Geospatial Data of Gorée Island UNESCO Heritage Site

A Geographic Information System (GIS) dataset of Île de Gorée, a historic island settlement in Dakar, Senegal. The Zamani Project at the University of Cape Town created this metrically accurate digital representation of the site, which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The 798.6 MB dataset is provided in a ZIP file format under a CC-BY-NC-4.0 license.

Use Cases

• Spatial analysis of colonial-era architecture and urban organization based on the described stone houses and fortifications.
• Creating digital records for conservation and restoration planning of the built environment mentioned in the description.
• Educational visualization of the island's historical role in the transatlantic slave trade and commercial activity.
• Researching cultural interaction and forced migration patterns along the West African coast using the spatial data.

Strengths

• Dataset size is 798.6 MB, indicating a medium-scale geospatial resource.
• Created by the Zamani Project, a non-profit research group at the University of Cape Town, suggesting a scholarly origin.
• Focuses on a UNESCO World Heritage Site, providing material evidence of a historically significant location.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for certain analyses.
• The description includes a disclaimer that it should not be regarded as a primary source.

Provenance

Source

Zamani Project, University of Cape Town

Collection Method

Digital spatial documentation for creating metrically accurate representations of cultural heritage sites.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-30 10:45:02; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Île de Gorée, Dakar, Senegal