blog

SKM/geology team use of GIS

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:02:00 +1200

Event Date: 25 August 2009

This case study has been taken from the Spatial Information in the New Zealand Economy - Realising Productivity Gains report, August 2009.

The SKM/geology team uses GIS systems to display previous boreholes, test pits, hand auger holes and cone penetration test (CPT) holes on a map of the area. The data are collected by:

Searching existing archives when undertaking desk studies for sites. GNS Science / Wairakei Research Centre have a similar database and can supply location maps with any relevant borehole logs; archives can supply geotechnical reports for recent developments.
Drilling or excavating holes for projects. Map coordinates and rough levels are taken using GPS.

Having access to the database makes searching for known exploratory holes easy - the site being studied can be visualized on the map and any surrounding hole logs identified. The time saving is estimated at 20 per cent:

If the database wasn't there we would probably have to go through a spreadsheet and identify any nearby logs by the address only, with the possibility of not identifying all info available. There are currently around 370 logs on the database in the Wellington area. The database also has potential cost savings for SKM clients. If there are previous holes in close proximity to a site, less holes could be required. (SKM case study material)

Land Use and Carbon Analysis System – LUCAS

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:01:00 +1200

Event Date: 25 August 2009

This case study has been taken from the Spatial Information in the New Zealand Economy - Realising Productivity Gains report, August 2009.

LUCAS is being implemented to meet New Zealand's reporting requirements under the Kyoto Protocol. The data and information required to determine New Zealand's carbon stock changes will be stored in the LUCAS database. LUCAS is a cross-government programme led by the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF).

The LUCAS team now consists of 20 staff. The project relies heavily on spatial data and modern spatial information technology, which it began to use "seriously" around five years ago.

For the large and long-term LUCAS project the use of modern spatial information is absolutely critical. The project could not be completed without access to the technology (including the data). (Peter Stephens, Designer, LUCAS)

The satellite imagery for LUCAS is purchased under an all-of-government purchase agreement so that other government departments and local government can use these data. Apart from enabling New Zealand compliance with Kyoto, these and other data can be used for:

verifying land that can be planted under the Permanent Forest Sinks Initiative and the Forest Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS)
national land cover mapping
forest condition and biodiversity
- This programme will undertake New Zealand's first national forest inventory since the 1940s. Additional data are collected at the same time as field party members collect forest and soil carbon data. This can in turn be used for:
  - biodiversity assessments of indigenous forest and shrublands
  - sampling frameworks for regional and local vegetation monitoring

LUCAS is an important example of spatial information enabling and being used in new applications rather than creating productivity improvements for existing processes. LUCAS will enable accounting and reporting of afforestation, reforestation and deforestation under Article 3.3 of the Kyoto Protocol during the first commitment period (CP1) from 2008-2012. Whilst the project has required a significant investment cost in terms of data acquisition and staff numbers required to implement the project, at the very minimum it should achieve avoidance of penalties that could be issued in the future in case of non-compliance with Kyoto requirements.

To better understand the size of the task which would have had to be undertaken in the absence of modern spatial information technology, it should be noted that LUCAS will calculate the amount of carbon stored in forests and soils and how these carbon stocks change with land use. This involves reporting for five terrestrial carbon 'pools':

Above-ground biomass
Below-ground biomass
Dead wood
Litter
Soil organic matter

It is obvious that if this had to have been achieved by 'traditional' means (paper maps, etc.) it would have been a monumental, if not impossible, task. The respondent for this case study stated that the benefit-cost ratio for LUCAS has been estimated at 25:1; whilst the methodology for arriving at this figure is unknown it may well turn out to be an underestimate. Systems such as LUCAS will be critical in enabling and enforcing the shift to a low (or lower) carbon economy. This has ramifications for the entire economy.

The Animal Health Board (AHB) – containing bovine TB

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:54:00 +1200

Event Date: 25 August 2009

This case study has been taken from the Spatial Information in the New Zealand Economy - Realising Productivity Gains report, August 2009.

Bovine TB is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium bovis. In New Zealand, contact with wild animals (known as TB vectors) is the major source of TB infection in dairy cattle. The most common TB vector is the Australian brush tail possum. A high prevalence of bovine TB in dairy cattle could result in negative consumer perceptions and market reactions and significant production losses for New Zealand farmers[1]. Potential export trade bans on the dairy, beef and deer industries as a result of bovine TB have been estimated at a cost of $1.3 billion over 5 years[2]. In 1998, the Animal Health Board (AHB) was appointed under the National Pest Management Strategy to protect New Zealand dairy, beef and deer exports and reduce the cost of bovine TB to farmers. Their current objective is to achieve the international standard for TB freedom where 99.8% of domestic cattle and deer herds are free of bovine TB for three years[3].

Disease and vector control of bovine TB has moved from a paper based system in the 1990s to a system that widely adopts modern spatial information and technology. While disease and vector control planning has always been spatially based, systems are now underpinned by digitised geospatial information. This includes the VectorNet and Disease Management Information Systems used by the AHB.

Prior to the formation of AHB, bovine TB control was undertaken by pest destruction boards which were amalgamated into regional councils. Possum control by government is also currently managed on public conservation land by the Department of Conservation[4] (DOC).

Spending on control of bovine TB in 2007 was $81.92 million; $44.86 million from the private sector and $36.92 million from local and central government. This private sector spending includes at least $16.97 million paid by dairy farmers as levies (Animal Health Board, 2008).

Vector control: spatially based methodology and tools

Vector control involves creating buffer zones of low-density TB vector populations between TB-infected vectors and cattle herds. In order to create buffers, surveying the extent of TB-infected wildlife populations and their habitat close to and near buffers zones has been used to determine the level of pest control needed.

In the 1990s, vector control planning was a paper based exercise involving manually tracing over aerial photographs to highlight possible possum habitats in bush/pasture margins. Sites for control were typically traced on to paper and the areas and perimeters were calculated using a mapping wheel. The distribution and abundance of possums in these areas would be monitored by observing the rate at which possums were caught in trap lines that were randomly placed[5] in these control areas.

As well as aerial photos, the addition of satellite images of land cover are now being used as a base for identifying and representing (digitising) possum habitat as a GIS layer. Data from monitoring in the Marlborough high country since 2005 has been used to predict high possum densities, where numbers are likely to host TB. This GIS layer has been overlaid with digital environmental data (including altitude,[6] vegetation class, slope and aspect) to create a model to predict possum densities. This includes predictions in areas that have not been directly surveyed. This type of digital mapping is outlined in Figure 13 below.

This process of mapping possum habitat allows a lower-cost partial control approach where only area of high possum habitat and abundance are selectively targeted. In addition, the ability of the model to predict possum density reduces costs associated with possum monitoring.

Figure 13: Digital mapping for possum control

The impact of the use of GIS based habitat mapping in the Marlborough high country has been to reduce the area requiring possum control by up to 40 per cent, reducing the costs of vector control from $15 per hectare of total area to about $7-8 per hectare.[7] The application of this mapping technology is still in the early adoption stage but is now being widely applied by AHB as discussed later in this report.

A barrier identified relating to the wider use of habitat mapping involves the inaccuracies of some of the digital environmental data used to create GIS layers. Some of these inaccuracies relate to a lack of real time information. For example, vegetation and forest data uploaded into the Land Cover Database Version 2 (LCDB2) may not show recent changes to vegetation types resulting from land use changes, or may result in the incorrect interpretation of vegetation type when images show vegetation in shadow at certain times of the day.

Methods of Vector Control

Improvements in TB vector control methods have resulted in reduced costs through greater precision in targeting and application. These methods, including the aerial application of bait, and the selection and laying of ground-based trap lines and bait, have increasingly made use of modern spatial information and technology.

In addition to the use of GIS information to determine the most favoured locations for vector control, the use of GPS has allowed greater precision in the site specific application of bait or trap lines.

Hand-held GPS units have been utilised by possum control contractors since the mid 1990s as a means to more quickly and accurately locate, set and check trap lines or bait locations. Prior to this, contractors would be given an initial starting point on the edge of the bush (e.g. track entrance, fence post or some other identifiable position), a direction and a distance to the trap line which had to be located through the use of paper maps and compass bearings.

Hand held GPS is now widely adopted across the industry for possum vector control and monitoring. This has allowed contractors to reduce the time taken to locate trap lines, and reduce the time taken to record location information of traps or baits laid [8] or catch results. This has resulted in an estimated 11 per cent time savings per monitoring contract [9], as well as providing benefits in reducing data entry errors and increasing transparency in the accuracy of reported catch and monitoring results.

GPS guided aerial poison drops by DOC and AHB since the 1990s have also allowed the application of baits at increasingly lower rates. Aerial drops can be sown in narrow strips or clusters of favoured possum habitat rather than being spread more widely at lower densities. Differential GPS systems on aircraft have also increased the precision of application by generating flight paths with calibrated swath widths. Flight data recorded by differential GPS has been used as a check against flight plans to ensure efficient and effective drops. This precision shortens the amount of time an aircraft is in the air, and saves on fuel consumption.

From an average rate of application of 1080 poison of 6.3kg per hectare in 1995[10], application rates had decreased to around 2kg per hectare by 1998 by refining the use of GPS[11]. Application rates have been reduced by a further 60 per cent through the use of the latest digital mapping databases as part of the recent monitoring in the Marlborough high country since 2005. This most recent drop in application rates will equal further cost savings when applied across AHB coordinated operations.

VectorNet

The advances in vector control methods and habitat mapping outlined above are being integrated into the AHB's bovine TB control operations. This is most recently occurring through the use of the VectorNet information system that was completed in early 2008. VectorNet uses a map-based interface to access, query, and report on all aspects of AHB's vector control processes. VectorNet contains a number of geodatabases that staff use for contract management, strategic planning, and reporting purposes.

With regards to vector control, VectorNet has a central spatial database that is updated with GIS environmental data (including altitude, vegetation class, slope and aspect). Similar to the mapping research outlined earlier in this report, these data are used to calculate areas of possum habitat, to automatically determine the number of traps required in an area to meet the population monitoring requirements, and where they are to be placed in the field. This process is outlined in the figures below.

Figure 14: Generate Trap line - VectorNet

Vector control and monitoring contractors have the capability to use GPS-enabled handheld devices to locate trap lines or bait stations generated by VectorNet, update the database with vector control or monitoring results from the field, then upload information through a Web browser to VectorNet. Data are then validated and added to the reporting geodatabase.

VectorNet has refined the process so that contractor effort is being targeted to habitats and locations where possums are likely to exist. Cost savings are also realised due to ability to predict possum habitat and abundance, which reduces the need to monitor possum abundance and TB incidence in the field to the same extent as before. Preselecting trap lines and numbers will further reduce time taken to locate trap lines and specific trap locations, as these locations are downloaded from VectorNet to handheld devices used in the field. Savings will be achieved in terms of reduced labour time to locate, lay and retrieve traps.

There is an estimated $550,000 annual efficiency gain on the overall vector programme budget from better information provided by VectorNet. AHB has recognised that not all these savings are due to the spatial information or technology per se, but from the coordinative efficiencies provided by VectorNet.

In addition, there is an estimated $1,800,000 annual management cost savings related to the new spatially based VectorNet programme. The number of vector control and monitoring contract arrangements have been reduced from 11 to 6 (reducing the number of contractors from 107 to 45), and staff levels have been increased from 45 to 92 within existing budget levels.

The expected NPV [net present value] for VectorNet is $1.9 million with a payback of 3.3 years.

These savings are balanced against estimated annual costs relating to spatial information and technology including $70,000 on licences for spatial data, and the necessity to use up to 9 full time equivalent (FTE) employees at a cost of approximately $630,000 per year to maintain data accuracy.

AHB estimate that additional costs of approximately $5 million would be incurred annually in the absence of the spatially enabled VectorNet system[12]. This cost would include the inability to halt vector control as quickly as currently occurs due to data reporting mechanisms on the proof of control being less effective.

Disease control - the Disease Management Information System (DMIS)

Bovine TB disease control has traditionally been spatially based, involving controls on the movement of cattle from areas containing infected herds, documentation of herd's bovine TB status, and documentation of the history of cattle being moved from any herd or property[13].

A number of bovine TB testing zones have been defined to control the movement of cattle and the spread of disease. These zones are the:

Movement Control Area (MCA): Areas where more than 1 per cent of herds are infected. Pre movement tests[14] are required plus annual testing of all cattle stock over 3 months. Requires boundaries of the zones to be gazetted and reviewed annually to ensure that at least 1 per cent of herds in each area are infected.
Special Testing Area (STA): No pre movement tests are required but variable age and frequency testing is dependent on geography and TB risk.
Surveillance (S): Areas that are TB "free". Triennial testing required over 24 months.

These testing zones historically tended to be hand drawn on physical maps and had text descriptions of physical boundaries. However, with advances in the use of modern spatial information and technology, the process of defining and reviewing boundaries of testing areas and testing the animals within them has been refined.

The Disease Management Information System (DMIS) was created by AHB in 2005, which uses GIS to record the geographic location of herds on each farm as well as each herd's type, test history, TB testing zone, and TB test results by age, sex, and date. DMIS is used to notify farmers when their herd requires testing and records and calculates the number of infected herds in each zone. DMIS has also refined the process for defining and reviewing MCA zone boundaries using an Arc View based GIS package that utilises standard land cover, parcel, and topographical layers.

Boundary changes are used to make sure that MCA zones are kept as small as possible because of the movement restrictions that apply to them[15]. Arc View is used within DMIS as part of an annual process to review all boundaries by making an assessment based on the herd prevalence and disease incidence in each area, plus the likelihood of any herd becoming infected in the 12 months following a boundary shift. Figures 5 and 6 show how Arc View GIS has been used to present and recommend MCA boundary changes.

VectorNet is also increasingly being used by AHB to coordinate disease control including the administration, movement and control of animals between declared Movement Control Areas.

Cost avoidance

These spatially based GIS tools are being used to assess and define boundary changes to bovine TB testing zones that have varying levels of control within them. This process avoids the cost to the dairy industry of having the restrictions and costs that are applied to farms with infected cattle being applied herd or industry wide.

Costs and restrictions applied to farms with infected cattle include:

Inability to sell calves off farms
Inability to milk cows that are reactors
Inability to graze off herds over winter to other multi-herd grazing units
Compliance and reporting costs to AHB, including the requirement that two consecutive clear whole herd tests are received, with a minimum of six months between tests and no further evidence of disease. Tests cost $2.30 for a skin test per animal or $35 for a blood test per animal.
Loss of stock that need to be slaughtered, with 65 per cent of the market value of animals being compensated to farmers. This compensation is paid for by industry levies. There is a population of 5,261,000 dairy cattle in New Zealand in 2007 with a market value ranging from $475 to $1,425 per animal [16].

Rather than an industry-wide shut down, more precise zoning of the disease incidences (e.g. into MCA, STA and surveillance zones) has allowed trade to continue and costs to be avoided compared to what would otherwise have been the case if there was an industry wide shutdown.

Furthermore, farms with non infected herds have avoided the costs and restrictions applied to farms with infected cattle through the definition of the bovine TB testing zones and the management of animals within them.

Figure 15: Movement control areas managed in GIS

References

[1] http://TBfree.ahb.org.nz/Default.aspx?tabid=118.

[2] http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/research/programme.asp?Proj_Collab_ID=7.

[3] This figure has been set by the Office Internationale Epizooties (World Organisation for Animal Health).

[4] DOC controls possums on 1 million ha of public conservation lands where its priorities are highest, while the AHB has controlled possums on 4.5 million ha, of which c. 13 per cent has been estimated as being on public conservation lands.

[5] determined by using grid overlays or random number generation.

[6] Possums are likely to live at lower altitudes.

[7] Landcare Research Manaaki Whenua Interview.

[8] Recording trap or bait sites and catch results on GPS units replaces the manual recording of 14 digits on a recording sheet to be transcribed on a summary sheet.

[9] Possum Control and Monitoring Contractor Interview.

[10] Warburton. B, Cullen. R 1995: Cost-effectiveness of Different Possum Control Methods SCIENCE FOR CONSERVATION: 4. Department of Conservation, Wellington.

[11] Gillren, D 1999: GIS and Possum Control on Mount Karioi. Presented at SIRC 99 – The 11th Annual Colloquium of the Spatial Research Centre University of Otago, Dunedin.

[12] Animal Health Board Interview.

[13] National Bovine Tuberculosis Pest Management Strategy National Operational Plan: 1 July 2005 – 30 June 2013.

[14] TB tests required up to 60 days prior to movement of cattle off farms.

[15] For example, because the MCA is defined by having greater than one per cent infected herd prevalence, as the overall number of infected farms in the MCA decreases (and the overall percentage decreases), a non-infected farm near the boundary may cease to be in the MCA where a boundary shift inward will still allow the overall rate of infected herds to remain at over one per cent.

[16] PGG Wrightsons Ltd: Maximum Valuation Limits for Dairy TB Reactors. Dairy valuations from 1st May 2009. Approved PGG Wrightsons Ltd.

NIWA – seabed and habitat mapping

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:52:00 +1200

Event Date: 25 August 2009

This case study has been taken from the Spatial Information in the New Zealand Economy - Realising Productivity Gains report, August 2009.

Advances in GPS technology have enabled the mapping of habitat, seabed, catch information, and fish stocks. These advances have helped transform spatial data into meaningful information that can be used to catch fish as well as manage stocks over time.

Computer programs that connect into a vessel's GPS, sounder and seafloor discrimination devices are, for example, being used to create databases of the seabed's topography in the area that a boat fishes. By creating 3D maps of the seafloor instantly, fishers are pinpointing hills on the sea floor on which to set and tow trawls. Programmes are also being used to mark the location and movement of long-lines, nets and pots in 3D in order to avoid foul ground where fishing gear becomes caught on the seafloor. This technology is outlined in Figure 12.

Recent progress with spatial technology has also enabled the mapping of marine species and their habitats at a smaller spatial scale. The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA's) 'Marine Recreation' research programme in the inner Hauraki Gulf sought to better understand the inter-relationships between the recreational snapper fishery, snapper populations, and the underlying seafloor habitats, including the invertebrate animals living there. Habitat mapping used as part of this research programme involved a number of key steps:

A geographic information system (GIS) used data to produce broad scale habitat maps of seafloor features such as plateaus, holes, ridges, slopes, and channels.
An underwater video (DUV) towed along transects was used to create finer scale seafloor habitat types to determine what the different physical features from the remote mapping actually were.
Estimates of snapper catch, and snapper abundance observed along the DUV was then related back to the different habitat types in which different abundances of snapper were observed. An assessment was also made of how the type of prey items snapper were targeting related back to the different kinds of seafloor habitats.

These various datasets can be used to create new maps that enable the rapid assessment of habitat features, and then predict the relative values of those places for fish and fishers, and likely threats to those values.[1]

Figure 12: Seabed topography

References

[1] Mark Morrison, Ude Shankar, Darren Parsons, Glen Carbines, and Bruce Hartill Snapper's-eye view of the inner Hauraki Gulf Water & Atmosphere 16(2) 2008

MFish – Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS)

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:50:00 +1200

Event Date: 25 August 2009

This case study has been taken from the Spatial Information in the New Zealand Economy - Realising Productivity Gains report, August 2009.

GPS is used by MFish as part of the Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) to monitor fishing activities in the New Zealand fishing zone. VMS was introduced in NZ in 1994 and New Zealand currently operates a VMS involving up to 200 fishing vessels.

VMS systems use electronic transmitters called Automatic Location Communicators (ALC) that are placed on fishing vessels to transmit information via satellite about the vessel's position to authorities. This information is useful in near real time for ascertaining whether a vessel is fishing in closure zones where fishing is either temporarily or permanently prohibited. The transmitted information can also be monitored to assist with verifying catch effort activity reported by commercial operators. A number of ALC devices have been vetted by MFish as compliant with Ministry of Fisheries Type Approval Standards, in part due to their resistance to tampering.[1]

VMS is seen by MFish to be a cost effective means to monitor the activity of fishing vessels and assists with targeting compliance efforts in commercial fisheries for greatest effectiveness.[2]

References

[1] http://www.high-seas.org/docs/hstf_vms_final1.pdf

[2] Review of Sustainability Measures and other management controls for 2007/08 (1 October) fishing year Volume 1: Final Advice Papers and Summary of Recommendations 24 May 2007

National Aquatic Biodiversity Information System (NABIS)

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:49:00 +1200

Event Date: 25 August 2005

This case study has been taken from the Spatial Information in the New Zealand Economy - Realising Productivity Gains report, August 2009.

In 2001, the Ministry of Fisheries (MFish) developed a geospatial data reporting management tool, NABIS (National Aquatic Biodiversity Information System) which allows users to create a base map of an area of interest, with GIS layers depicting information including biological distributions for finfish and invertebrates, fishery management areas, and commercial catch information. Commercial fishers can also use the system to plot the locations of their fishing tracks on the water by importing recorded latitude and longitude information. Three full time equivalent staff focus on managing and developing NABIS within MFish.

In May 2008, 2,000 NABIS users were surveyed to inform the development of the second generation NABIS system. The survey found that the system is used by a mixture of students, scientists, analysts and researchers. Forty survey respondents assessed that NABIS improves their productivity by an average of 9 per cent, equivalent in total to an estimated 3.6 full time positions. Across the 2000 NABIS survey respondents this would be equivalent to 180 FTE. The total number of NABIS users is unknown but it is highly likely that the value of these gains already outweighs the estimated cost of developing the second generation NABIS system of around $1,500,000.

A map generated to show commercial catch of orange roughy by bottom trawl in October 2007 in quota management area 15 is outlined in Figure 11.

Figure 11: NABIS - example of orange roughy catch in quota management area15

Glass Earth Gold – NZ gold exploration company

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:47:00 +1200

Event Date: 25 August 2009

This case study has been taken from the Spatial Information in the New Zealand Economy - Realising Productivity Gains report, August 2009.

Glass Earth Gold is an example of an innovative, science driven company in this sector in New Zealand. In a recent exploration update, the company claims to be closer to gold production with encouraging results from placer gold evaluation:

Glass Earth's placer mine evaluation studies are significantly advanced following encouraging results from 122 shallow RC drill holes in the Central Otago region in tandem with active exploration campaigns of drilling, ground-based resistivity surveys, mapping, and analysis in the Hauraki (funded and operated by Newmont); Mamaku-Muirs; and Otago Regions ... Resistivity surveying on the Muirs/Massey Reefs followed encouraging drilling results in 2008, assisting in delineating a potentially new high level vein system adjacent to the known reefs. Infill resistivity will precede further drilling in 2009 as funding becomes available. (GlassEarthGold News Release 19 March 2009)

This would indicate that modern spatial information technology will ultimately play a role in additional production of gold; however, as the news release indicates, this is still some time away.

Transpower

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:45:00 +1200

Event Date: 25 August 2009

This case study has been taken from the Spatial Information in the New Zealand Economy - Realising Productivity Gains report, August 2009.

In its role as System Operator, Transpower manages the real-time operation of New Zealand's electricity system. The System Operator also manages the wholesale electricity market. Transpower does not own the electricity but provides a co-ordination service to the electricity industry whereby it schedules the production of electricity from all power stations, monitors the entire network and ensures the security of the New Zealand electricity system.

Transpower's spatial information is not integrated at the moment but Transpower are in final stages of a business case for enterprise-wide GIS similar in approach to Watercare. Current application of spatial information and technology is focused on project specific applications such as LiDAR for asset design and vegetation mapping and cadastral data for stakeholder management.

A Transpower subsidiary currently provides GIS services (develops maps, etc.), but again on a task specific basis rather than in an integrated fashion. It was also noted that much of the data sits with contractors - they do the maintenance and identify forward programme, as there is not necessarily an immediate need to hold the data with Transpower.

Transpower stated that accurate LiDAR data are invaluable for the design of assets.

Watercare

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:43:00 +1200

Event Date: 25 August 2009

This case study has been taken from the Spatial Information in the New Zealand Economy - Realising Productivity Gains report, August 2009.

Watercare Services Limited is New Zealand's largest company in the water and wastewater industry. The company supplies bulk water to the Auckland region, an area of approximately 340 square kilometres through a regional water network. The water is supplied to six water retailers which in turn supply the water to customers in the Auckland region. The company supplies an average of 347,000 cubic metres of water daily. The water is drawn from 12 sources comprising 10 dams, the Waikato River and an aquifer at Onehunga.

The company uses GIS, which functions as an integrator of asset information including non-spatial data. All users have access to a spatial 'portal' to Watercare information on their desktop. Asset maintenance crews have GIS on handheld computers which is synchronised with network periodically. Job-sheets as well as location information is available in the field and there is an ability to log jobs. Information held includes photos of assets (e.g. valves within manholes/sumps). Remote GIS (on handheld) is available but the trend is to create custom applications based on ArcPAD or similar.

There are two broad types of benefits from GIS seen by Watercare - in the office and in the field. In the office the benefit is that it avoids having to access data on assets via several systems (e.g. avoided training, time for searching). In the field, crews save significant time in searching for assets and it also avoids having to survey all assets. Surveyors are now only used where there are potential legal issues such as right of way for a utilities corridor. Watercare maintains a team of 6 GIS Staff.

Spatial information and technology in the forestry industry

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:39:00 +1200

Event Date: 25 August 2005

This case study has been taken from the Spatial Information in the New Zealand Economy - Realising Productivity Gains report, August 2009.

Spatial information and technology is an essential and integral part of the New Zealand Forestry industry which could be considered to be one of the earliest adopters. At its most basic, Global Positioning Systems (GPS) have enabled precise location of boundaries between forests, where no other identifying features exists.

The technology has also enabled the location of stands, topographic features, people, trucks and machinery within those forests allowing for better communications and more efficient management. Some of the wide ranging applications are summarised below.

Figure 25: Modern GPS designed for use "under canopy"

From a central government perspective, MAF is able to identify the land area under commercial forest to chart the growth of the industry and develop wood availability forecasts.[1] In addition, clear boundaries enable legal containment of operations as well as protection of native species and improvements in biodiversity control.

Within this role, and from about 2000, MAF protects native forests and produces special licences for harvesting. An individual Rimu tree (Dacrydium cupressinum) can be worth upwards of $30,000 so it can be important to accurately map their location within a well defined boundary.[2]

Apart from the core location and cross-boundary control function, modern spatial technology and information has enabled further benefits that were previously difficult to achieve. These include the identification and mapping of key features including topography, waterways, wetlands and hazards. Areas of environmental or heritage significance are also plotted ensuring reduced environmental impact and compliance with resource and protection requirements. These requirements vary from region to region and therefore accurate logs of activity are essential to maintain records and reduce operational costs.

Knowledge of key features is essential for effective planting and harvesting plans including accurate estimations of contracted works, managing water courses and run off and also assisting with the development of efficient access routes and networks (in some larger forests these could require up to 15,000 truck trips per month).

Adding to this core location function, spatial technology and information provides a means of directly enhancing productivity by identifying and mapping factors which affect growth including water courses, soil type and climate. Add to this other variables such as rate of weed growth, species invasion and areas of high wind and fire risk and foresters are able to collect sufficient data to not only protect their forests but also accurately apply fertilizer and pesticide through targeted aerial spraying[3]. (Previously foresters relied on the knowledge of local pilots). With this information it is possible to more accurately estimate growth rates for different stands, assisting with forecasts of future yields and their value.

A fundamental forest activity is the inventory stock-take. This occurs at varying levels depending on the land area, the distance between forests and the maturity of the trees. In a 30 year cycle it is expected that an intensive stock-take is carried out about 5-6 times with the most intensive of these just before harvesting. Interim monitoring can vary with some foresters undertaking a weekly fly over of their stock. Without spatial technology enabling clear delineation of boundaries previous stocktaking required high levels of resources and was considered to be comparatively rudimentary[4].

References

[1] http://www.maf.govt.nz/statistics/forestry/other-forestry-releases/ownership-map/.

[2] Interview MAF Crown Forestry.

[3] Interview Scion.

[4] Interview Future Forest Research.

Rock lobster stock monitoring – the ERNIE system

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:36:00 +1200

Event Date: 25 August 2009

This case study has been taken from the Spatial Information in the New Zealand Economy - Realising Productivity Gains report, August 2009.

Fisheries stock monitoring for rock lobster has traditionally involved the use of trained technicians in two-person teams on board fishing vessels. These technicians manually record information about rock lobster length, sex, maturity, and injury, as well as weather and sea conditions, water depth, and method of capture. This information is reported to the annual rock lobster stock assessment process which informs fisheries management decisions around the TACC. The real cost per observer technician to the industry is estimated at being $600-$1,200 per observer day (Gibbs and Middleton, 2008).

The NZ Rock Lobster Industry Council has developed ERNIE (Electronic Recording of Nature, Investigation of Environment), a purpose built, waterproof, handheld computer, using software technology which enables direct downloads of monitoring results to the existing industry research database. The computer records the information outlined above using digital callipers as well as recording the GPS location of catch, and is illustrated in the figure below.

The ERNIE system enables more data to be collected in the time available on board fishing vessels, and allows the direct download of electronic data into the research data base to provide a more cost effective and timely analysis for inclusion in stock assessments (Sykes, 2002). Since being developed in 2000, observer catch sampling undertaken in one of the rock lobster fishery management areas provides a case study of the cost savings that have been realised. Costs from undertaking 28 sampling days with one technician using ERNIE were 28 per cent lower than undertaking 28 sampling days with two technicians manually recording data (one measures, one records on paper) - the total GST exclusive cost fell from $57,800 to $41,406.

Figure 23: ERNIE in action

Fonterra dairy products

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:32:00 +1200

Event Date: 25 August 2005

This case study has been taken from the Spatial Information in the New Zealand Economy - Realising Productivity Gains report, August 2009.

Fonterra is the world's leading exporter of dairy products and responsible for more than a third of international dairy trade. In New Zealand it is co-operatively owned by 11,000 New Zealand dairy farmers. The company's annual turnover is $19.5 billion with a sales volume of 2.6 million tonnes and 15,900 employees. The company benefits from modern spatial information systems in several ways:

On the logistics side in the transport division Fonterra uses an in-house scheduling/tracking system utilising GPS (this is run out of Hamilton) that uses a road network created in MapInfo known as Genesis
Fonterra's Strategy Team also uses MapInfo and Google Maps to inform their supply and transport strategies - the Strategy Group use data owned by the Transport/Logistics group (read-only format).

Spatial information is also important for the strategy team in communicating to area managers and the Fonterra Board. Ward and boundary information is important for Shareholders Council elections and their administration. The legislation for Fonterra also covers exclusion of farms and Fonterra uses MapInfo to ensure that the legislation is being complied with (the Clean Streams Accord, etc.). The strategic analysis requires spatial tools - a task that takes 2 minutes using spatial tools would take 2 weeks without electronic data and the ability to interact with that data in a spatial format.

Benefits in terms of accelerating individual tasks in strategy and planning are clearly important but their financial impact on the company is difficult to assess. It is however also noteworthy that Fonterra staff reportedly enjoy using MapInfo which could in turn enhance productivity or assist with staff retention in the longer term.

In terms of more readily measurable productivity benefits from spatial technologies, the transport/logistics benefits were highlighted. Fonterra collects from up to 10,500 farms each day, transporting milk to 26 production facilities - clearly a monumental task and one in which spatial information is already known to have the ability to make significant productivity impacts (as discussed in Section 2.10, which deals more specifically with various transport benefits). This was confirmed in discussion with Fonterra, as outlined below.

When Fonterra first formed in 2001 they used an early spatial capability - a point to point system with a road overlay for scheduling known as the Computer Aided Milk Scheduling (CASH) system. This was not centralised and data was transferred through radio or small devices that were used by the drivers' team leaders for manual input.

The modern spatially enabled system used by Fonterra for the last two years involves live scheduling, dispatching and tracking of vehicles/loads. The run sheet is delivered electronically to an in-cab system. Units in trucks log location every 7.5 minutes (the limit set by communications technology, not spatial technology), and identify when trucks are at farm. Tags identify the farm and a flow metre logs the pickup quantity. A significant investment was required to get this up and running - for example, change in vat piping, purchase of in-cab units, software, and so on. Five staff at Fonterra were involved in the development of Genesis, and the success of the project also relied on significant user input.

The system is dynamic in the sense that vehicles can be rerouted almost instantly, taking into account a range of factors to identify the optimal route. Given the ability to track driver location in real time it allows, for example, directions to be given to drivers during night-time pick up when visibility may be low. The system also takes account of various constraints such as the ability to turn out of driveways (using Google Earth to identify tanker turn restrictions), bridge weight limits, and scheduled pick-up time.

For Fonterra, all of this has led to an ability to reduce or redeploy schedule and dispatch staff,[1] as well as enabling a reduction in vehicles on the road. These changes have influenced the productivity shock modelling for the current report - efficiencies of 20 to 50 per cent were achieved in specific areas. Spread across the company as a whole, the productivity gains from spatially enabled transport logistics at Fonterra could be in the region of 0.25 per cent labour productivity, with additional savings from multi-factor productivity.

Figure 21: Location of all Fonterra trucks at a point in time

Development of the spatial platform for this application also means there is now spatial data for Fonterra suppliers in spatial format/context, and it is used by other parts of the business (strategy, property, production planning) - whilst these parts of the organisation were not instrumental in creating the system/capability they are now increasingly starting to consider how they can build on the platform for their own purposes, e.g., forecasting milk production based on climate and grass growth. This is a typical example of a case where initial innovation is now providing demonstration effects that will see incremental adoption and growth of acceptance of spatial information through the organisation.

A number of other aspects of the Fonterra experience are relevant for this report. Fonterra reported to be engaged in ongoing development and that consultants from the 'core' spatial industry were providing excellent service, including developing solutions for dealing with low quality cadastral data. Whilst there was significant customisation of the product, the basic equipment (in cab GPS/dispatching, GIS integration) is off the shelf.

Figure 22: Location of vahicles and single vehicle detail

Forward looking issues

Fonterra is examining the possibility of using better altitude data. At present the approach is to start at the top of the hill and work down to avoid hauling milk up hill. Fonterra has elevation data for each supplier but currently has to assume straight line elevation change between suppliers. A high quality digital elevation model would also be useful for understanding logistics implications of bringing on new suppliers or identifying areas that could be developed.

An issue with merging public (cadastral) and Fonterra (highly accurate) data was noted but the company has generally managed to find work-arounds.

Barriers have been technical - the business case was easy to establish (perhaps since there have been several iterations of computer based tracking prior to GPS enabled Genesis). Finally, it was noted that better mobile data transmission rates would be helpful.

References

[1] Numbers provided but confidential. These savings have occurred in part as a result of centralising scheduling/dispatch operations. It is not possible to do this without spatial data and GIS technology to integrate data effectively.

Ravensdown – fertiliser application

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:28:00 +1200

Event Date: 25 August 2005

This case study has been taken from the Spatial Information in the New Zealand Economy - Realising Productivity Gains report, August 2009.

Ravensdown is a large cooperative of New Zealand farmers, formed in 1978 by a group of farmers who wanted to gain better control of their fertiliser supplies (Ravensdown, 2008). Ravensdown reported a turnover of $672 million in 2008, with nearly 1.5 million tonnes of fertiliser sold in that year. The company began using GIS to record and present soil testing data, but involvement in modern spatial information technology grew out of the desire to be more involved in the fertiliser ground spreading market, which is a fertiliser placement service provided to farmers (accurate spreading of fertiliser by truck). Usually this operates as a joint venture with the drivers involved.

Ravensdown estimate that they have around 60 trucks servicing this market out of a total of around 300 nationwide. It was estimated that 75 per cent of all the trucks nationwide would be using GPS. Other New Zealand players in this space are TracMap and Precision Tracking. TracMap was established for this particular application/software and has 12 permanent staff.

The company sees its strengths in its adherence to Spreadmark (the quality assurance scheme for the placement of fertiliser on farm land in New Zealand) and its quality equipment which enables it to cover larger areas (wider spread). It was mentioned that the "other half" of the New Zealand fertiliser market does not offer the types of services and functionality that Ravensdown offers.

GPS enabled Ravensdown to carry out more effective spreading using a proprietary system on its trucks (largely ‘out of the box' software on trucks) - this controls the spinners and enables data capture and uses a highly accurate differential signal. Data transfer occurs via the mobile network.

The area in which Ravensdown had to invest more significantly in terms of spatial technology was the ‘back end' processing of the information from the trucks. This was automated using arc software which creates centre lines and polygons, as well as a pdf file for customers that is available via an external map viewer using aerial imagery from TerraLink (see Figure 17).

The system was originally developed by Eagle Technology, but more recently GBS redesigned the system using ".net" and other open source web based applications.

Figure 17: Fertiliser application map customer view

The efficiency gain from using modern spatial information technology in the delivery of fertiliser application services was estimated at 30 per cent - in terms of time and fuel saved and the wider spread, which is only achievable with any degree of confidence with real time GPS track/guidance. Less fertiliser is used due to the reduction or complete elimination of overlap. There is also an ability to drive at night during peak season which is of value to farmers.

Ravensdown continues to invest in its GIS resources, with two staff on hardware in vehicles, and 20 per cent of one FTE in the head office; the company continues to contract out detailed design matters and reported that the capability of consultants is continually improving. Current data includes aerial (TerraLink), cadastral and fertiliser application history, but Ravensdown would like to see a national farms database (extension of Agribase).

As steps for the future, Ravensdown can see benefits from a digital elevation model as it could be used to plan application based on slope and aspect to water and sunshine (but would also require more detailed data on climate, rainfall and temperature). A key aim in fertiliser application is to avoid rivers so that runoff into sensitive waterways can be minimised. Ravensdown emphasised the value of data sharing.

Ravensdown would value having access to other information such as pasture growth recorded by farmers using Pasture Coach, farm production, planned fertiliser applications, irrigation, and so on. The data are already held by farmers, and Ravensdown could provide storage and integration via an external viewer. The Chief Information Officer of Ravensdown suggested that a national list of what data are available would be useful (and how to get the data).

More generally, the company reported that farmers struggled to understand the value of spatial data initially but are now increasingly demanding it. Corporate farmers in particular were seen as increasingly using it for tracking of fertiliser use and to compare nutrient budgets with actual outcomes, i.e., they are seen as working on getting down to the field level which essentially means trying to get to grips with variable rate approaches and technology.

Ravensdown mentioned that imagery is still seen as being expensive, however they are happy to work with government and commercial providers at reasonable cost. For Ravensdown, key considerations are that it needs to be current and orthocorrected (i.e., correlate to differential GPS on trucks).

Fulton Hogan case study

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:18:00 +1200

Event Date: 25 August 2005

This case study has been taken from the Spatial Information in the New Zealand Economy - Realising Productivity Gains report, August 2009.

Fulton Hogan (FH) is a large trans-Tasman infrastructure construction, road works and aggregate supplier. In 2007 the company reported an annual operating profit of $92.93 million, from revenue of $1.61 billion and employed over 4,800 people. Fulton Hogan is beginning to see value in GIS/spatial information but is probably still at an initial stage along the GIS learning curve - in particular with regard to the enterprise-wide benefits that can potentially be reaped from the technology.

At present, advanced spatial technology is only used on specific FH projects or in specific applications. Some FH vehicles are GPS enabled and much data are in fact captured (but not necessarily utilised). GPS units are currently being used by some FH crews who report a 50 per cent productivity increase but there are only a small number of crews using them.

Other applications of GIS at FH include:

Feilding Open Space Mgt - GPS to assist in reporting
Waikanae sweeper, sweeper activity plotted on Google Earth map for client
Navman technology on around 100 vehicles but not well used
Crews use aerial photos for location of assets
Mobile devices, estimate 70 per cent uptake in roading asset mgt area (Works, Transfield. Auckland Motorway alliance is leading uptake)
FH consultants use LiDAR - no physical surveyor required
use free imagery/info
GPS enabled equipment enables shifting machinery around worksite when problems are encountered with no need for re-survey worksite when returning to half completed work.
Improved scheduling and routing of crews and ensuring that the right people are directed to the right jobs.
- Fulton Hogan are working towards using existing data of vehicle/crew location to optimise scheduling of jobs (right crew for each job, who is in the vicinity when 'emergency' jobs arise) and track performance. The estimate is that this will save 30 per cent on traditional methods of scheduling and managing maintenance activities (based on experience in the UK). This is largely about using existing data in new ways rather than collecting new data. Existing data includes information about the location of crews (GPS enabled vehicles), information about the location of assets (GPS, imagery) and data with a spatial component such as quarry records (when vehicles are weighed out there is a data point for vehicles at a location - the weighbridge - at a point in time).

Figure 16: Roads contractor using handheld RAMM device

FH use GPS enabled equipment for all major projects but not as yet in maintenance. This avoids pegging out sites and is used for generating as-built drawings. This completely changes the management of the site as staff are able to assess progress using GPS data rather tracking against pegged out worksite. GPS use on a typical job would save four engineers due to pegless construction. FH is a fast follower in this space and estimates its uptake to be 100 per cent.

Barriers to GIS uptake and future plans for Fulton Hogan

Data can be expensive and understanding the cost/benefits for particular jobs remains important. Ideally the company would avoid maintaining systems for clients and instead link into clients' data - but this presents challenges regarding formats/standards. The large number of clients means that data linkage is challenging due to the lack of consistency in software and various formats.

As mentioned earlier, FH has not as yet moved into regular use of GIS and spatial technology for maintenance work; it was mentioned that the degree of accuracy required becomes very important in the maintenance field. Variations in GPS accuracy make periodic work over time more challenging. Discrete projects continue to be more amenable to GIS integration.

The cost of GIS will also continue to be relevant. Contractors are cost focussed and want to know the benefits of paying for the technology. FH have outlined the following strategy to incorporate GIS more fully:

working with leaders in the use of GIS/GPS within the company
workshops on strategy led by FH region that need GIS/GPS capability for a contract.

In conclusion, FH is using modern spatial information technology with some tangible benefits but its uptake is not as yet widespread through the company. Given that FH collects a vast amount of location based data (in excel, SQL, Oracle programs) which is currently used in a limited way there appears to be clear potential for using a GIS as a portal to access these data. The future of GIS at FH will depend on education, demonstrating cost/time savings and the adoption of standardised data formats and accuracy controls.

New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA)

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:49:00 +1200

Event Date: 25 August 2009

This case study has been taken from the Spatial Information in the New Zealand Economy - Realising Productivity Gains report, August 2009.

New Zealand's roads are managed by the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA), a Crown entity established on 1 August 2008 which brings together the functions of Land Transport New Zealand and Transit New Zealand to provide an integrated approach to transport planning, funding and delivery. Efficient road assessment and maintenance management (RAMM)[1] is important to achieving NZTA's objectives, and spatially enabled RAMM software is the asset and planning tool for state highways.[2]

To put the importance of NZTA in context, it should be noted that the transport system plays a central role in the performance of the economy. Road transport is particularly important to regional New Zealand and the export industries which drive these local economies. Seventy per cent of all freight in New Zealand goes by road, and about 84 per cent of people go to work by car, truck, or motorbike. Reflecting this importance and the size of the challenge of maintaining an efficient and effective transport system, NZTA is responsible for Crown revenue of $2.8 billion and allocation of $2.0 billion, with an operating budget of around $240 million per year (NZTA, 2009).

Figure 8: NZTA Spatial Viewer and some of its layers over Wellington area

Between 2004 and 2006, Transit NZ (one of NZTA's predecessors) put in place a strategy to articulate and implement a vision for the use of geospatial information. As a result of this a Spatial Viewer (SV) application was developed to integrate all available data. This is now fully operational and utilises more than 200 GIS layers and other associated non-spatial data - staff can query the data and access other data sources.

The Spatial Viewer has improved data representation and created significant potential to undertake more advanced spatial analysis in future. Access to data has improved, including to staff in the field, and the technology can assist senior managers in their decision making. Implementation of the project has increased staff awareness about available data and it is likely that new initiatives will emerge from this advance in the use and availability of spatial data within NZTA.

High Speed Pavement Condition surveys

High Speed Pavement Condition surveys and SCRIM (skid resistance) surveys are undertaken annually on the entire State Highway network using the SCRIM+ survey vehicle operated by WDM Ltd.

Data collected as part of the survey includes:

Skid resistance (SCRIM) in both wheelpaths
Texture (mean profile depth) measured in both wheelpaths and mid lane
Roughness
Rutting
Geometry (gradient, crossfall and curvature)
GPS road centreline coordinates
Network Video

Results of this survey provide NZTA with road condition information and NZTA also utilises the outputs for highway performance monitoring, treatment site selection, trend analysis and deterioration modelling. The road network centreline coordinates captured by the GPS also provides key network spatial data that is used in the NZTA Spatial Viewer.

Linking GIS Video Viewer to Spatial View Stage 3 (2009)

Video data are collected during road condition surveys and stored in a dedicated database. Video data are useful to a wide group of users including those involved in highway maintenance, transport planners' capital project teams, consultants and contractors. They are also useful for answering public enquiries and help improve customer service. The video viewer saves both staff time and resources by allowing an initial assessment at the desktop in the office, with a site visit only if required.

The new functionality of the SV was proposed because the existing video network was difficult to navigate. Users of the SV requested the additional functionality and benefits of the system are seen in the spatial context (visual), the video image context map view and in the form of improved navigation. Furthermore, likely long term benefits were seen not only in terms of direct usage of the viewer, but also in terms of follow-on benefits such as a safer working environment, and the reduction in the carbon footprint which would come from more efficient roading.

Figure 9: NZTA intergrated GIS with video viewer

The video link has been used by approximately 218 internal and 150 external users (total of 368) and this is expected to increase to 500 within the first year of implementation. The internal productivity improvement value was estimated around $436,280/year for the internal users (1,700 productive hours) and $353,588/year for the external users (1,170 productive hours). Based on these estimated conservative figures the total productivity improvement within a year for 500 users for 11 month/year would be $984,097. With 500 users, each user would need to save 20 minutes per week to result in a saving of over $1 million, which "seems reasonable".[3] This type of productivity benefit alone would be equivalent to 0.4 per cent of NZTA's annual operating budget.

Asset design and planning

Most "asset design", i.e. construction design, is still based on field surveys[4] however LiDAR, road scanning information and GPS are also used in some projects. Where it is used, it can be of high value in avoiding the need to survey locations as part of the asset design process. Digital elevation models developed using LiDAR data can also enable additional assessment work for environmental approvals (water, air quality, noise modelling). Integration of data enables location of data in the fraction of the time using existing (or recently existing) methods even though the data are often held electronically. As mentioned before, NZTA is not as yet reaping these benefits on a routine basis, but rather on a selective project-by-project basis.

Figure 10: LIDAR in the context of road planning and design

Summary of benefit to NZTA

The above discussion indicates that NZTA and its predecessors have benefitted from adopting and integrating various modern spatial information technologies (and data), and this will flow through to the New Zealand road system and ultimately benefit road users.

An important benefit is the availability of road condition survey data matched to location data which means NZTA staff can make some initial assessments from their desktop with attendant savings, compared with the previous situation under which there would have been more intensive use of surveyors to develop projects.

For the improvement on the spatial viewer alone in 2009, the extent of the saving was estimated at up to 0.4 per cent of NZTA turnover. GIS systems may have had a larger initial impact in percentage terms when they were first introduced. Combined with other benefits reaped at least since around 2004, NZTA is highly likely to be seeing significant net productivity benefits to the organisation, however defined.

NZTA contractors benefit from road construction efficiencies as well (further discussed in Section 2.5), and insofar as some of these benefits are passed on to NZTA in terms of better or more "road per dollar" this will allow NZTA to improve and extend its services, and once again ultimately benefit the road user and tax payer.

InfoConnect - user benefits

The InfoConnect initiative was launched by Transit New Zealand which is now part of NZTA. InfoConnect's aim is to ensure that road users have access to timely and accurate road condition information. InfoConnect can be used by interested parties (e.g., software developers) to access verified Highway Info data, which includes state highway road and traffic information, webcam coverage in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, planned road works, unplanned road closures and delays, maps, and holiday traffic information.

There is no charge for access to the InfoConnect APIs (application programming interfaces), as one of the aims of InfoConnect is to allow for innovative uses of the data that would not necessarily be possible if access was limited.

Some examples of projects that are already delivering benefits to the public include:

HowsTheTraffic.co.nz - Parkside Media used the Auckland Traffic API to provide a visual dashboard of traffic in the Auckland area for the readers of their Car and SUV website
AA Roadwatch - the AA have integrated TREIS traffic alerts into a dedicated visual map of traffic events around the country
MultiCam - Stanton Software used InfoConnect to develop iPhone Apps for web cams in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. These are currently for sale in Apple's iTunes App Store
NZ Traffic - independent software developers GivUsADeal used the Traffic Web Cams API to build an iPhone App that will let users view all traffic webcams on their iPhone
Auckland Traffic - Gravitini have developed an iPhone App that lets users see the congestion status of Auckland's motorways, and then touch one of the web cam icons to get an image of the location

As emphasised in this report, benefits from using spatial technology go beyond 'pure' productivity benefits - in NZTA's case, wider benefits will include improved road conditions (comfort) and travel time savings (public users who benefit from InfoConnect projects) as well as potentially extending to the saving of lives where a better transport system reduces accidents and fatalities.

References

[1] Manu King noted that RAMM should not be represented as an enterprise-wide system for NZTA.

[2] This is also the proprietary term for the core product by CJN Technologies who have been leaders in NZ road asset management software for 25 years.

[3] Manu King, pers. comm.

[4] ibid.

Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) – Landonline

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:20:00 +1200

Event Date: 25 August 2009

This case study has been taken from the Spatial Information in the New Zealand Economy - Realising Productivity Gains report, August 2009.

One of New Zealand‘s world leading efforts in the area of government use of spatial information, which was repeatedly referred to by various experts and in the general literature, was the creation of Landonline – New Zealand‘s automated survey and titles system. Landonline was developed by Land Information New Zealand (LINZ).

LINZ itself was established in 1996 and Walsh (2006) states that government took the decision to develop Landonline in 1997. An early case study indicated that it was expected that implementation would take six years, but the process was in fact completed in around five years. It is probably safe to assume that benefits from the use of Landonline have been flowing from around 2002. One hundred per cent e-lodgement was achieved in 2009.

Landonline forced LINZ to shift from being a traditional paper based organisation to a digital, location independent organisation. Landonline also meant that for the first time LINZ had a backup of its archive of records (30 million records covering 130 years of activity), thus enabling recovery in the event of a disaster.

The early business case assumed that investing in Landonline would generate internal savings of $13 million per annum and savings to external users of $26 million, which it was thought would be predominantly achieved through efficiencies as well as through lower fees (Jackson, 2000). The current manager of the team which processes survey and title transactions at LINZ, and who interacts closely with customers, estimated that the move to Landonline reduced the number of people required from five hundred in twelve offices to one hundred and fifty in two offices.

The implied productivity impact of the move to Landonline has consequently been very significant – at a minimum, the estimates imply that the New Zealand public service would otherwise have had to employ three hundred and fifty employees to conduct these specific tasks. The productivity gain can be approximated using an estimate of earnings. Using a conservative figure of $100,000 per staff member (incl. on-costs) the productivity gain to the public sector from Landonline would be around $35 million per year – around 2.5 times as high as suggested under the original business case. Landonline would likely have seen payback within four years of operation (given that the total cost of implementing the system has been estimated at around $120 million).

In addition there would have been significant savings from reduced office space, reduced need to supervise or manage staff, and so on. The old paper system needed an additional one linear km of storage each year, so six years of Landonline will have resulted in a significant savings on storage as well.

Phrased in terms of the terminology used in this report, a $35 million productivity benefit from Landonline in 2008 is equivalent to a total productivity shock to Central Government of around 0.11 per cent, based on appropriations for total output expenses of around $30.6 billion reported in the 2008 budget. If local government expenditures are also included then the implied productivity shock is slightly lower at 0.09 per cent.

References

WALSH, S. D. (2006) Integration activities of New Zealand (LINZ). 17th United Nations Regional Cartographic Conference for Asia and the Pacific. Bangkok.

JACKSON, T. (2000) Landonline Case Study, LINZ

Mapping Broadband - an Investment Superhighway

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +1300

The State Service Commission's National Broadband Map is being used by central government, local government and the business community as a resource for broadband planning and investment. Users can zoom in and out around the country and check out whether a suburb or town has got access to broadband - and what type of connection is available.

This transparency of broadband demand is necessary to provide a basis for the assessment of commercially sound and sustainable high-speed broadband infrastructure investment. By using the map to identify areas where better broadband network infrastructure would be beneficial, particular regions or sectors can pool their demand to create stronger business cases for such a service. This is called demand aggregation and can result in greater benefits than if users enter into individual contracts.

Demand aggregation provides potential investors with greater certainty when assessing an opportunity and thereby also encourages competition. The ability to visualise regional demand for services like broadband and then present this as an investment opportunity highlights an important economic use of geospatial information.

In November Telecom followed the likes of Telstra and Vector and added information about its fibre optic networks to the developing map - much to the interest of Telecom's rivals and curious punters in the street. Telecom's move signals a shift in attitude towards making data freely available via the web. Agencies are beginning to recognise the value of making publicly available government data accessible to everyone - allowing other's to use and add value to the data (see Lawrence Millar's (New Zealand Government's Chief Information Officer, State Services Commission) comments).

Users can either visualise the information through the standard Google Maps application provided - and/or can use the underlying information via their own applications. Making the underlying code available via an open source licence is particularly useful for dealing with large and complex data on top of the Google application.

Data can be extracted in several common formats for integration with other systems. This is important when comparing the map's data with the existing data of a group or organisation. The Kiwi Advanced Research and Education Network (KAREN) is one such organisation.

KAREN provides telecommunications links between New Zealand's research, education and innovation sectors. By easily integrating the map's data with its own information and systems, KAREN can identify education sites that are near to its existing and planned broadband network facilities.

The State Services Commission was a finalist in the New Zealand Open Source Awards and has been continually developing the interactive map of New Zealand's broadband infrastructure.

Any further questions, please contact the State Services Commission via help@broadbandmap.govt.nz.

Fighting Crime with GIS

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +1200

The key objectives of the New Zealand Police are Community Safety and Crime and Crash Reduction, through integrity and capability.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) help deliver the capability to locate and verify emergency events when making an initial response. It is also the basis for Police crime analysis, using location-based queries to map a crime, in an Intranet application. An Intranet-based map viewer is planned for the future to enable all operational police to easily access GIS data and use it in the field.

Go back to the list of all case studies.

Joining the Dots

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +1200

The Dunedin City Council makes use of geospatial information to support a wide range of functions including property, asset management and administration. Geospatial information provides a spatial view for information enquiries and data maintenance and is key for analytical decision-making (e.g. the effect of rating changes, roading network changes and monitoring the district plan).

Geospatial technology provides integration between otherwise poorly related material like property, asset, topographic, administrative and regulatory information. All staff have Intranet enquiry access to property-based geospatial information, which is important as 80 percent of public enquiries are property-based. The DCC has a public website to display rates-based information for properties in various map contexts, a key one being aerial photographs. The DCC is also developing access to geospatial data for staff in the field. Geospatial data is managed in a central repository.

Key geospatial datasets are:

cadastral - LINZ cadastral land parcels updated monthly
topographic/environmental - aerial photography sourced by contract
asset - council-maintained geospatial data relating to reticulated services, roading and reserves
administrative - Statistics New Zealand meshblock data used to define electoral boundaries and for statistical analysis
regulatory - council-maintained district plan information.

Go back to the list of all case studies.

Finding Fires

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +1200

The New Zealand Fire Service relies on many other organisations to supply geospatial information for use in fire operations and fire management. At incidents, the quality and availability of spatial information affect the performance and safety of operational staff. Spatial datasets are also managed internally. Large-scale national datasets of roads, addresses and place names are primarily used for locating an incident in order to dispatch resources. A lot of effort goes into ensuring the quality and accuracy of this data, for example:

cadastral and topographic datasets are used to establish Fire Authority jurisdiction
road data is used to establish optimal sites for fire stations
demographic data is used to establish relationships between people and incidents (then recorded spatially)
weather data is collected and modelled for presentation in map form over the Internet each day
a national Wildfire Threat Analysis methodology requires organisations to operate collectively to carry out this spatial analysis project within their region.

Within the Fire Service, geospatial information is provided to staff by an internal web-based mapping system and published cartographic products. Analysts carry out modelling, research and system development with some specialists maintaining data.

Go back to the list of all case studies.