Abstract

Rapid urbanization in Sub-Saharan Africa has widened the gap between household waste generation and municipal collection capacity, yet no prior study has validated a fully integrated workflow linking relational database management with geographic information system-based network optimization for waste pre-collection in a data-poor African urban context. This study develops, implements, and empirically validates such a framework in Zone F of Yaoundé, Cameroon, by coupling a Microsoft Access database with an ArcGIS geodatabase for real-time bidirectional synchronization of household-level spatial and attribute data. Multi-source data, including sub-meter QuickBird imagery, GPS field surveys with positional accuracy of approximately 3-5m, structured household questionnaires, and institutional archives, were subjected to positional verification, topological validation, and attribute completeness audits. Network analysis was then applied to optimize both manual wheelbarrow-based and motorized collection routes, with outputs compared against GPS-tracked agent paths.

Results demonstrate substantial route optimization gains consistent with the 20-30% efficiency benchmarks reported in the literature. Customer profiling of 97 households revealed structural inequities in service access, with non-subscribers concentrated among tenants and residents of hard-to-reach neighbourhoods. A daily collection deficit of approximately 741kg, representing 19.1% of zone-wide generation, was quantified, while network-based bin distances averaged 223.6m. The study contributes a novel database-geographic information system architecture for data-constrained cities, quantifies environmental co-benefits including reduced carbon emissions, and embeds socioeconomic equity analysis within the optimization system. The modular, platform-agnostic design supports phased city-wide scaling and integration with Internet of Things tools, cloud databases, and predictive analytics. The framework offers a transferable blueprint for municipalities across the Global South.

Keywords:Geographic information system; Spatial database integration; Network analysis; Route optimization; Waste pre-collection; Service equity; Urban resilience; Yaoundé; Cameroon