Drakenstein Municipality in South Africa Expands GIS to Improve Public Services

To improve the delivery of public services and address concerns over transparency, the Drakenstein Municipality in the Western Cape of South Africa used geographic information system (GIS) technology. The municipal GIS staff, with the assistance of SeeClickFix support, configured a custom GIS tool to build public trust, engage residents in reporting nonemergency concerns, enable senior leaders to make faster and more informed decisions, and help municipal staff streamline assigning workers to address concerns. A local ArcGIS Dashboards containing all the information from the SeeClickFix database was configured in-house and provides value statistics, data trends, and insight pertaining to service delivery.

Drakenstein Municipality’s motto is “City of Excellence,” and building upon that motto to achieve their customer service delivery goals, GIS staff identified service areas and categories for SeeClickFix, a custom web and mobile GIS application that enables residents to easily submit nonemergency neighborhood issues, such as overgrown grass, potholes, and illegal dumping. Reporting information includes the exact location of the concern, a photo if uploaded, and a brief description. Then, staff members can view and acknowledge receipt of the concern, dispatching the correct number of staff to resolve the issue. 

SeeClickFix is available for download on iOS and Android mobile and desktop devices. Since its launch in 2020, more than 150,000 nonemergency requests have been logged with a closure rate of more than 95 percent.

The municipality has used GIS for over two decades, but that use was largely tied to the GIS department, unintentionally creating silos and gaps in information sharing. Staff in the GIS department understood the power of geospatial intelligence and wanted to elevate the organization's spatial data. Implementing GIS across the organization would help mitigate shortfalls, create greater accuracy in data reporting to senior leadership, and provide valuable insights into future infrastructure planning.

The organization was required to have a single source of truth, a solution to manage the complete life cycle of nonemergency service requests, including how long it was taking staff to resolve requests. ArcGIS Enterprise was implemented to support SeeClickFix in effectively managing service requests and work orders, which resulted in better service to residents and better insight for staff on the details of service requests. ArcGIS Enterprise enabled Drakenstein to deploy GIS across the five directorates: engineering services, public safety, community services, corporate and planning services, and financial services. Departments were able to easily share information across teams.

When managing critical services for residents like water, electricity, and sewer, senior leaders need to understand where the services are and where they are needed. Using existing network data in ArcGIS Enterprise for engineering services helps the municipality plan for upgrades and revenue generation, which ultimately leads to uninterrupted and better service for residents. Additionally, staff responsible for community services such as parks and open spaces utilize ArcGIS Enterprise to manage their workloads, ensuring that grass is maintained and debris is cleared so residents can enjoy those spaces. These technological upgrades in Drakenstein made it easier to report spatially enabled data and improved efficiencies in responding to service requests.

Drakenstein Municipality was rated the number one (1) secondary city for good governance in South Africa by the research and advocacy nonprofit organization Good Governance Africa in the Governance Performance Index (GPI) report of 2024.

Drakenstein leadership continues to apply innovation, automation, and GIS technology to help drive and expand the delivery of excellent customer service across the municipality.