March 2008 eNews
What’s Happening in the WALIS Community?
WALIS International Forum 2008 – give us your feedback!
The WALIS International Forum 2008
WA’s Award Winning Fire Watch Program Helps Indonesia
Landgate Taking the Risk Out of Interest Discovery
WALIS Stakeholders in the News
Western Australian Spatial Excellence Awards
Indji Watch Wins at WA Information Technology and Telecommunication Awards
Summit Studies Kimberley Marine Research
Australian Angle
Purnululu Mapping for Community Futures Project
New Approach to Measuring Carbon in Forests
News from Around the Globe
Intermap Technologies and ESRI Enhance GIS with Precision 3D Elevation Data
GIS for Maping Stormwater Drains
Upcoming Events
Details of events in Australia and around the world
Interesting Website of the Month
What’s Happening in the WALIS Community?
WALIS International Forum 2008 – give us your feedback!
The WALIS International Forum last week was a great success, with over 800 delegates from around the world attending over the three days. Thanks to all our sponsors, exhibitors and delegates for making it the biggest forum we have ever had.
We’d love to get your feedback! Please take a few moments to visit http://www.walis.wa.gov.au/forum/feedback/Feedback_2008/. If you send in your feedback by Friday 4 April you will go into the draw to win a Borders book voucher.
Proceedings from the Forum will be available on the Forum website (http://www.walis.wa.gov.au/forum) shortly.
The WALIS International Forum 2008
As well as being a success in terms of the number of registered delegates, the Forum also had the largest number of sponsors and exhibitors, enabling the trade exhibition to be held in the spacious Pavilion 1 of the Perth Convention Exhibition Centre.
The Forum opened on Wednesday 12 March with pre-forum workshops, where the WA Local Government GIS Focus Group attracted over 100 delegates to their afternoon workshops.
The Forum was officially opened by the Hon Michelle Roberts MLA, Minister for Land Information, on Thursday 13 March, followed by inspiring keynote addresses by Rob Atkinson from CSIRO Land and Water on the use of spatial data infrastructures to allocate Australia's water, and Professor Lyn Beazley, Chief Scientist of Western Australia, on women in sciences. Visit the WALIS website to read on!
Following on from the popular keynote by Futurist Craig Rispin at the recent WALIS Forum, the WALIS futures group would like your input.
In 2006, the Chair of the WALIS Advisory Committee (WAC) put together a discussion paper called “Thinking about the Future” and WAC held a special “Foresighting” workshop in early 2007. The workshop outcomes detailed a number of key drivers (social, economic, environmental) that the WALIS community would face and would be able to use as a focus for delivery of services at a strategic level. Over 2007 it was decided to create a special WALIS subgroup to progress the “Futures” concept and its formation culminated in this WALIS futures group.
Initially, the aim is to create the future of WALIS in 2015, but also builds upon the concept of the Iroquois Indians of doing everything today for the benefit of seven generations from now, and the WALIS futures group will be the mechanism to continue to drive our thinking forward.
See http://www.walis.wa.gov.au/WALIS_Futures for more.
WA’s Award Winning Fire Watch Program Helps Indonesia
A team of fire monitoring experts from Landgate (formerly the Department of Land Information) are helping the Indonesian Government reduce the smoke haze caused by the huge forest fires that have plagued Southeast Asia since the 1990s. Land Information Minister Michelle Roberts said Landgate's Satellite Remote Sensing Service (SRSS) had a 25-year history of customising satellite monitoring applications to meet the specific needs of government agencies across Australia. Landgate website
Landgate Taking the Risk Out of Interest Discovery
Discovering interests held over any parcel of land in Western Australia has become as easy as logging onto My Landgate to access Landgate’s newest online service, Interest Enquiry.
The first release of Interest Enquiry holds interest information on State Heritage, Emergency Services Levy, Mining Titles, Petroleum Tenure, Aboriginal Communities, Aboriginal Heritage and Control of Access on State Roads.
Additional interests will be included on an ongoing basis until all interests held by more than 20 Western Australian Government agencies and 140 local government authorities have been incorporated. To view a demonstration on Interest Enquiry, visit www.landgateinterestenquiry.com
My Landgate subscribers have automatic access to Interest Enquiry. Search and view results are free of charge with a minimum $5 fee payable for any report ordered. Reports are delivered within minutes by email.
To subscribe to My Landgate, call Landgate on 08 9273 7341 and include Interest Enquiry as an essential part of your risk management.
The Land Monitor Partner Map Service (http://landmonitor.landgate.wa.gov.au/) has been officially upgraded! Please feel free to circulate this email or the website link to your colleagues who could benefit from using this website. It should be noted that a limit of 1.5 MB of data can be downloaded at a time for all downloadable datasets. If anyone needs larger areas then they are encouraged to contact the Land Monitor Technical Officer or their Departments's GIS coordinator.
The Land Monitor Public Subscriber page is live today! For the first release of the website we have allowed unlimited zoom and added extents and date-boundaries to the website. In the future, limited download will most likely be available but we have to wait on a few things first.
The Land Monitor Public Access site still has the same restrictions with regard to download and zoom. This site serves to give the users an insight into what Land Monitor offers so that they can decide if they need subscriber access or not.
A list of changes to Land Monitor Map Service are below:
- The Land Monitor Salinity Mosaic has been updating as it was missing a few scenes of salinity data.
- Image sub setting and download extended to Valley Hazard Maps, Perennial Vegetation Cover, Perennial Vegetation Change, Vegetation History, Vegetation Trends and Vegetation Trend Class layers (geotiff data type only)
- Buttons to allow the turning off and on of new extent layers for the Salinity Monitoring and Valley Hazard Maps and the Landsat Mosaic Date boundary extents.
- Disclaimer, license information and updated various documentation have been added.
- Adobe PDF versions of reports, license information and some legend images are now included in the image subset ZIP files.
If you don't already have a password or have forgotten it, please contact me (katherine.murray@landgate.wa.gov.au).
WALIS Stakeholders in the News
Western Australian Spatial Excellence Awards
Entries are now open for the 2008 WA Spatial Excellence Awards, for both individuals and industry projects. The WASEA are jointly run by ASIBA and SSI and entries are due by 30 May 2008. Winners will be announced at a gala dinner on 25 July 2008, so this date should be blocked off in your calendars. Following the inaugural WASEA in 2007, Western Australian finalists took nine of the 16 Asia-Pacific awards, so this is a competition worth entering. For further information and entry forms, please contact Faye Scorer at the SSI Office on 9386 6601 or ssiwa@iinet.net.au.
Perth is receiving less rainfall. Climate scenarios predict it’s not likely to get any better. With declining rainfall and a population set to increase by 40 per cent by 2030, it is vital that we continue to look for the best ways to protect our existing water supply.
The Gnangara groundwater system provides us with 60 per cent of Perth’s drinking water. Large volumes are also used by agriculture, local government and household garden bore users. It is also an important source of water for forestry and for maintaining our unique wetlands and native vegetation.
Read on at the WALIS website
Indji Watch Wins at WA Information Technology and Telecommunication Awards
Indji Watch, the world's first online hazard monitoring system, as been announced as the winner of the online category at the Western Australian Information Technology and Telecommunications Awards (WAITTA) http://www.indji.net.au/media.html
Summit Studies Kimberley Marine Research Needs
Scientists and representatives of industry, business, State and Federal Government agencies, non-government organisations and community groups have conducted a one-day summit to identify the major management questions and knowledge gaps that could affect the sustainable development of the waters and coastline of Western Australia’s Kimberley region. WAMSI
Australian Angle
The calendar of events for 2008 is now available on the WALIS Website
Purnululu Mapping for Community Futures Project
This project based at the Purnululu school plans to work collaboratively to use spatial information technologies to engage the community's youth in the collection and self management of thier elders' knowledge. The access to geospatial training is expected to benefit participating youth significantly. For more detailed information on where the project is at, contact jenniferfield@bigpond.com
New Approach to Measuring Carbon in Forests
CSIRO is collaborating in a NASA-funded project, using a CSIRO-designed instrument, to help develop new methods of measuring forest carbon stores on a large scale. CSIRO
Intermap Technologies and ESRI Enhance GIS with Precision 3D Elevation Data
Intermap Technologies today announced that ESRI, an international geographic information system (GIS) technology company, has agreed to distribute Intermap’s highly accurate 3D digital elevation models and images to its customers. Business Wire
The earth imaging satellite Landsat 5 is once again collecting and downlinking land-image data. The satellite was temporarily taken out of service in October 2007 following a cell failure within one of the satellite's two operating on-board batteries. USGS
GIS for Mapping Stormwater Drains
Chennai: Stormwater drains in two zones of the Chennai Corporation have been digitally mapped using the geographic information system (GIS). http://www.hindu.com/2008/03/11/stories/2008031150040100.htm
Upcoming Events
Intergraph’s Australian User Conference 2008
5 May, Hunter Valley, NSW
Enquiries to +61-3-9292 9600; <au-marketing@intergraph.com>; www.intergraph.com.au/iuc
SimTecT 2008; Simulation - Maximising Organisational Benefits
12-15 May, 2008, Melbourne
Simulation Association of Australia; Enquiries to +61-2-6251-0675; <simtect2008@consec.com.au>; fax: +61-2-6251-0672; www.simtect.com/2008
Data Quality - Aligning Strategy and Technology
29 April- 1 May, 2008, Luna Park Sydney
There are a number of high-profile organisations attending including: NAB, Telstra, ATO, Allens Arthur Robinson, Dept of Defence. Attendants will be able to hear Keynote speakers on the latest advances in the data quality space. In addition there are two streams of presentations technical and strategy to choose from. For more information visit the conference website at http://www.dqasiapacific.com/index.htm or email
Complex Systems Science Symposium
12 May – 16 May, 2008, Victor Harbour, SA
CSIRO will host a symposium in May as a step toward a breakthrough in Earth System modelling, a new area of science requiring collaboration among many disciplines. Five key themes will be addressed: geodynamics; seismology and damage mechanics; fluid dynamics including atmospheric and marine sciences and industrial mixing; material science; and the mathematical basis for complex systems and non-equilibrium thermodynamics. Enquiries to Dr Alison Ord on 61 8 6436 8623 Alison.Ord@csiro.au.
For more information you can visit the CSIRO webpage
Queensland Spatial Conference 2008 - Global Warning: What's Happening in Paradise
17-19 July 2008, Spatial Sciences Institute, Surfers Paradise
The purpose of this Conference is to identify the threat, present factual arguments, provide innovative methods of spatial analysis/monitoring and to develop sustainable solutions to a phenomenon that is now a household name but not very well understood. The QSC2008 Conference will facilitate the opportunity for spatial professionals to provide sound solutions to the potential effects of global warming.
Enquiries to Susan Harris <qsc2008@absoluteevents.com.au> on +61-7-3394 2310; www.qsc2008.com.au/.
Australasian Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Conference
29 Sep-3 October, 14th; Spatial Sciences Institute, Darwin
Enquiries to +61-2-6282-2282; <info@spatialsciences.org.au>; www.14arspc.com.
Interesting Website of the Month
OpenStreetMap creates and provides free geographic data such as street maps to anyone who wants them. The project was started because most maps you think of as free actually have legal or technical restrictions on their use, holding back people from using them in creative, productive or unexpected ways. http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Main_Page
Disclaimer: The information contained in this newsletter is provided for general information purposes. It does not constitute professional or expert advice and you must not use or rely upon it for that purpose. WALIS and the State of Western Australia, do not guarantee and do not accept responsibility for the accuracy, currency, completeness and reliability of the information contained in this newsletter. The opinions contained in the information do not necessarily reflect the opinions of WALIS or the State of Western Australia. Links to other Internet sites are provided for your convenience only and they do not constitute an endorsement, approval or recommendation of the material contained in those other Internet sites. It is your responsibility to evaluate the relevance, accuracy, completeness and reliability of material contained in those other Internet sites.