How can it be accessed and used?

Accessing MDB data

The municipal boundary data is published by the MDB as Shapefiles (SHP) or KML files depending on which part of the MDB website you are on. You can also access repackaged versions of the data on SA Maps or through the MapIt tool.

How to use MDB boundary data

Administrative boundaries for provinces, municipalities and wards are a useful base layer when mapping out other interesting data, such as school or clinic locations, to see which municipality or province these facilities fall under. There are many online tools that make it easier to work with KML and SHP files so we suggest trying the following:

1. Convert the KML or SHP file to a more open format, such as GeoJSON, using one of the many online tools like mapshaper. A SHP file is actually not a single file so you will normally need to download or zip up a directory of connected files and convert the zip as a package.
2. Upload the GeoJSON file to a tool like Mapbox, QGIS or Kepler.gl.
3. The mapping tool will generate a map with the municipal boundaries. You can then add new data layers to the map such as school or clinic locations.

As an example, Wazimap shows election, Census and Community Survey data on top of municipal boundaries.