The first meeting of the sub-committee on Geo-information was held at Headquarters of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 29 June to 2 July 1999.

The informal settlements, townships, temporary camps and other human posts need at least basic services such as potable water, electricity and sanitation. Other services such as food supply, medical aid and shelters are usually arranged in case of disasters and large human migrations. A proper and efficient services need should be well estimated and simply implemented. All requirements can be achieved as results of evaluation with use of the geo information decision support system GDSS, suggesting services sorts and quantities.

In Ghana, over the years considerable amount of valuable environmental information (geospatial information included) have been collected in various forms and in different depths by government ministries, departments and agencies. A distributing feature of the availability of this information is the lack of general awareness of the existence of this valuable resource in repository agencies. Where they are known to exist, they are poorly stored or scattered in various places and mostly out of date.

The status of cadastral and land information systems in Africa is assessed, with specific reference to their capacity to assist decision-makers. Recommendations and guidelines are provided for the adaptation of existing systems and/or the development of new systems, so that they can be used for land reform, physical planning and integrated land administration. The guidelines take into account the need to create land information for decision-makers without creating unaffordable costs to the state, given that the average per capita income for Africa in 1995 was USD665.