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Statistics Agency launches mobile application

Statistics Agency launches mobile application

The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) this week launched a mobile application that connects the user to the agencies data portal for easy access to survey findings.

The application was launched in Windhoek and NSA Spokesperson, Nelson Ashipala said that the mobile application can be used offline, without access to the internet, as it downloads and updates information from the NSA when connected to the internet by the user.

The application was developed in partnership with the African Development Bank and Knoema, an organisation that provides non-proprietary use of public and open data for users with interests in statistics and data analysis, visual storytelling and the making of infographics.

The application can be downloaded from various online stores depending on the type of mobile device used.

The launch of the mobile app coincided with the presentation of the :Labour Force Survey Report of 2016 and the main presentation of the findings by Liina Kafidi and Linda Idhogela both from the NSA.

Ashipala said that the application makes for the easy access of the collected data from the latest data collection missions as it was often found while collecting data from the very same households that the insight in the reports reached households at a much later date after the initial fact finding missions of data collection.

The application allows a user to choose which facet of national statistics to view and compare with other regions in the country. Depending on the chosen statistical indicators, the application allows the user to view the data points on the corresponding axes of a visualization such as a line graph which is not static but touch enabled to view the actual figures and percentages of an axis point.

Other indicators and variable comparisons, Ashipala said will be added on, he estimates that the application will reach an adoption rate of 10, 000 downloads in the next 6 months. At the most, as the NSA keeps adding additional the indicators and with more input, Ashipala said that the application could reach a double that figure.

Although there are a myriad of indicators and data points to choose from the favourite function similar to that found on a online browser allows a user to save a particular graph, page on the application much like a bookmark such as the Namibian Labour Force Survey report that the information gleaned off these survey are only made available to the very same households that were interviewed at a much later date.

About The Author

Freeman Ya Ngulu

Freeman Ngulu is an investigtor, an author and a keen entrepreneur. His speciality is data journalism for which he loves to dig deep into topics often ignored by mainstream reporting. He tweets @hobameteorite.