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HANDBOOK ON GEOSPATIAL INFRASTRUCTURE

IN SUPPORT OF CENSUS ACTIVITIES

Printed at the United Nations, New York

Sales No. E.09.XVII.8

08-50837March 20092,220

USD 55

ISBN 978-92-1-161527-2

Department of Economic and Social AffairsStatistics Division

Handbook on Geospatial Infrastructure in Support of Census Activities

United NationsNew York, 2009

asdf

ST/ESA/STAT/SER.F/103

Studies in Methods Series F No. 103

ST/ESA/STAT/SER.F/103

UNITED NATIONS PUBLICATIONSales No. E.09.XVIII.8

ISBN: 978-92-1-161527-2

Copyright United Nations, 2009 All rights reserved

Printed in United Nations, New York

Department of Economic and Social Affairs

The Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat is a vital interface between global policies in the economic, social and environmental spheres and national action. The Department works in three main interlinked areas: (i) it compiles, generates and analyses a wide range of economic, social and environ-mental data and information on which States Members of the United Nations draw to review common problems and to take stock of policy options; (ii) it facilitates the negotiations of Member States in many intergovernmental bodies on joint courses of action to address ongoing or emerging global challenges; and (iii) it advises interested Governments on the ways and means of translating policy frameworks developed in United Nations conferences and summits into programmes at the country level and, through technical assistance, helps build national capacities.

Note

The designations used and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

The term country as used in this publication also refers, as appropriate, to ter-ritories or areas.

The designations developed regions and developing regions are intended for statistical convenience and do not necessarily express a judgment about the stage reached by a particular country or area in the development process.

Symbols of United Nations documents are composed of capital letters combined with figures. Mention of such a symbol indicates a reference to a United Nations docu-ment.

iii

Preface

The United Nations published the Handbook on Geographic Information Systems and Digital Mapping for use during the 2000 round of population and housing censuses. The 2000 Handbook has provided useful guidance in the field of census cartography. It needs updating and reviewing, however, to take into account recent developments in geospatial technologies and their applications for statistical exercises, in particular for population and housing censuses.

For the 2010 World Programme on Population and Housing Censuses, the Sta-tistical Commission, at its thirty-sixth session, requested that the United Nations Sta-tistics Division proceed with its work on the revision and update of Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses. The Commission requested that the Statistics Division address some related specific issues, including the applica-tion of geographic information systems (GIS) in both the collection and dissemination of data. These developments have been reflected in the Principles and Recommenda-tions for Population and Housing Censuses, Revision 2, which were adopted by the Sta-tistical Commission in March 2007.

Subsequent to the adoption of the Principles and Recommendations, Revision 2, the United Nations Statistics Division initiated a series of activities to promote and support the 2010 World Programme on Population and Housing Censuses and review the 2000 Handbook, taking into account recent geospatial technological advances. In May 2007, the Statistics Division organized an expert group meeting in New York on contemporary practices in census-mapping and the use of geographical information systems. The meeting was held to provide input into the revision of the 2000 Hand-book. The Statistics Division also conducted, in the fourth quarter of 2007 and early in 2008, five workshops on the use of geospatial technologies in census-mapping opera-tions. Two workshops were held in Africa for English-speaking and French-speaking countries, respectively, while one workshop each was held for the Asian, Caribbean and Pacific island regions. The Statistics Division hired a consultant, David Rain, to assist in the preparation of the draft revised Handbook. In April 2008, a second expert group meeting was organized in New York to review the draft revised Handbook.

The newly revised and renamed Handbook on Geospatial Infrastructure in Sup-port of Census Activities reflects the recommendations of the expert group meetings and regional workshops on GIS and census-mapping. Those bodies emphasized the need for countries to approach the use of census geography programmes as a continu-ous process rather than merely a sequence of mapping and dissemination operations. It was emphasized that the Handbook should demonstrate how the use and application of contemporary geospatial technologies and geographical databases are beneficial at all the stages of the population and housing census process. For instance, the Hand-book should show how those technologies improve efficiency in the preparatory, enu-meration, processing and dissemination phases of the census.

In this regard, it is important that the Handbook put into the hands of census planners and related personnel a technical guide on the contemporary methods, tools and best practices that would enable them to better articulate their needs and deal with census-mapping operations more efficiently. In short, the Handbook covers both

iv Handbook on Geospatial Infrastructure in Support of Census Activities

managerial and operational needs in considerable detail. It addresses organizational and institutional issues that concern statistical agency heads and other managers; and it explicitly addresses technical and practical issues that concern census cartographers and takers.

The present Handbook is divided into six chapters and seven annexes. After a brief introduction in chapter I, chapter II covers managerial issues for statistical agency heads that should be considered when reorganizing national statistical offices to permit the full use of geospatial infrastructure. Chapter III provides technical con-tent for the data-processing manager or cartography/GIS chief to use for the practical establishment of a digital enumeration area (EA)-level geographic database. Chapter IV continues the technical focus, spelling out the process of constructing an EA geo-database and using such technical advances as global positioning systems (GPS) and remote sensing to make corrections, integrating them where necessary with ground-based work. Chapter V covers the process of creating the maps needed for enumera-tion, with an operational focus that picks up where the geographic database discus-sion left off. Chapter VI covers the use of geospatial infrastructure for dissemination of census results. Annexes I to VII provide a handy reference for those planning and implementing geospatial solutions to census projects.

During the revision process, the United Nations Secretariat consulted census cartographers and GIS experts representing all regions of the world to review and fi-nalize the Handbook. The Handbook also contains some examples of country practices in the application of GIS, GPS and digital mapping used in censuses contributed by some of these experts. The Handbook was prepared by David Rain, a consultant for the United Nations Statistics Division, in collaboration with the Statistics Division team.

v

Contents

Page

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii Chapter

I. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1A. Foreword and rationale for the Handbook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1B. Scope, purpose and outline of the Handbook . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3C. Chapter-by-chapter summaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

II. Managerial considerations for heads of national statistical offices and other decision makers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7A. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7B. The role of maps in the census . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12C. From maps to geographic databases: the mapping revolution

continues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13D. Increasing demand for disaggregated statistical data . . . . . . . . . 14E. Investing in geospatial technology: costs and benefits . . . . . . . . 16F. Critical success factors for geospatial implementation in the

national statistical office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18G. Planning the census process using geospatial tools . . . . . . . . . . 19H. Needs assessment and determination of geographic options . . . . . 19

1. User needs assessmen