The African Transport Systems Database - a geospatial database of multi-modal connected networks.

Area of Science:

• Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
• Transportation Geography
• Infrastructure Studies

Background:

• Africa's transport infrastructure is fragmented, hindering comprehensive analysis and planning.
• Existing datasets lack integration across multiple transport modes and geolocated precision.
• Accurate, multi-modal transport data is crucial for economic development and resilience.

Purpose of the Study:

• To create the first comprehensive, geolocated, multi-modal transport database for Africa (AfTS-Db).
• To standardize and integrate data for road, rail, aviation, maritime, and inland waterways.
• To provide a foundational resource for transport planning, modeling, and related studies.

Main Methods:

• Compilation and standardization of asset and network data across all transport modes.
• Inclusion of inter-modal connections and attribute data for road and rail corridors.
• Estimation of annual statistics for key transport hubs like airports and ports.

Main Results:

• The African Transport Systems Database (AfTS-Db) includes 234 airports, 179 maritime ports, 132 inland ports, 4,412 railway stations (99,373 km rail), and 1,004,512 km of roads.
• Detailed data on airline routes, port connections, and rail network connectivity.
• Comprehensive road network data encompassing motorways, trunk, primary, secondary, and connecting local roads.

Conclusions:

• The AfTS-Db is a vital resource for enhancing transport planning, infrastructure management, and resilience assessments in Africa.
• The database facilitates the development of advanced transport models and applications.
• AfTS-Db data is expected to benefit environmental, health, social, and economic research.