PAIA Manual

1. Introduction

1.1. Section 32 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 gives everyone the right of access to any information held by another person that is required for the exercise or protection of any rights. The Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 ("PAIA") gives effect to that right.

1.2. Section 51 of PAIA requires every private body to compile a manual that explains what Records it holds and how a person may request access to them. This is the PAIA manual of 1 Map Spatial Solutions (Pty) Ltd ("1map").

1.3. The manual also sets out the information that section 51(1)(c) of PAIA, as amended by the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 ("POPIA"), requires about how 1map processes Personal Information. A person who wants to see the Personal Information 1map holds about them may use the procedure in section 8 of this manual, as sections 23 and 25 of POPIA provide.

1.4. This manual does not give anyone a right of access to a Record that PAIA does not give. 1map may refuse access on any ground PAIA allows (section 8.9).

2. Definitions

2.1. In this manual:

2.1.1. "Head" means the head of 1map as a private body under section 1 of PAIA, being its chief executive officer or equivalent officer, or a person duly authorised by that officer;

2.1.2. "Information Officer" means the Head, who is the Information Officer of 1map by virtue of section 1 of POPIA, and includes any Deputy Information Officer designated under section 56 of POPIA;

2.1.3. "Personal Information", "Processing", "Data Subject", "Operator" and "Responsible Party" have the meanings given in section 1 of POPIA;

2.1.4. "Platform" means the information, data, products, services and functions that 1map makes available through the website at www.1map.co.za and any of its subdomains (including app.1map.co.za), 1map's mobile applications, its application programming interface (API) and any other channel through which 1map makes these available, as defined in 1map's Terms and Conditions of Use;

2.1.5. "Record" means any recorded information, regardless of form or medium, in the possession or under the control of 1map, whether or not 1map created it;

2.1.6. "Regulator" means the Information Regulator (South Africa) established under section 39 of POPIA; and

2.1.7. "Requester" means any person, including a public body or an official of a public body, making a request for access to a Record of 1map, or a person acting on their behalf.

3. Company Details and Contact Information

3.1. 1map provides the following details in terms of section 51(1)(a) of PAIA.

3.2. All requests and correspondence under PAIA or POPIA must be addressed to the Information Officer at the contact details above.

3.3. The Information Officer is registered with the Regulator as of 8 September 2026.

4. The Regulator's Guide on How to Use PAIA

4.1. Section 10 of PAIA requires the Regulator to compile and make available a guide, in each official language, containing the information a person needs to exercise any right under PAIA and POPIA.

4.2. The guide explains, among other things, the purpose of PAIA and POPIA; how to make a request to a public or private body; the assistance available from Information Officers and from the Regulator; the remedies available when a request is refused; and the fees payable.

4.3. The guide is available on the Regulator's website at www.inforegulator.org.za. It may also be inspected at the Regulator's office, whose contact details are:

4.4. A copy of the guide may also be inspected at 1map's offices during normal business hours, on request to the Information Officer.

5. Records Available without a Request

5.1. 1map has not published a notice under section 52(2) of PAIA. The following Records are, however, freely available without a formal request:

5.1.1. information published at https://www.1map.co.za, including product information and contact details;

5.1.2. 1map's published legal documents: the Terms and Conditions of Use, the POPIA Policy, the Cookie Policy and this manual; and

5.1.3. 1map's company registration details, which are also available from the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission.

6. Records Held in Terms of Other Legislation

6.1. 1map keeps Records as required by the following legislation, where and to the extent it applies to 1map. Records kept under legislation are not automatically available to a Requester; access is decided under PAIA.

7. Subjects and Categories of Records Held

7.1. 1map holds Records on the following subjects and in the following categories. Listing a category does not mean that a Record in it will be made available; each request is decided under PAIA.

8. How to Request Access to a Record

Making a request

8.1. A request must be made on Form 2 prescribed by the Regulations Relating to the Promotion of Access to Information, 2021 (Request for Access to Record), available on the Regulator's website. It must be sent to the Information Officer by email, by post or by hand at the addresses in section 3.

8.2. The Requester must provide enough detail on the form to allow the Information Officer to identify the Record and the Requester, and must:

8.2.1. identify the right the Requester seeks to exercise or protect, and explain why the Record is required for that purpose, as section 53(2)(d) of PAIA requires;

8.2.2. state the form in which access is required (for example, a copy or an inspection);

8.2.3. state an email address, postal address or other means by which the Requester wishes to be informed of the decision; and

8.2.4. if the request is made on behalf of another person, submit proof of the capacity in which the request is made.

8.3. A Requester who needs help to complete the form, including because of a disability or difficulty with reading or writing, may ask the Information Officer, who will assist.

8.4. A person who asks for their own Personal Information must provide proof of identity.

Fees

8.5. A Requester, other than a person asking for their own Personal Information, must pay the request fee before the request is processed. The Information Officer will also notify the Requester of any access fee and whether a deposit is payable. The fees are set out in section 9.

Timelines and decision

8.6. The Information Officer will decide the request and notify the Requester within thirty days of receiving it. This period may be extended once, by no more than thirty days, on a ground permitted by section 57 of PAIA, for example where the request is for a large number of Records or requires a search of Records held elsewhere. The Information Officer will tell the Requester of any extension and the reasons for it.

8.7. If the Information Officer does not respond within the period allowed, the request is regarded as refused (section 58 of PAIA).

8.8. Where a Record contains information about a third party, 1map will take reasonable steps to notify that third party within twenty-one days of receiving the request, and the third party may make representations, as sections 71 to 73 of PAIA provide.

Grounds for refusal

8.9. 1map may, and in some cases must, refuse access on the grounds set out in Chapter 4 of Part 3 of PAIA, including:

8.9.1. protection of the privacy of a third party who is a natural person (section 63);

8.9.2. protection of the commercial information of a third party (section 64);

8.9.3. protection of confidential information of a third party, where disclosure would breach a duty of confidence owed under an agreement (section 65);

8.9.4. protection of the safety of individuals and of property (section 66);

8.9.5. protection of Records that would be privileged from production in legal proceedings (section 67);

8.9.6. protection of 1map's own commercial information, including trade secrets, financial, commercial, scientific or technical information, and information whose disclosure would likely cause harm to 1map's commercial or financial interests (section 68); and

8.9.7. protection of research information of 1map or a third party (section 69).

8.10. Despite these grounds, access must be given where section 70 of PAIA requires it in the public interest.

8.11. Where 1map may refuse only part of a Record, it will disclose the rest (section 59 of PAIA). A refusal will state adequate reasons and the provisions relied on.

Remedies

8.12. PAIA does not provide an internal appeal against a decision of a private body. A Requester or third party who is dissatisfied with a decision may, within 180 days of being notified of it:

8.12.1. lodge a complaint with the Regulator under section 77A of PAIA; or

8.12.2. apply to a court under section 78 of PAIA.

9. Fees

9.1. The fees payable to a private body are prescribed in the Regulations Relating to the Promotion of Access to Information, 2021 and published by the Regulator. At the date of this manual they are:

9.2. Where the search and preparation of a Record is expected to take more than six hours, the Requester may be required to pay a deposit of one third of the access fee before the search begins. If 1map refuses access, it will refund the deposit.

9.3. The fees are subject to change by regulation, and the current schedule on the Regulator's website applies.

10. Processing of Personal Information

10.1. This section sets out the information required by section 51(1)(c) of PAIA. The POPIA Policy published on 1map's website gives full detail.

Purpose of Processing

10.2. 1map processes Personal Information to provide its web application (including Survey Reader), the 1map FieldApp, the widget, the API and MCP server, and related services; to manage customer and user accounts, subscriptions and billing; to secure its systems and data; to understand how its services are used and to improve them; to respond to enquiries and provide support; to send marketing where the law allows it; to employ and manage staff and contractors; to manage suppliers; and to comply with its legal obligations.

Categories of Data Subjects and Personal Information

10.3. 1map does not ask its users for special personal information as POPIA defines it. Employee Records may include information required by law, for example for employment equity reporting.

Recipients of Personal Information

10.4. 1map may share Personal Information with:

10.4.1. Operators that process it on 1map's behalf under written agreements, including its financial accounting system provider and the categories listed in section 9 of the POPIA Policy: its payment processor; its hosting, content delivery and security, email, customer-support and AI model providers; its mobile app platform and mapping providers and, on some devices, the device maker’s mobile services; an SMS provider where a customer connects its own; third-party sign-in providers when a user chooses them; and the fibre-network operators queried during a coverage lookup;

10.4.2. administrators of the customer account a user belongs to, in respect of that account;

10.4.3. 1map's professional advisers, auditors and insurers; and

10.4.4. public bodies, courts and regulators, where the law requires it.

Planned transborder flows

10.5. Several of 1map's Operators store or process Personal Information outside South Africa, in the United States, Europe and the United Kingdom, as section 10 of the POPIA Policy sets out. 1map’s own servers and database are in South Africa. 1map transfers Personal Information across borders only as section 72 of POPIA permits.

Security measures

10.6. 1map secures Personal Information with appropriate, reasonable technical and organisational measures, as section 19 of POPIA requires. These include encryption of all connections in transit; hashed passwords; two-factor authentication; rate-limited sign-in; role-based access control with deny-by-default and server-enforced separation between customer accounts; audit trails on records; restricted staff access to production systems; written security rules aligned to the controls of ISO/IEC 27001; and written agreements that bind Operators to equivalent protection. Section 11 of the POPIA Policy describes these measures in more detail.

11. Availability and Updating of This Manual

11.1. This manual is available:

11.1.1. on 1map's website at https://www.1map.co.za/paia;

11.1.2. for inspection at 1map's offices at the physical address in section 3, during normal business hours, free of charge; and

11.1.3. to the Regulator, on request.

11.2. Anyone may ask the Information Officer for a copy of this manual. The section 9 fee for printed copies applies to a printed copy.

11.3. 1map will review this manual at least once a year, and whenever its Records or Processing change materially.

11.4. The Information Officer of 1map approved this manual on 11 November 2026.