So this is MapAble?

We are very excited to introduce you to MapAble^TM. After more than a year’s intensive preparation, brainstorming, code writing, legal advice, nights on the internet, we are ready to launch an exciting addition to the range of mapping facilities available on the internet. However, the history is much longer. MapAble^TM is based on the more than 70 years practical planning, GIS and application development of its partners. The forerunner technology from which we develop MapAble^TM exists for many years already and is applied by a number of institutions in South Africa. We have used our experience to re-engineer and repackage our product into flagship technology which is now at the disposal of anyone interesting in maps, spatial analysis and planning.

MapAble^TM is so much more than a web based mapping facility. We have launched MapAble to bring you affordable high-end, cutting edge, cloud based mapping and geographic information system (GIS) technology. The key is that we bring this technology to users that are not GIS experts but who use maps and do spatial analysis as an integral part of their core business activities. Simply, we want to take GIS out of the backroom, demystify it and present it as a day to day tool without which the spatial planner or analyst cannot work.

Our experience has shown that many organisations want a GIS. The route is normally buying very expensive hardware (many millions of Rand) with the surprise that you need to pay licence fees for the software and once ready you still need a “GIS expert” to run the system. Low and behold, if everything is now in place the next surprise is that you need good and relevant data to run your GIS. Should you overcome this, the next challenge is the fact that your GIS expert is a GIS expert and not a subject specialist, so he or she can only act as an interface between you and the GIS. Eventually you end up using a multi-million Rand system to generate very basic maps. It is the same situation we had many years ago before word processing where your draft a document in longhand and then send it to the typing pool to get typed. The question is why we persist with such a situation when we deal with GIS. Imagine having to deal with a spreadsheet department who does you analysis on your behalf? You brief them and they go away and present you with the results after a few days based on your duly completed work order and signed off by the boss. It just doesn’t make sense, so why treat spatial analysis differently as the way we use our normal desktop suite of software. We would like to change this. Our aims are:

• To be the go to solution for mapping and spatial analysis and planning.
• To bring mapping and spatial analysis solutions to users that are not GIS experts.
• To improve the general accessibility to mapping and spatial analysis capabilities and data.
• To enhance the quality of spatial planning and analysis.
• To enhance transparency in decision-making based on factual analysis.

The technical capabilities are usually the objectives of existing web based mapping applications. We go two steps further. Our technology is backed by access to data available in the public domain. This enriches the usability of our technology. Yet another step further than the normal presentation of web based technology - notwithstanding the fact that our business is state-of-the-art, our products are backed by a system that provides a human interface to back up our services and enhance the experience of our users.