Gävle and Buffalo City use the same database and software for GIS, making it easy for them to cooperate. The main priority is to use GIS as a means of alleviating poverty in Buffalo City municipality.
GIS provides an immediate overview of what is happening in the area. Among other things, it shows water resources, environmental hazards, the transport situation and maintenance work in progress. All Buffalo City's departments use GIS when deciding on how to distribute resources in the municipality.
"With GIS it is not just the politicians who shout the loudest that get the most resources, but the areas with the greatest needs," says Phil Farrant, head of the GIS department in Buffalo City.
The benefits of the cooperation goes both ways. When Gävle developed its GIS system, the technology was new and the software had to be developed on an ad hoc-basis. Now, when Gävle revised its GIS strategy, it could draw on the experiences from Buffalo City.
> Read more about municipal twinning between Sweden and South Africa