Development of a GIS-Based Municipal Address System (MAS) for Mukono Municipality

Abstract

The main objective of this project was to develop a GIS-based Municipal Address System (MAS) for Mukono Municipality. Residents and visitors in Mukono Municipality use the few available plot numbers, named roads and buildings as well as landmarks such as Hotels, Schools, and Markets, among others to describe and identify places within the Municipality. Currently, the aforementioned forms of addresses used in the Municipality are not well structured and integrated, and are therefore ineffective. The project began by collecting baseline information through desktop reviews and field observations. This was followed by discussions with technical staff of Mukono Municipal Council and KCCA. The Odd and Even method of house numbering for formal areas, and the Grid numbering method for the informal areas, supported by GIS operations such as Overlay analysis and spatial data integration were used to develop the system. A prototype address system was developed for Sonde village located in Misindye Parish, Goma Division. The Mukono Municipality prototype MAS enables visualization of the study area, with detailed addresses which can be queried, retrieved, and analyzed. The developed prototype has provision for scaling up to the whole Municipality. Areas for further improvement include the addition of metadata for the datasets used for the development of the system, and the need to relate road codes to known road names which are easier to understand. The implementation of this system will be further expedited by the establishment of a Geographical Information System (GIS) Unit in Mukono Municipality which can draw best practices from Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA)