uLwazi node

cape town

SAEON is mandated by the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) to preserve and provide access to earth and environmental observation data for South Africa.

Vision

Publication, discovery, dissemination, and preservation of global change data in South Africa for the support of innovative research and evidence-based decision making to bring about social, economic and environmental benefits.

Integrating Data and Decision-Support Tools

uLwazi (meaning ‘knowledge’ in Nguni languages) is one of the seven nodes of the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON).

The node is made up of four teams, Infrastructure, Systems Development, Data Curation and Data Science, which provide infrastructure and support, development, curation and data science services to SAEON and external organisations.
uLwazi hosts and develops data systems, which are distributed on an Open Data Platform (ODP), and online tools for research data infrastructure and associated decision making.
Data collections are not only for experts; any user can freely browse and download the data.
The node curates and links a wide range of South African datasets relevant to long-term global change monitoring, including the South African Risk and Vulnerability Atlas (SARVA) and the National Climate Change Information System (NCCIS).

the Open Data PLATFORM

SAEON’S Open Data Platform directly supports and allows users free access to and visualisation of spatial and non-spatial data and information on a myriad of themes. This includes impacts of global change on human and natural environments.