A computer software tool that will be of tremendous assistance to Pacific Island planners was launched officially Friday (8 April, 2005). Developed initially for the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, the PopGIS system is a very user-friendly data and information management system that combines population information with maps and graphics, so that statisticians can more effectively disseminate their data and planners can see visually where to focus their development and infrastructure activities.  

“The ultimate goal of this tool is to put data and information at the fingertips of planners and statisticians,” says Dr. Gerald Haberkorn, the head of Demography/Population programme at the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) which developed the system. “We were looking at developing a multi-purpose system that would meet the different demands of different users. We wanted to assist statisticians to get data more effectively to their main users, and do so in a format that is relevant to their work. We also wanted to provide planners with a powerful decision-support tool that assists policy analysis and the setting of priorities, and allows monitoring of development activities and progress across a broad range of sectoral applications.”

Launching the system on the final day of SPC’s first ever combined regional Heads of Planning and Heads of Statistics meeting, Yves Corbel, SPC’s Deputy Director-General, emphasised the importance of “good data and information as essential to creating a culture of evidence-based decision-making”.

“While we are all pleased with the substantive developments made thus far, we must ensure these developments are sustained”, he stressed. “It is important to continue our technical work in countries, while gradually extending the PopGIS system to new countries and territories.  We have already identified the Cook Islands and the Marshall Islands as the next recipients of a national PopGIS.”

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Background information:

Populations are not distributed equally across a country; neither are manifestations of development, such as educational enrolment, economic activity, access to water supply and other services.   Development plans and policies have to take into account the patterns of such distributions. Mapping the patterns, and highlighting similarities and contrasts visually, can make these patterns clearer than just a table of simple figures or a bar chart. A well constructed map not only gets such messages across to different audiences in a clear-cut way, but more importantly, images also have a more powerful impact than numbers or words per se.

Take for example, planning the development of a new water supply system in a country like Vanuatu. This exercise requires the ability to identify areas of highest need, and where to direct efforts most effectively, by utilising statistics about population, incomes, locations of present industries and services and information about estimated future trends and developments. SPC’s PopGIS integrates available population, social and economic statistics and services data. It allows planners and statisticians to examine data for the country displayed in a variety of ways, in maps, different graphics and standard tables, and at various geographic scales.

All the information is provided on a CD-ROM

See http://www.spc.int/demog/