[okfn-za] Spatial data for schools

Sat Feb 8 21:11:19 UTC 2014

... bringing this back into the list - accidentally missed the Reply All button.

> Another idea I had was providing the address and contact details with the
> principals' names on a map. You could either look for a school or see the
> school and select it. Could be useful for people who work at schools (I do
> some of that, but we usually rock up and explain what we need to do. Never
> been turned away yet.)

I like to personalise data as much as possible. Heatmaps and other
visualisations are useful if there is a real story there. I like your
idea above. One twist would be to possible twist is for the user to
give their address and get a list of all the schools in their area
with performance. Most people don't know how good the schools in their
neighbourhood are. Have a look at http://wards.code4sa.org.

If you need help, I can get you started.

On 8 February 2014 22:12,  <mtb at martinb.za.net> wrote:
> On 08.02.2014 21:18, Adi Eyal wrote:
>>
>> Hi Martin
>>
>>
>>> I am confused by the presence of two different latitude and longitude
>>> entries. Some data clean-up will be needed, especially with the addresses
>>> and contact details, but maybe someone can use this for something cool.
>>> (The
>>> immediate idea was a page where one can either search for the schools and
>>> get the information or look at schools on a map and get the same
>>> information, but I am sure you can come up with something more
>>> interesting.)
>>
>>
>> I have cc-ed Jason who has worked quite extensively with this data -
>> he might be able to suggest some roads untravelled.
>
>
> Cool. Good to know.
>
> Jason: Have you attempted any clean-up on the data? While I think the
> majority is sane, the street and postal addresses for example are hopelessly
> mangled in the subset of the data I have looked at. If we can get that
> sanitised, I think we could really have something useful.
>
>
>>
>>
>>> They do talk about having both shapefiles and Excel files, but I am not
>>> sure
>>> where the shapefiles are. I will be having a look at what I can do with
>>> it
>>> over the weekend, if I can find the time. Maybe I can get something a bit
>>> more friendly, even if I just re-save it all to a .csv or something.
>>
>>
>> You can find education district shape files here:
>>
>>
>>
>> https://github.com/j-norwood-young/SA-Maps/tree/master/Schools/education_districts
>
>
> These might be useful. I see the data I am playing with is already
> available.
>
>
>>
>> Also, if you're of the python persuasion (and have the requisite
>> coding skills) you can use http://code.google.com/p/pyshp/ to create a
>> shapefile from all the coords. If you come up with a cool project, I'm
>> sure you'll find others who may want to contribute.
>>
>
> I just converted some of the data to .csv and threw it into my GIS software
> that I am learning to use/playing with. :)
>
>
>>
>>> Does anyone have any guidelines over the use of this information? Can I
>>> (hypothetically) make a map or a web-app showing all the schools in the
>>> country?
>>
>>
>> Don't ask. Just do it. Copyright on public datasets isn't at all
>> clear. No point in erring on the side of caution or even asking for
>> permission.
>
>
> Good to know.
>
>>
>>> There is also some statistical data available at
>>>
>>>
>>> http://www.education.gov.za/EMIS/StatisticalPublications/tabid/462/Default.aspx
>>> but it seems to be only in .pdf (urgh...).
>>
>>
>> :)
>>
>> try tabula - http://tabula.nerdpower.org/ -  if there are any specific
>> tables that you want to extract
>
> Nothing specific, but I thought others might find it useful.
>
>
>>
>> I'm happy to help if you want to spitball some ideas.
>
>
> Automatic spitballer machine engaged. ;)
>
> I think my idea from above might be worth following up. The ability to check
> which schools are in an area (especially if we can link that into the
> statistical data that you (?) posted at some point last year for the Eastern
> Cape with pass-marks, subjects and so on) could be instructive. Actually, I
> like the idea of being able to highlight poorly performing schools per
> subject on a heatmap, or similar.
>
> It should drop as one moves away from the cities and middle class areas, but
> the exceptions would be good to see. Even on a citywide-scale, a place
> showing which schools are doing well and which are doing poorly could be
> worth having available.
>
> Linking the spatial distribution of schools compared to population clusters
> (which we should be able to do with the census data) could also be
> interesting, if only to show how rural people have so little choice in which
> school to attend.
>
> Another idea I had was providing the address and contact details with the
> principals' names on a map. You could either look for a school or see the
> school and select it. Could be useful for people who work at schools (I do
> some of that, but we usually rock up and explain what we need to do. Never
> been turned away yet.)
>
> Any of those strike you as being particularly worth following up on? And
> then I would need to get an idea of how to start....
>>
>>
>>
>> Adi
>
>
> mtb

-- 
Adi Eyal
Director
Code for South Africa
Promoting informed decision-making

phone: +27 78 014 2469
skype: adieyalcas
linkedin: http://za.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Adi/Eyal
web: http://www.code4sa.org
twitter: @soapsudtycoon

For more information on how to participate in the open data community
in South Africa, go to: http://www.code4sa.org/#community