The South African Census Map

Wasi (Xhosa for 'knowledge') is a great tool for exploring South African census and election data. Using the site you can explore a wealth of census and election data at different administrative levels.

At the heart of the tool is a Leaflet map which allows you to search the census data by location. Click on a location on the map and an overlay instantly shows you the area's population, Under the map a huge range of other information about the selected location is also displayed. This includes demographic and economic data and recent election results.

What I like about the map is the way it allows you to drill down from province level to municipalities and then to individual census tracts. The initial map view displays each of the provinces. Select a province on the map and the map automatically zooms to show the province and displays all the election and census data for the selected province. The province is highlighted on the map and the map now displays each of the province's municipalities.

Select a municipality on the map and the map zooms to that municipality, displays all the municipality's election and census data and now highlights all the census tracts in that municipality. If you don't want to drill down to individual ward areas in this way you can also search the map by name.