Coverage
Where the numbers come from
8 public sources, each with a written contract that records its owner, licence, attribution, native geography and refresh schedule. This page is generated from those contracts at build time.
Rainfall
Monthly rainfall on a ~5 km grid since 1981, summarised to any area.
| Source | Geography | Coverage | Licence | Commercial use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CHIRPS v3.0 Monthly Rainfall (South Africa clip)Climate Hazards Center, University of California Santa Barbara | Grid (raster) | 1981-01 to latest final month (2026-09 at verification). Default run fetches the latest 3 months; CHIRPS_START=1981-01 backfills full history | CC-BY-4.0 (CHC also waives copyright / public domain) | yes |
| Attribution: Climate Hazards Center Infrared Precipitation with Stations version 3 (CHIRPS3), https://doi.org/10.15780/G2JQ0P. Funk et al. (2026), Sci Data 13, 718, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-026-07096-4 id chirps_rainfall · terms verified 2026-11-05 | ||||
Boundaries
2026 wards, local and district municipalities, and police precincts.
| Source | Geography | Coverage | Licence | Commercial use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MDB District Municipalities 2026Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) | Municipality | 2026 local government elections boundary set (effective 2026-11-04) | MDB custom terms (no resale of raw data; value-added products allowed with acknowledgment) | unclear |
| Attribution: Source: Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB), producer and custodian of the MDB District Municipalities 2026 dataset id mdb_district_municipalities_2026 · terms verified 2026-11-05 | ||||
| MDB Local Municipalities 2026Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) | Municipality | 2026 local government elections boundary set (effective 2026-11-04) | MDB custom terms (no resale of raw data; value-added products allowed with acknowledgment) | unclear |
| Attribution: Source: Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB), producer and custodian of the MDB Local Municipalities 2026 dataset id mdb_local_municipalities_2026 · terms verified 2026-11-05 | ||||
| MDB Wards 2026Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) | Ward (2026) | 2026 local government elections boundary set (effective 2026-11-04) | MDB custom terms (no resale of raw data; value-added products allowed with acknowledgment) | unclear |
| Attribution: Source: Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB), producer and custodian of the MDB Wards 2026 dataset id mdb_wards_2026 · terms verified 2026-11-05 | ||||
| SAPS Police Station Boundaries and PointsSouth African Police Service (SAPS) | Police precinct | Current boundaries (form shows 'Date last updated: 2026-01-22') | SAPS disclaimer under the Spatial Data Infrastructure Act 54 of 2003 (state copyright) | unclear |
| Attribution: Police station boundaries: South African Police Service (www.saps.gov.za/services/boundary.php) id saps_police_precincts · terms verified 2026-11-05 | ||||
Land use
Mapped facilities such as schools, clinics and fuel stations, counted per area.
| Source | Geography | Coverage | Licence | Commercial use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenStreetMap South Africa (Geofabrik extract), facility pointsOpenStreetMap contributors; extract by Geofabrik GmbH | Point | Current OSM snapshot only (no history). Dated by the Geofabrik file, e.g. 2026-11-08. | ODbL-1.0 | yes |
| Attribution: © OpenStreetMap contributors. Data under the Open Database Licence (ODbL 1.0); extract processed by Geofabrik GmbH. id osm_geofabrik_za · terms verified 2026-11-10 | ||||
Crime
Recorded offences by police precinct, monthly and by financial year.
| Source | Geography | Coverage | Licence | Commercial use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SAPS Crime Statistics (station level, quarterly + annual)South African Police Service (SAPS) | Police precinct | Monthly Apr 2021-Jun 2026 (five quarterly releases); financial years 2015/16-2024/25 (latest annual release) | SAPS website copyright (no open licence) | unclear |
| Attribution: Source: South African Police Service, Crime Statistics (www.saps.gov.za/services/crimestats.php) id saps_crime_stats · terms verified 2026-11-05 | ||||
Population
Gridded population estimates rolled up to wards and municipalities.
| Source | Geography | Coverage | Licence | Commercial use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WorldPop Constrained Population 100 m, South Africa (R2025A)WorldPop, University of Southampton | Grid (raster) | Annual 2015-2030 (2025 by default = latest estimate; 2026-2030 are projections) | CC-BY-4.0 | yes |
| Attribution: WorldPop (www.worldpop.org), University of Southampton. Bondarenko M. et al. 2025. Constrained estimates of 2015-2030 total number of people per grid square, 100 m, R2025A v1. DOI:10.5258/SOTON/WP00839 id worldpop_population · terms verified 2026-11-05 | ||||
We serve derived, aggregated answers with attribution and never redistribute the raw datasets. Where a licence is unclear, this page and every answer say so. For a question about a source, email us from the contact page.