Open Knowledge

South Africa / 2014 48% open

South Africa is ranked #36 in the 2014 Index
South Africa's overall Index ranking is up from #50 in 2013

Rank Dataset Breakdown Location (URL) Format Info Prev. Score
10 Location datasets
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http://www.postoffice.co.za/to... .xls #38  25% 70%
10 Location datasets
URL: http://www.postoffice.co.za/tools/postalcodes.xls
Format: .xls

Here is an extract from the website terms of use (there is no specific licence attached to the post codes database) No part of the website may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) or for any purpose, without the express written permission of the webmaster.


22 Election Results
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http://www.elections.org.za/co... xls #35  45% 70%
22 Election Results
URL: http://www.elections.org.za/content/Elections/Results/2014-National-and-Provincial-Elections--National-results/
Format: xls

In my experience, the electoral commission is one of the few South Africa entities that make such datasets so easily available for public use (and providing information that is machine readable). The standard licence is restrictive, only allowing for personal use.


22 Government Budget
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http://www.treasury.gov.za/doc... XLS #27  55% 70%
22 Government Budget
URL: http://www.treasury.gov.za/documents/national%20budget/2014/enebooklets/excel.aspx
Format: XLS

Government budgets are standardised across government departments allowing for easy comparisons. historic budgets are also available, 2013 and 14 seem the most comprehensive datasets. Planned expenditure data is available in PDF and XLS. The data is copyright under the National Treasury.


41 National Statistics
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http://www.statssa.gov.za/defa... Excel #27  60% 60%
41 National Statistics
URL: http://www.statssa.gov.za/default.asp
Format: Excel

StatsSA is the national statistics agency. Data is available at various levels of aggregation but is often difficult to extract data in bulk - e.g. for the census, each indicator needs to be extracted individually. Not all data is available in machine readable format. Some of it is available only in PDF files, but some datasets are available in Excel and ASCII formats under the 'interactive data' heading.


33 Pollutant Emissions
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http://www.saaqis.org.za/Defau... Excel #53  0% 55%
33 Pollutant Emissions
URL: http://www.saaqis.org.za/Default.aspx
Format: Excel

Data on Air pollution is available on the website in a non machine readable format and is shown in Graph or a Map view . The raw data is only available on request from the agency in a XLS format.


24 Transport Timetables
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https://www.shosholozameyl.co.... Images #13  45% 45%
24 Transport Timetables
URL: https://www.shosholozameyl.co.za/train-routes.html
Format: Images

The data provided above is for Shosholoza Meyl, the national train operator. South African Airways, the national airline is owned by the South African government and could be considered to be public transport. Their website is http://www.flysaa.com/. Data is not available in bulk and can be accessed through their Route Mapper http://destinations.flysaa.com/en/routemap. There is no government-owned national bus service.


33 Legislation
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http://www.gov.za/documents/ac... PDF #26  45% 45%
33 Legislation
URL: http://www.gov.za/documents/acts
Format: PDF

Several emerging private and not-for-profit aggregators of legislation data emerging. Data generally made available in HTML and PDF formats. See http://www.acts.co.za/index.html, http://www.lawsofsouthafrica.up.ac.za/, http://www.saflii.org/za/legis/num_act/


26 Company Register
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http://www.cipc.co.za/ n/a #54  15% 45%
26 Company Register
URL: http://www.cipc.co.za/


Initial searches for company name, trademarks and patents are free of charge. More in-depth information is sold on a subscription basis. Website is being reviewed at the moment, but no indication the fee model is changing.


15 Government Spending
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n/a n/a #40  0% 10%
15 Government Spending


According to the Ministry of Finance: http://www.treasury.gov.za/ is collecting this data but it appears not to be accessible publicy from an official source.


67 National Map
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n/a n/a #49  25% 10%
67 National Map


National Geo-spatial Information (NGI), a component of Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR) commenced with the establishment of an integrated survey system and provision of extensive mapping coverage of the country. NGI is also known as South Africa's national mapping organisation. From the NGI's website ww.ngi.gov.za:

Blockquote

The integrated topographic information system (iTIS) portal is currently being developed to provide intranet and internet users access to the iTIS using a Web Feature data Server (WFS), Geography Markup Language (GML) data Server, Web Map Service (WMS) and access to imagery. The WFS and GML data Servers will permit database connection to the iTIS. GML is an open format developed by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). The WMS will provide thin-client access to the iTIS in order to create customised maps which can then be downloaded by the user.


Contributors

Reviewers

  • Georg Neumann
  • Gil Zaretzer
  • Kamil Gregor
  • Mor Rubinstein
  • Zach Christensen
  • Stephen Gates
  • anonymous
  • Nisha Thompson
  • yar michl
  • Rebecca Sentance
  • Tryggvi Björgvinsson
  • Codrina Maria Ilie

Submitters

  • Adi Eyal
  • Daniela Mattern
  • Jason Norwood-Young
  • nina lewin
  • Mor Rubinstein
  • anonymous
  • Greg Kempe
  • Tryggvi Björgvinsson