An implementation of FOSS4G - QGIS, QField and Vector Tiles for rural water supply management in Rwanda
2021-10-01, 10:00–10:30, Ushuaia

Water and Sanitation Corporation (WASAC) developed GIS system for rural water management by using FOSS4G software together with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) since 2018. WASAC conducted the data collection by using QGIS and QField, then offline data sharing became available for all over the country of Rwanda until the JICA project ended in December 2019. Our achievements of the project was presented in FOSS4G 2019 Bucharest (see video).

Although JICA project ended, WASAC still continue developing more advanced vector tiles’ based Web GIS system with former JICA expert - Jin IGARASHI. Our new online site is available here. Now all of our stakeholders can browse water supply data in Rwanda. We established this new web service for free of charge by using Github pages because of budget limitation. We also make our vector tiles data available as open data at Github and openAFRICA. This new vector tiles project was also developed under the technical support of The United Nations Vector Tile Toolkits.We would like to share how we are using this application to manage water and how we want to develop in the future.

In addition of the above abstract, technically, our implementation is using the below FOSS4G software.
- QGIS: We are using QGIS to manage GIS database
- PostGIS: We store all of data in the database
- QField: We are using it for data collection and updating.
- Mapbox vector tiles: Using it for online web GIS service
- United nations vector tiles toolkit: Using it for base map.
- openAFRICA (CKAN): WASAC published our vector tiles data (mbtiles format) as open data in this platform.
- EPANET: we are using it for hydraulic modeling.

This talk is related to another talk - "FOSS4G software developments for Water Utilities Management in Eastern Africa by using Vector Tiles".

Authors and Affiliations –
  • Moise IRANKUNDA: Management Information System Specialist in WASAC , is in-charge of the management of GIS database and system.
  • Jin IGARASHI: Open source GIS software developer, also former JICA expert of the project. Developing WASAC's GIS system together with MIS specialist.
 Requirements for the Attendees – Track –

Use cases & applications

 Topic –

FOSS4G implementations in strategic application domains: land management, crisis/disaster response, smart cities, population mapping, climate change, ocean and marine monitoring, etc.

 Level –

2 - Basic. General basic knowledge is required.

 Language of the Presentation –

English
See also: screenshot of vector tiles website
Jin IGARASHI

Senior software developer specializing in GIS field with more than 10 years of work experience in Japan and Eastern Africa. Main interest is how GIS can collaborate with water supply management efficiently. I am also main contributor to translate some QGIS documents, QField and Input to Japanese language.

This speaker also appears in:
IRANKUNDA Moise

I am MIS Specialist in Water and Sanitation Corporation Ltd( WASAC)
Bachelor's degree in Surveying and Geomatics Engineering
Master's degree in Environmental Economics and Natural Resources Management