Post- enumeration Stage- GIS plays a very important role in this stage of statistical operation in: Digital Census GIS database creation, Online data access to the agencies in Qatar GISnet, GIS Analysis of Socio-economic data,
Fig 4: Census Thematic Map
Fig 5: Qatar Socio-Economic Atlas
Publication of quality thematic maps and atlases and significantly in developing Internet and intranet applications for the data users.
Qatar nationwide GIS rests on the policy of having same data model and database specifications by each agency. The policy helps in creating the census geographic database as well as the statistical database.
Since the prevailing GIS policy in the country allows agencies in Qatar GISnet to share the information online, the statistical data made publicly available by the department is accessed online by the agencies in Qatar GISnet. It facilitates quick query and display of statistics and in developing applications combining socio-economic information into their own specialized fields.
Qatar GISnet helps primarily in dissemination of the results to the users online besides the address geo-coding data accessed by the Statistical department that helps consistency checks and linking of statistical data to the smallest possible spatial unit.
The small area statistics now can be easily incorporated into other spatial units such as election districts, town/city limits, utility service zones, postal and police zones, health and education planning zones etc.
Through GIS the analysis of socio-economic data can take on various forms and various levels of complexity, from simple data retrieval to complicated models. Combining agencies' geographic datasets one can perform the query to retrieve e.g., all census blocks adjacent to or within
another type of spatial unit such as a
national park or a souq (market) or all census blocks within 1 km of a motorway etc.
Not only this system expedites the publication work, enhancing the quality of output but also allows combining related geographic interpretation of the socio-economic information. This leads to better presentation of socio-economic themes on maps to be included in statistical publications and atlases in paper copy and digital form.
A number of inter and intra-net applications of the socio-economic data are possible in combination with other agencies' databases tying with a common geographic location key for census information and other relevant information applications. The web GIS application mainly on Query and Display of statistics by Statistical Department is primarily based on this concept.
Conclusions
The shared GIS database in the Qatar GISnet has yielded many benefits and the nationwide GIS policy has not only saved the time and resources for agencies, but also enhanced the work efficiency and the output quality to a great extent. All the agencies belonging to Qatar GISnet have been benefited through this process. The Statistical Department being part of Qatar GISnet has been no exception and has almost revolutionized the way it deals with the geographic information requirements for its census and surveys. The
direct and indirect benefits of the new system over the traditional one in statistical operations are clearly evident now. The interagency coordination not only helps each other, but also facilitates the general public in many ways.