DEVELOPMENT OF A DIGITAL WEB-BASED EXCAVATED SOIL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM CASE STUDY LILONGWE CITY
Abstract
The rapid urbanization of Lilongwe City has led to an increase of construction and excavation activities in Lilongwe city, generating high volumes of excess soil that are often mismanaged, which lead to environmental degradation and inefficient resource use. To address the lack of an integrated system for soil resource management, this study was aimed to design and develop a web-based Digital excavated soil management System that will enables efficient reporting, requesting, and maintain excavated soil. The research followed an agile system development methodology, which utilized PHP and MariaDB for backend and database management, and Leaflet.js for interactive geospatial visualization. The resulting system features some distinct modules for citizens to report excess soil and request soil while for city administrators to manage reports and requests. Key functionalities include a polygon-based volume calculator for accurate soil estimation, role-based access control, and a comprehensive audit trail. The system was successfully tested, including user acceptance testing with both citizen and administrative users, who validated its usability and potential for increasing accountability. The study has demonstrated that a web-GIS platform can effectively bridge the gap between soil supply and demand, promote a circular economy for soil resources, and enhance transparency in urban management for Lilongwe City Council.
Research summary
The rapid urbanization of Lilongwe City has led to an increase of construction and excavation activities in Lilongwe city, generating high volumes of excess soil that are often mismanaged, which lead to environmental degradation and inefficient resource use. To address the lack of an integrated system for soil resource management, this study was aimed to design and develop a web-based Digital excavated soil management System that will enables efficient reporting, requesting, and maintain excavated soil. The resulting system features some distinct modules for citizens to report excess soil and request soil while for city administrators to manage reports and requests. The study has demonstrated that a web-GIS platform can effectively bridge the gap between soil supply and demand, promote a circular economy for soil resources, and enhance transparency in urban management for Lilongwe City Council.