Outdated geographic information for Namibia increases the cost of development or construction of government projects.

This is according to the Acting Surveyor-General in the Ministry of Agriculture, Water, and Land Reform, who has called for an update of such information.

Geographic information, also known as geospatial data, is information that identifies a geographic location and its features and boundaries on the earth's surface.

This information aids in accurate planning, said Laina Nadunya, the Geographic Information System Analyst at the Roads Authority, adding, "If there are flood-prone areas, maybe how many bridges we need to put there, how many culverts we need to put up, where are we hauling our water from?" Where are we hauling our gravel from? All those things are now very important for planning."

Produced 10 to 20 years ago, Namibia's geospatial data is considered outdated, and no unified method was used in compiling it.

Stakeholders from governmental institutions, therefore, convened in Swakopmund for a five-day workshop aimed at finding solutions.

"We must have a strategy that must bring us together to share and have up-to-date or current data as it is required for development and infrastructure development in government as well as the private sector," said Moses Hanana, Acting Surveyor-General: Agriculture, Water, and Land Reform.

Alex Mudabeti, National Spatial Data Infrastructure Executive at the Namibia Statistics Agency, said, "We need to make sure that our data is of quality in terms of timeliness and even the position of our data; we also need to look at data security in terms of securing our national data so that we can safeguard our national sovereignty."

When the government plans to develop infrastructure in a specific area, geographic information is crucial to speeding up that process.

However, Hanana warns that outdated statistics impact the accuracy of the information and add to the cost of development.

"You will still have to go and do all of the acquiring of current data, and that process alone is quite expensive and adds to the expenses of the development or construction that you are going to undertake. As a result, if this data were made available and in the required updated format, you would have to do a job in the most appropriate and least expensive method of development possible."