New trend - maps as infographics

In my last post I noted general lack of new and exciting developments in GIS and map publishing industries. However, it does not mean that things are at a standstill. One of the most interesting emerging applications of maps and online mapping technologies is integration with minimalist, infographics like websites. An example is melbourneurbanforestvisual.com.au created by the City of Melbourne:

This is a very basic but visually attractive, and most importantly, very informative way of presenting information. A “flat design”, as it is popularly known, is relatively new approach to graphic design. It emphasizes usability and features clean, open space, crisp edges, bright colours and two-dimensional/flat illustrations. The approach is filtering through into design of mapping applications thanks, in big part, to custom style map rendering functionality which, if I am not mistaken, was originally invented by Google map team.

In a sense, online maps and cartography are being reinvented again. It is a good thing. I am sure we will see more and more simplified map designs as this trend is driven by visualisation specialists/graphic design artists, and popular demand of course, rather than GIS experts and cartographers. Spatial professionals may be horrified that “outsiders” are stealing the march again but they can still get on board – it is not too late to embrace the new concept and join the leading pack as this trend is a relatively new phenomenon.

Map adds sizzle to elections

The 2013 Election Sausage Sizzle Map shows the locations of sausage sizzle and cake stalls that will be operating on 7 September 2013, a federal election day in Australia, so voters can keep up with fine Australian tradition of a sausage sizzle at community events (ie. a dish, consisting of a barbecued sausage served on a slice of white bread and with plenty of tomato sauce). It’s a good fundraiser activity for myriad of worthy causes so, have a sausage sizzle to support your local community before or after exercising your democratic duty!

If your stall is missing from the map don't despair as you can slap your sizzling sausage on the map by completing a short web form.


First spotted on : Google Maps Mania

Mapping Australia’s solar energy potential

The Australian Solar Energy Information System, or ‘ASEISonline’, presents 25 years of solar data collected by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. The information was derived primarily from satellite data and indicates the amount of energy which has been received on a flat horizontal surface over a period of time. Using Google Map interface, users can easily identify areas with the highest average monthly solar exposure (ie. the amount of sun an area receives on average, per hour, across an average day - for each month of the year).

The Portal aims to assist in selection of potential locations for large-scale solar power plants in Australia. Solar data are complemented with information on regional topography, distance to closest electricity transmission lines, location of water sources as well as existing power stations. The Portal has been developed as a collaborative project between Geoscience Australia and the Bureau of Meteorology through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). Raw data are available for download from BOM’s website.

Insights into regional competitiveness

Australian Bureau of Statistics is a great source of economic statistics but anyone looking for small area data have to work very hard to find and collate anything of relevance from vast collections of information available from the Bureau. An alternative source of economic statistics for small areas are private companies however, the cost of that information is rather prohibitive. But things are changing. Firstly, earlier this year ABS started to publish experimental time series compilation of statistics for Local Government Areas (LGA) and just last month the Regional Australia Institute launched a very comprehensive, free, online tool with regional economic assessments called [In]Sight.


[In]Sight is an online index and interactive map tracking the competitiveness of Australia’s 560 LGA and 55 Regional Development Australia (RDA) regions. The measure is based on international competitiveness indices developed by the World Economic Forum and European Union, but specifically tailored to reflect the issues that matter to regional Australia. [In]Sight consists of 59 measurable indicators of competitiveness within ten themes:

• Institutions: Administration support for regional development
• Infrastructure and Essential Services: Access to infrastructure, transport and services
• Economic Fundamentals: The region’s general economic climate
• Human Capital: The capabilities and skills of a region’s workforce
• Labour Market Efficiency: Use of the potential regional workforce by the economy
• Technological Readiness: Access and utilisation of new technologies
• Business Sophistication: Capacity of business to respond to competitive pressures
• Innovation: Availability of new approaches and ideas
• Market size: The size of the local economy
• Natural Resources: Availability and use of natural resources

Within each theme, a unique set of measurable indicators capture the economic drivers that determine long term competitiveness of the region.

The amount of available information is a bit overwhelming at first and the format the information is presented in (ie. index values and values representing comparative ranking “out of 560”) makes it a bit hard to interpret when profiling individual regions but once you grasp the concepts, and have a clear point of reference to compare to, [In]Sight offers a very comprehensive, single source perspective on the region of interest. Uses of that information will be many and across many different disciplines - from identifying disadvantaged regions for federal and state support, to selecting favourable locations to settle, or to locate a business, or prioritise for marketing opportunities.

More Census 2011 data online

The adoption of Creative Commons data licensing by federal as well State governments put in public domain vast amounts of free and very useful data.  There was a time that Australian Census statistics in an interactive format (ie. as maps and tables) was available only to a selected few with very deep pockets. But these days the Australian Bureau of Statistics disseminates the data at a minimal cost to users. This led to proliferation of applications and tools incorporating Census data – some presenting just basic information for general public but others also allowing for some analysis of the data.

One of more interesting and novel ways of presenting Census 2011 data was developed by id.com.au - a company which focuses on regional economic analysis for councils and local governments. Creation of a profile with Census statistics relevant for a particular region can be quite costly for individual councils but once these are published, the public have free access to quite extensive set of information, and in a very user friendly format.

Users can interact with the information online but also download selected items as tables, images or even full reports for offline perusal. Information is available in two flavours: as profiles or as atlases (the key difference is how the information is presented because content is almost identical Census 2011 data). Only a partial coverage of Australia is available from id.com.au website because those applications are funded by individual councils.


More on Census 2011 data and apps

Landsat 8 data explained

If you are new to satellite imagery, or not familiar yet with the capabilities of recently launched Landsat 8 satellite, a post by Charlie Loyd on mapbox.com blog explains in plain English how the data can be used. It’s a great read, illustrated with examples of what you get when you mix and match various “data streams” (ie. bands = colours, although not necessarily visible to human eye, represented by a specific frequency along the electromagnetic spectrum).

The 30 m resolution of Landsat 8 imagery (15m for black and white version) does not allow “peaking over the fence to your neighbour’s backyard” but it is a great source of timely information for all sorts of environmental analysis (eg. crop monitoring, determination of land characteristics)  and is very helpful in monitoring geographic extents of natural disasters (like floods or bushfires).

[Bands 7-5-1 combination revealing bushfire burn scar - bottom left ]

Landsat 8 data is available for download via:

• GloVis
• EarthExplorer
• LandsatLook Viewer

East coast unanimously frees data

The NSW state government has joined QLD, Vic and ACT counterparts declaring support for open data initiative. It has just released a draft open data policy which aims to make state-owned data available to the public at no charge. Where is it not possible to provide data totally free of charge, it will be provided “at a reasonable price”. If the policy is approved, datasets will be available for download from www.data.nsw.gov.au portal.

If declarations of state and territory governments prove fruitful, we soon should have roads and cadastre/address data freely available for the eastern part of Australia - unless I totally misinterpret the intension of the open data policies. The move to free access to government data started 12 years ago with the release of Spatial Data Access and Pricing Policy however, the benefits have been slow coming. Hopefully, the momentum will now accelerate as more and more government organisations open up their data vaults.

Govhack 2013 initiative gives a taste of what can be done with all that free data. The winners have just been announced… 


First spotted on Spatialsource.com.au