USER STORY
Enabling Effective Cemetery Management with GIS
Tshikwama Investments Pty Ltd is a consulting firm specialising in the sector of civil engineering and local government. The company comprises qualified personnel who have acquired substantial experience in the fields of civil engineering, local government. building industry, and in the architectural world. Tshikwama Investments joined the SMME ArcGIS for Local Authorities (AFLA) Expansion Drive in 2018 to ensure the company continues to provide innovative solutions within local government. It is a 100% black, women-owned, private company established in 2016.
Need
An accurate and reliable geographic information system (GIS) to spatially display cemeteries
Solution
The ArcGIS for Local Authority suite
Benefits
• Grave site allocation
• Tracking and monitoring of the burial application process
The SMME AFLA Expansion Drive, powered by Esri South Africa, aims to upskill Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs) with the potential to revitalise communities and strengthen local and national economies in South Africa. Tshikwama Investments Pty Ltd attended one-on-one knowledge sharing and training sessions on the AFLA suite of products. The AFLA Expansion Drive has enabled the organisation to successfully deploy and support AFLA at client sites such as Thaba Chweu Municipality.
Thaba Chweu Municipality required an accurate and reliable geographic information system (GIS) to spatially display cemeteries.
The Solution
The Cemetery Management System (CMS) will assist the municipality in making informed decisions to deliver an efficient service to the public, which includes shortage of land for cemeteries, limited budget for cemeteries, traditional burials, and community resistance to alternative forms of burial as stipulated in South African Local Government Association (SALGA) ‘Good Practices in Cemeteries Management – Building Local Government Capacity in Cemeteries Management’. The CMS forms part of the ArcGIS for Local Authority suite.
The Benefits
Thaba Chweu Municipality adopted this system as part of SALGA’s Knowledge and Information Sharing mandate to address the impact of cemeteries in South Africa. The CMS uses the latest Esri technology to assist Thaba Chweu Municipality to function more efficiently by following an application for (Burial, Tombstone, Exhumation, Cremation etc.) from submission to application closure.
• Grave site allocation
• Tracking and monitoring of the burial application process
• Allowing users to search for allocated grave sites
• Enable field mobility (field to office, office to field)
• Generating reports & statistics as per clients request
Results
The CMS provides administrative support to address cemetery related challenges faced by Thaba Chweu Municipality. Moving away from old paper-based records to electronically capturing information means heightened security and the proper maintenance of the municipality’s cemeteries.
This cemetery shows all individual graves and the status thereof. The graves in green are available. Graves symbolised in red illustrate that the grave is occupied.
About Esri South Africa’s Enterprise Development Programme
Our Enterprise Development Programme is designed to support and empower Exempt Micro Enterprises (EMEs) and Qualifying Small Enterprises (QSEs) with financial aid, hardware, software, training and data to grow the geospatial community. The Enterprise Development programme aims to grow a more diverse and sustainable economic landscape for the country by supporting the growth of new businesses development directly contributing to the National Development Programme 2030 goals.
For more information on boarding the programme visit: www.esri-southafrica.com/enterprise-development-programme