Browsing by Subject "spatial accessibility"

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    Open Access
    Accessibility to schooling in South African rural areas
    (2021) Narcy, Deisy; Vanderschuren, Marianne
    In developing countries rural communities are normally geographically isolated contributing to both poverty levels and the deficiency in the participation of social and economic activities. Accessibility to education constitutes one of the primordial links between the economic growth of a country and the development of high skilled population. Given South Africa's unique history, divisions throughout the landscape incapacitate inhabitants of rural communities in reaching opportunities and services, therefore, aggravating issues related to social exclusion and inequality. This study aims to determine accessibility levels in South African rural regions by looking at different aspects that entangle the theory behind it, specifically: the zone attractiveness and impedance. With that in mind, the investigations carried out are firstly directed towards accessibility at the provincial level and thereafter a focus area is determined. At the provincial level, it was found that the Northern Cape presented the greatest disadvantages. However, given insufficient resources and data related to this province, the Cape Winelands Municipality District was chosen as the area to extend the investigations. When assessing the focus area, the study deployed a GIS-based analysis wherein potential and real accessibility were determined. Initially using the gravity measure, and subsequently using a survey carried out in the region. The study has revealed that Stellenbosch and Robertson are the towns experiencing high accessibility levels. Notwithstanding, most principal towns still experience critically low accessibility indexes. The findings of this study can, therefore, be useful in indicating areas that need further studies or are experiencing disadvantages regarding accessibility.
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    Open Access
    Development of a geographical information system based transport assessment approach in rural South Africa - The Case of Healthcare Accessibility in Cape Winelands District Municipality
    (2019) Ma-Kiese, Stephane Simon Masamba; Vanderschuren, Marianne
    For communities in urban and rural areas, access to healthcare facilities is a very significant concern of service delivery to both public policy makers and urban planners. Many healthcare systems set one of their primary objectives to achieve equity and ease of access to healthcare facilities for the populations that they serve. Spatial distribution of population, transport infrastructure, as well as spatial distribution of healthcare facilities are key characteristics that influence the disparities in spatial accessibility to healthcare facilities. Regardless of the permanent interest in transport accessibility, it is often uncertain how different types of accessibility measures relate to one another and which conditions are best for applications. In general, the current study undertakes a statistical comparison among three spatial accessibility measures (representing the main categories of spatial accessibility models) to determine whether they are comparable and/or interchangeable. Specifically, this study aims to use a geographical information system based approach combined with spatial accessibility measures, in a case study, derived from fine spatial resolution datasets, to characterise and divulge spatial variations in individual’s access to healthcare facilities and identify deprived locations/local communities in a selected District Municipality of the Western Cape, South Africa. Results indicate that the main categories of spatial accessibility measures provide different interpretations of accessibility that cannot be reproduced by each other. However, the accessibility measures show a significant similar trend in variations of individual’s accessibility to healthcare services for the communities of Cape Winelands District Municipality. The study establishes that within the Cape Winelands there exist spatial variations in the distribution of accessibility to healthcare and characterises these variations.