| Summary: | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 109-113). === The implementation of Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA, 2000), by the South African government in the public domain gave effect to "the constitutional right of access to any information held by the state and any information that is held by another person and that is required for the exercise or protection of any rights; and to provide for matters connected therewith" (Arthur, 2007). The government requires every public and private organization to provide access to information users manual document as contemplated by section 14 of the PAIA of 2000 for the facilitation of easy access, affordable, relevant and understandable information to the public. Despite the effort, low-income communities at Cape Town informal settlements has limited understanding of where to go or who to contact when it comes to submitting requests for access to spatial information to the City of Cape Town Council and to publicly report locale area problems. It can be assumed that one of the factors contributing to this ignorance is the geographical distance to the relevant City Council departments and the absence of the public spatial information systems that support interaction between municipality level and community level. The Internet is a medium that can address important obstacles inhibiting information utility associated with public access to spatial information and reporting problems of concern in a society. The rise of the Internet technology has created opportunities to increase public participation in environmental decision-making by use of web-based GIS. This study aims to implement an open source web-based mapping GIS prototype system that can be used as an intermediate solution as a feasibility study for the access to spatial information rather than the manual procedure used by the City Council. It also aims to illustrate how public access to online maps can deliver improved services to lower-income communities through reporting locale problems. The web-based GIS prototype system named UCT CSIS utilize City of Cape Town Smart Cape Access Project platform at the community libraries so that it reaches a wide range of audience through internet connection.
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