Technology Trends for Spatial Data Infrastructure in Africa

Abstract

Over the past few years, several technology trends, notably big data analytics, volunteered geographic information, cloud computing, free and open source software, internet of things, and linked data, have emerged. This study reviews the contribution of some of these trends to Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) development, particularly in Africa. A geospatial application based on Google Container Engine, an Infrastructure as a Service cloud, has been developed. Data was sourced from the 2015 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education, the Kenya school mapping project of 2007 from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, and Kenya's administrative boundary layers from the Independent and Electoral Boundaries Commission. By using the cloud, several operations and analyses typically common in SDIs were carried out. In addition, a cost estimate of a cloud-based Kenya National Spatial Data Infrastructure deployment is presented. Although the new technologies may not necessarily lead to wider SDI adoption, the study shows that the trends can increase the chances of SDI development and adoption, by permitting highly scalable geoservices, and facilitating cost-effective free and open source software.