Reflecting on GIS–related research in South Africa: 1980-2012

Abstract

Since the early 1980s, geographic information systems (GIS) have increasingly been applied in research or used to support research in South Africa. The nature and extent of such research has not been investigated, and this paper seeks to address this hiatus. A number of academic databases were consulted to identify South African authored peer-reviewed academic papers and postgraduate dissertations referring to GIS in the title, keywords or abstract. A total of 468 papers and 238 dissertations were identified and analysed for temporal and spatial trends, fields of application and methods and techniques in GIS-related research. This paper shows that the use of GIS as a research technique in South African has increased considerably since the mid-1990s, reflected by continuing growth in peer-reviewed articles, but a decrease in postgraduate writings since 2005. Possible reasons for the observed trends are suggested