WRO documentation

WRO Project Reports

WRO Phase 1 Final Report The final report for the first WRC-funded project to develop the Water Research Observatory, documenting the platform's design, data architecture, thematic content, and outcomes.

A follow-on WRC project to further enhance the WRO commenced in late 2024 and is currently underway. Updates on progress will be posted here as they become available.

User Guides & Platform Documentation

WRO User Guide A step-by-step guide to navigating and using the WRO platform, including how to search for datasets, upload data, and use the platform's analytical tools.

WRO Standard Operating Procedure for Data Formatting Guidance on file formats, naming conventions, and metadata requirements for data uploaded to the WRO — required reading before contributing datasets to the platform.

Data Policy & Governance

Draft National Policy on Data and Cloud South Africa's draft national policy framework for data and cloud computing — providing the broader governance context within which the WRO operates.

Spatial Data Infrastructure Act (Act 54 of 2003) The legislative framework for South Africa's national spatial data infrastructure, governing the sharing, access, and management of spatial datasets including those hosted on the WRO.

Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) (Act 4 of 2013) South Africa's primary data privacy legislation — relevant to the collection, storage, and processing of any personal information associated with WRO users or data contributors.

ISO/IEC 38505-1:2017 – Governance of Data The international standard for the governance of data within organisations, providing a framework for responsible and accountable data management aligned with ISO/IEC 38500.

Metadata Standards

Good metadata is essential for data to be discoverable, interpretable, and reusable. The WRO encourages compliance with the following metadata standards:

SANS 1878 / ISO 19115 – Geospatial Metadata Standard The South African and international standard for describing geospatial datasets — the primary metadata standard applicable to spatial water resource data uploaded to the WRO.

Dublin Core and Schema.org Generalised, widely adopted metadata standards suitable for describing a broad range of digital resources, including non-spatial datasets and documents.

Simple Darwin Core A simplified metadata standard particularly useful for describing biodiversity occurrence data — relevant for freshwater biodiversity datasets uploaded to the WRO.

Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) An international metadata standard designed for social science and survey data — relevant where WRO datasets include socioeconomic or human dimensions of water resource use.

ISO 19156:2011 – Geographic Information: Observations and Measurements An international standard for representing observations and measurements of environmental phenomena — directly applicable to water quality, streamflow, and monitoring datasets.

Geospatial Metadata – Overview (Wikipedia) A useful accessible introduction to geospatial metadata concepts for users new to spatial data standards.

Additional South African spatial data standards include SANS 1877 (Unique ID Standard), SANS 1876/ISO 19110 (South African Geographical Data Dictionary – SAGDaD), and SANS 1880 (SAGDaD Feature Content Catalogue).

Data Archiving & Publication

SAEON uLwazi Data Portal The South African Environmental Observation Network's data publication platform — a recommended repository for long-term environmental monitoring datasets with a South African focus.

The Dataverse Project An open-source research data repository platform used by institutions worldwide. The Harvard Dataverse Repository is one of the most widely used instances and accepts datasets from researchers globally.

SASDI Act Implementation A presentation on the implementation of the Spatial Data Infrastructure Act in South Africa, outlining the roles and responsibilities of government bodies in spatial data management.

How FAIR Are Your Data? A practical self-assessment tool for evaluating whether your datasets meet the FAIR principles — Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable — which underpin best practice in open scientific data management.