussion
group |
|
Resources |
|
Here
you will find recent papers
and power point presentations
presented on Situs Addressing expert group meeting
|
| Contacts |
Contacts
for the Situs addressing initiative. Click Here
|
| Photos |
Sample
addressing signs and posts Click here
|
| Useful
Links |
Some
useful links related to addressing and related
activities.
Click
here
|
|
|
|
"Getting
there without getting Lost"
Introduction
This situs
addressing initiative is about
highlighting the benefits and method of
optimising ways and which people identify, navigate in, and localise places
in African countries. At the national level, it is now well established that
a poor or absence of a functional physical address system induces lost of
revenue due to limited revenue collection strategies (taxation and billing,
location based services activities), discourages foreign direct investments,
negatively impacts on regional and global economy, wastes time and
resources, increases transaction costs, upholds poor governance, poor
performance of emergency and security services, etc. This initiative aims at
fostering the benefits of implementing a functional and standard addressing
system in African countries. In particular, the initiate seeks to raise
awareness of various addressing stakeholders. Some major components of the
addressing initiative include (but are not limited to):
Some
basic definitions
In general terms
An address is a primary means to identify and locate a unique object. Three main types of address are commonly used: geographic, mailing and physical.
Geographic or positional address uses geographic reference systems (e.g., longitude and latitude) to describe the exact, permanent and unique location of an object on earth (e.g., 12º, 34' 54" Latitude North and 19º 18'’ 44" Longitude East).
The mailing or postal address uses information on the exact location to deliver an item or parcel (e.g., Post Office Box or street address).
The physical address or situs address refers to the precise, complete, permanent and unique location of any spatial object (e.g., thoroughfare, parcel, place of interest and property addresses) using a system of identification such as name, number or descriptor.
This addressing initiative focuses on physical address, which allows people to navigate, identify and access desired location.
Why situs addressing initiative?
The initiative argues that it is becoming critical to optimise ways and which people localise places, mostly because a poor or absence of a functional physical address system induces limited revenue collection strategies (taxation and billing, location based services activities), discourages foreign direct investments, negatively impacts on regional and global economy, wastes time and resources, increases transaction costs, upholds poor governance, poor performance of emergency and security services, etc. This situation prevails in many parts of Africa with a poor or inexistence functional address system.
Situs addresses provide a means to deal with location-based navigation issue in Africa, without relying on memory or extensive local knowledge. Unlike other parts of the World, urban and other ‘built-up’ areas in Africa do not often have direct access to a thoroughfare. The conventional expression, street addressing, does not necessarily apply to the African context. Instead, situs addressing is a more appropriate method that provides a framework for accounting for all types of parcels, thoroughfares, buildings and property types. Nevertheless, this initiative seeks to unify physical, postal and geographic addresses for broad-based applications.
Context
The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), within its mandate, has been providing support to its member States in the various aspects of geo- information since the 1960s. These were in the form of advisory services, organizing of meetings, conferences, seminars and workshops, and conducting studies on specific topics of geoinformation. For example, ECA already held a seminar in 1970, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on cadastre in response to a recommendation made by the Second United Nations Regional Cartographic Conference for Africa. In 1992, ECA developed a compendium in Cadastral Regulations and Land Tenure Policy in Africa. In 1996, ECA in collaboration with the Observatoire du Sahara et du Sahel (OSS) undertook a subregional workshop, held in Addis Ababa, on Land Tenure Issues in Natural Resources Management in Anglophone East Africa, with focus on the Inter-governmental Authority on Development Countries (IGAD). A comprehensive study on “An Integrated Geo-information Systems with Emphasis on Cadastre and Land Information Systems for Decision Makers in Africa was prepared by the Commission in 1998 and presented for review to an Ad hoc expert meeting.
On institutional issues ECA convened in 2000 an Ad hoc expert group meeting on the “Future Orientation of Geoinformation Activities in Africa”. The main objective of the meeting was to “raise awareness of African governments and other sectors of society on the importance of geographic information in socio-economic development and to identify practical mechanisms to facilitate spatial data collection, access and use in the decision-making processes, both nationally and regionally, through a participatory approach.” The meeting reviewed global trends in the management of geographic data and the status of geoinformation development in Africa.
The current addressing initiative contributes to the ECA’s ongoing efforts to promote geoinformation technologies as tools to improve the management of development information for sustainable development. It's all about how the geographic information resources can support the creation and maintenance of national addressing systems in the context of national geographic data assets.
Free Counters
|
