United Nations Regional

Workshop on
Census Cartography
and Management
Lusaka, Zambia
8 12 October 2007

The Central Statistics

Office
Cartography Unit
Mauritius
Y.
Buxsoo

OUR MISSION

To provide timely,
relevant and reliable
statistics, consistent with
international principles
and standards, for
effective decision-making
and monitoring

OUR VISION

To be a key provider of
world-class statistical
information

REPUBLIC OF MAURITIUS
The Republic of Mauritius is a group of islands

located in the South West of the Indian Ocean.

Total Area: 2040 Km2
Population: 1.2 million
Population Density: 610/ Km2 (One of the worlds highest)

Location of Mauritius

CENSUS HISTORY
1st population census dates back to the 18 th

century (year 1735)

CSO was established in the year 1948

The last census was carried out in the year 2000
The next census is planned for the year 2010
Census is conducted according to provisions of the Statistics Act

CARTOGRAPHY UNIT History

The Cartography Unit was set up in the mid

1970s
Computerization of the unit started end of

1998
GIS was introduced in October 2002

CARTOGRAPHY UNIT
Director

Division 3
Deputy Director

Principal Statistician

Cartography Unit
1 Senior Statistical Officer
5 Statistical Officer

CARTOGRAPHY UNIT
What do we do?

Prepare, update and produce Enumeration Area (EA)

maps for censuses & surveys
Carry out field work to update existing maps
Assist in the preparation and conduct of censuses and
surveys
Prepare Primary Sampling Frame for surveys
Estimation of population & households data relating to
regions
Produce thematic maps and migration analysis report
Create spatial database using GIS applications

Mapping Activities
Mapping activities of the unit:
Digitize base maps (dated 1997) purchased from
Ministry of Housing and Lands
Boundaries of all administrative boundaries have been
digitized on a different layer in AutoCAD and
subsequently translated to MapInfo to produce thematic
maps
Boundaries of all EAs (of lower spatial level) have been
digitized in AutoCAD
Land features such as roads, rivers, street names etc,
each kept on separate layers, for EA maps are currently
being digitized in AutoCAD and are expected to be
completed by end of 2008

Our Collaborators
Ministry of Housing and Lands (MHL) is the

body producing National Spatial Base Maps

and provides morcellement maps
National Housing Development Company
(NHDC)provides plans for new housing estates
Road Development Authority (RDA) provide for
new road network maps
Note: Google Earth is a very important tool used to retrieve
geographical information in order to update maps

Updating of Maps

Updating of maps are done as follows:

Field visits carried out by officers of the unit
Digitize new morcellement and road maps

obtained from MHL, NHDC and RDA

Tools
Software
Windows XP
Professional
MapInfo Professional
6.5
AutoCAD LT 2002

Hardware Specification
4 Pentium IV PCs (2.0+ MHz )
3 PCs of 256 MB RAM
and 1 PC of 512 MB RAM
40 GB Hard Disk
4 CD-ROM drive (52x)
2 Printers, 1 Photocopier
and 1 Plancopier
1 Plotter

Why AutoCAD and MapInfo

AutoCAD

It is currently being used by

MHL, NHDC and RDA, thus
enabling trouble-free
sharing of data among all
collaborators
It is a very powerful and
precise CAD tool for
drawing
It can be easily imported
from MapInfo
Note: It has poor analytical
possibilities

It is being used to

produce EA maps

MapInfo

It is a GIS software efficient in

geographical analysis
It is very user friendly
It
can
import
AutoCAD
drawings easily
Note:
It
capabilities
AutoCAD

It

has
as

poor drawing
compared to

is being used
analytical purposes

for

GEO-CODE
The coding system of the EAs is of a
hierarchical nature and comprise of six digits.
1st digit represents ISLAND
2nd digit represents DISTRICT
3rd & 4th digits together represent TOWNS &

WARDS (MCA) or VILLAGE COUNCIL AREAS (VCA)

Last 2 digits represent EA within the MCA or the
VCA
Example of an EA 131505

GEOGRAPHICAL AREA
HIERARCHY STRUCTURE
Republic of
Mauritius
Island of
Mauritius (1)

Island of
Rodrigues (2)

Island of
Agalega (3)

9 Districts
(Historical Boundaries)

5 MCAs

124 VCAs

14 Zones

(Urban)

(rural)

(Rural)

20
Wards

2108
EAs

1364
EAs

93 EAs

1 EA

Types of Map Produced

The unit produces 2 types of maps:
1. Field work mapping EA maps in digital

format
2. Dissemination maps (Thematic Maps)
published in :
Population Distribution and Migration Analysis Report
2002
Relative Development Index report 2002
Census Atlas (not yet published)

Needs and Use of Map

Maps are needed:
Data Collection
Planning operations
Presentation and Analysis
To set up census and survey workloads
To estimate travel time and cost
To identify segments for sample surveys
To ensure complete coverage of an area
without omission or duplication

CARTOGRAPHY UNIT
Original map from MHL

CARTOGRAPHY UNIT
Map updated by the CSO

EA Map

Location Map

Administrative Regions
Map of Mauritius
showing all the
MVCAs* with their
respective codes.
*MVCAs Municipal
& Village council
Areas

MASTER FRAME
EA CODE

PRIVATE HH

Population

U/R/S20
02

PSU

LOCALITY

111101

113

462

1006

Camp Chapelon

111102

18

1008

Bell Village

111103

36

127

1007

Plaine Lauzun

111104

86

365

1007

Plaine Lauzun

111105

107

372

1007

Plaine Lauzun

111106

140

570

1005

Camp Chapelon

111107

83

318

1006

Camp Chapelon

111108

89

368

1006

Camp Chapelon

111109

101

389

1002

G.R.N.W.,

111110

128

463

1004

G.R.N.W.

111111

67

242

1008

Cite Vallijee

111112

88

347

1009

Cite Vallijee

111113

69

251

1010

Cite Vallijee

Future Initiatives CSO

To use GIS in national surveys and censuses (sample

design, workload, allocation, spatial analysis etc..)
To adopt the web as part of the dissemination strategy
through integration of interactive maps
To enhance the quality and the presentation of the EA
maps and thematic maps through the use of GIS
To relate the socio demographic and economic
characteristics to the housing and living conditions of
the population by merging records of the Housing and
Population Census enabling a more comprehensive
analysis of the census data
To capture census and survey through OCR/ICR. The
latter is a proven technology that could make significant
cost, timeliness and accuracy improvements in
censuses and surveys

Future Government Projects

In Collaboration with the International Services
Landgate, Government of Western Australia
To set up a CADASTRE OF THE ISLAND OF MAURUTIUS by
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A LAND
ADMINISTRATION,VALUATION AND INFORMATION
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (LAVIMS)
Main objectives :
Establish an efficient and cost-effective administration and
information
system that is an online and dynamic cadastre; and
Set up a general valuation roll of some 3000,000
residential properties
(land parcels)
Land Management Scrutiny Mission Final Report published on the GOM /
MHL website at: http://www.gov.mu/portal/site/housing

Attributes of the cadastre and ownership

databases and LIS
Every land parcel (LOT) on the island would be uniquely
identified and digitally mapped
All cadastral lots would be held in a fully functional and secure
digital cadastral database (DCDB)
The cadastre would have an overall geo-spatial accuracy,
expressed in terms of WGS 84 and / or UTM as is planned for
Mauritius
It would be a Geographic Information System (GIS) environment,
capable of supporting migration to a web-enabled land
information system (LIS);
It would be able to be spatially improved over time by
introducing survey
accurate and coordinated cadastral surveys into the cadastral
system
Each land parcel would be linked to the owners deed for the
parcel
Tracking of land transactions (sales, subdivisions, mortgaging
(transcriptions)

Deeds lodgements and searching processes to be automated

Change of Datum and Map

Projection
The current coordinate system of Mauritius (geodetic
datum) is Clarke 1880 Spheroid
The map projection is Lambert Conical Orthomorphic
projection
established in 1934 by Captain Sanseau
For better precision, the MHL has agreed to consider
changing the
datum to the World Geodetic System (WGS84) and to
move to Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) map grid 84
Note: The Global Positioning System (GPS) uses the World
Geodetic System 84

Problems
With this change the current system will face technical
problems. The existing data would need transformation
before laying on the new coordinate system and map

Shift due to differences between Clarke80

and WGS84 at a particular point

Le Pouce
(Clarke80)
57.5218o E
-20.1951o
S

81
0

dy = 337
m

67o

Le Pouce, Mauritius

dx = 737
m

Le Pouce
(WGS84)
57.5289o E
-20.1981o
S

Defining parameters of current map

projection
Ellipsoid
Map Projection

: Clarke 1880
: Lambert Conical
Orthomorphic
Latitude
: 20 11 42.25 South
Longitude
: 57 31 18.58 East
Use of measurement
: metre
Grid
: Mauritius
Origin
: Le Pouce
False Easting
: 1 000 000 m Easting
False Northing
: 1 000 000 m
Northing
Scale factor at origin
: 1.000 000

Population Distribution Map

Dot Map of
Mauritius
representing
population
distribution

Population Density Map

Thematic Map of
Mauritius
representing
population density
per square km

Migration Streams
Map of Mauritius
showing net
migration streams
between districts
for the past 5
years

Birth and Death Rates

Migration Streams
Map of Mauritius
showing net
migration streams
between districts
for the past 5
years

THANK YOU
Y. Buxsoo
11 October 2007

Migration Streams
Map of Mauritius
showing net
migration streams
between districts
for the past 5
years

Migration Streams

Migration Streams

Migration Streams

Migration Streams