Open-Data | Growing Data Foundation

Agricultural Technologies in South Australia Survey Report

Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The Agricultural Technologies in South Australia Survey Report documents the state of adoption of digital and precision agriculture technologies among South Australian farmers and agribusinesses.

The survey was conducted by the Growing Data Foundation in collaboration with industry partners, gathering primary data on awareness, uptake and barriers to adoption of technologies including sensors, drones, variable-rate application, remote monitoring and data analytics.

The full report is available for download below. All data is published openly to support policy development, research and industry planning.

Download the Agricultural Technologies in South Australia Survey Report (PDF) »

Economic Impact of Digital Infrastructure

Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The Economic Impact of Digital Infrastructure project examines the economic value created by community-owned open digital infrastructure — specifically LoRaWAN networks and open data platforms — for regional and metropolitan communities in South Australia.

The Growing Data Foundation contributed data and case studies from The Things Network Adelaide and associated citizen science projects to demonstrate how shared open infrastructure reduces costs for community organisations, researchers and small businesses.

The full report is available for download below.

Download the Economic Impact of Digital Infrastructure Report (PDF) »

FIrewater

Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The Firewater project is a Growing Data Foundation initiative developed during the 2020 GovHack competition by the GDF Water Warriors team. The project provides tools and data visualisations to help firefighters identify water sources — dams, reservoirs, tanks and watercourses — so they can make better decisions about water supply during bushfire events.

Using open government datasets on water infrastructure and fire-prone areas, the team built a prototype application that maps available water sources against current and predicted fire zones. The goal is to help incident controllers locate the nearest accessible water supply quickly and safely during fast-moving bushfire events.

The project

The Water Warriors team competed across the 46-hour GovHack 2020 weekend, combining open data from state government agencies, Bureau of Meteorology feeds, and crowd-sourced water-point registers. The resulting prototype was awarded recognition at both state and national level.

The tech

The project uses open government spatial datasets, LoRaWAN sensor data from The Things Network Adelaide, and a web-based mapping interface. All source data and code are published under open licences.

About

FIrewater grew out of the Growing Data Foundation’s ongoing work in open data and community resilience. The Foundation continues to explore how sensor networks and open data can support emergency management across South Australia.

First Names Here

Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Names and language are not just words – they are closely linked to our identity and culture. Aboriginal communities are sharng their languages through story, song and eduction. Tae a walk and learn the first names for places and, possibly later, for plants and things.

About

Names and language are not just words – they are closely linked to our identity and culture. Around Australia Aboriginal communities and groups are reviving and sharing their languages through story, song and through community and formal eduction. As you walk around this app allows you to see the first names for places and, possibly later, for plants and things.

You will be able to see what Aboriginal communities predominant in a particular area – fixed borders are a very western concept and we want to reflect this by avoiding drawing firm regional borders but instead showing you where there is a predominance from a particular community and where there is a shared presence from a number of communities.

As well a general interest – this app could be used as a learning tool for schools to provoke discussion and learning linked to the Australian Curriculum Across Curriculum Prioritys, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures

Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN)

Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

GODAN — the Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition initiative — is an international partnership that advocates for open access to agricultural and nutritionally relevant data.

The Growing Data Foundation holds affiliate membership of GODAN, connecting South Australian open data and AgTech work to a global network of governments, NGOs, research institutions and private sector organisations committed to making agricultural data freely available.

About

GODAN supports the principle that open agricultural data is essential to addressing food security, sustainable farming and rural development challenges. GDF’s involvement in GODAN reflects its commitment to open data principles and its AgTech and environmental monitoring work in South Australia.

Hi-Tech Sector Plan 2030

Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The Hi-Tech Sector Plan 2030 is a strategic industry development document produced in collaboration with South Australian government and industry stakeholders to chart a pathway for growth of the state’s high-technology sector over the decade to 2030.

The Growing Data Foundation contributed to the development of this plan, drawing on its experience in open data, IoT infrastructure and digital skills development to inform recommendations around community digital capacity, regional connectivity and open data policy.

The full plan is available for download below.

Download the Hi-Tech Sector Plan 2030 (PDF) »

The Surveying & Spatial Sciences Institute (SSSI)

Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The Surveying & Spatial Sciences Institute (SSSI) partnership connects the Growing Data Foundation with Australia’s peak professional body for surveying, spatial information and remote sensing.

The collaboration focuses on the intersection of open geospatial data, community science and spatial technologies — areas where GDF’s open data infrastructure and SSSI’s professional network create mutual value. Joint activities have included workshops, data-sharing projects and advocacy for open spatial data access.

About

SSSI represents over 4,000 professionals working across surveying, geographic information systems, remote sensing and related disciplines. The Growing Data Foundation’s work in environmental monitoring, citizen science and IoT generates spatial datasets that complement professional practice and open new avenues for community engagement with spatial data.

What grows here?

Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Whether you are a revegetation project team member, landscaper or gardener the ‘What Grows Here?’ app will help you find plants that best suit your space and needs. Learners can learn about local bird life.

The App

See detailed descriptions of over 1000 Australian Native Plants ranging from trees and shrubs to ground-covers and grasses.

The well-being of all life on our planet is under increasing pressure from climate change.

It has been known for decades that part of the solution lies in repairing our natural environment through tree planting and restoring forest to areas that have been cleared.

The ‘What grows here?’ app will empower you to and be part of the solution and help you plant the right tree, at the right time in the right place.

__ WGH? for Android

__ WGH? for iOS

Open data sets

‘What Grows Here?’ uses the following open datasets:
State Flora Catalogue (data.sa.gov)
Waite Arboretum Spatial Data
Atlas of Living Australia

About

‘What Grows Here?’ won the following Unleashed SA and GovHack prizes:

Premiers Award: Unleashed SA Competition
Building on science, research and environmental data Award: Unleashed SA Competition
The People’s Choice Hack, 1st Prize: National GovHack Competition

Visit the South Australian Unleashed and GovHack websites to find out about the competition and see the amazing projects different teams have created using open data.

‘What Grows Here?’ products were developed as part of the Unleased SA node of GovHack in 2014. As a result of participating in GovHack and winning awards that supported the development of the ‘What Grows Here?’ app and Learning Hub, the Nature Ninjas formed the Growing Data Foundation. The foundation will bring like-minded people together to work on open sustainable projects that support the community.

The Nature Ninjas team for the 2014 competition included: Joerg Boeselt; Leanne Brookes; Samantha Bywaters; Leo Gaggl; John Flackett; Brent Leideritz; David Lindley; Kristen Morgan; Rhys Moult; Katherine Nguyen; James Plummer; Sean Simper; Kenny Tran; Kien Vu; Catriona Ward.

GDF Water Warriors Provide Tools for Firefighters to Become 'Water Diviners'

Sat, 01 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

This weekend the Growing Data Foundation’s (GDF) team – the ‘Water Warriors’ is competing in the Australia and New Zealand GovHack Competition. GovHack is an international competition for people of all abilities who seek to make life better through open data. Across one weekend, thousands come together to form teams, agree on projects, and participate in what has become one of the world’s largest open data competitions.

Conducted over a 46-hour period, the competition requires participating teams to create concepts, mashups and models with open government data, to examine the challenges facing government and communities in new and innovative ways.

The Australian 2020 Black Summer bushfires were unprecedented in their scale and level of destruction. More than three billion animals were killed, over 450 people lost their lives, approximately 17 million hectares of land was burnt and more than 6,000 homes and buildings were destroyed.

In the aftermath of these fires, one of the major problems that firefighters universally identified was the difficulty experienced accessing water. In drought affected regions, access to dam and mains water was understandably significantly restricted. In other regions, poorly maintained water hydrants made it difficult to access mains water in a safe way, and no real-time data was available to inform local crews as to the location and level of water storage in static water supplies e.g. water tanks, swimming pools and dams.

In the spirit of using open government data to create a tangible solution to this critical issue, the GDF Water Warriors have created a web application – ‘FireWater’ to demonstrate how low-cost, long range radio technologies (LoRaWAN) and open GIS mapping systems can be used to provide real time water source data to on-the-ground fire crews, in particular the location and status of fire hydrants, water tanks and other natural water sources. It will also incorporate a journey planning functionality, to direct fire crews to nearest available water sources. In developing this exciting application, the Water Warriors have indeed created the capacity for firefighters to become true ‘Water Diviners’.

The GDF team has entered ‘FireWater’ into one South Australia, Australian and International category. Winners will be announced over the coming weeks at formal Awards Nights. I will keep you posted on how we go. Fingers crossed that the team can win at least one category. Regardless, the team believes that it will have made a huge contribution to ensuring that by providing firefighters with the technology tools to become ‘Water Diviners’, that come next fire season, knowledge of available water sources is not one of the major challenges they will have to face.

Go GDF Water Warriors!!!!

The Growing Data Foundation – A True GovHack Success Story

Sat, 01 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

In 2014, Leo Gaggl — then working in the education and government sector on online learning and open education — recognised that the GovHack SA competition was an opportunity to demonstrate what open data could do for communities. He reached out to a broad group of colleagues and clients, many from education and government, to form a team. Fourteen people responded, and together the fifteen-strong “Nature Ninjas” entered GovHACK SA. The challenge was to develop something useful from previously unseen open data provided by state and commonwealth government departments, local councils, media agencies and universities.

The team accessed data from the State Flora Catalogue and mashed it up with Waite Arboretum Spatial Data and added lookups to the Atlas of Living Australia to develop a prototype application titled ‘What grows here?’. This mobile application can be used to identify flora that is indigenous to any particular geographical location using the GPS function on smart phones. Furthermore, the list of native plants that is displayed can be filtered and selected for certain features such as height, colour and purpose, which makes the application equally useful to either the home gardener or land managers.

The collective skills, commitment and passions of the team were rewarded by winning two state awards and one national award in the following categories: Unleashed Premier’s Award ($30,000); Building on Science, Research &Environmental Data ($2,500); and the People’s Choice Award ($2000).

This prize money was used to establish the Growing Data Foundation (incorporated in January 2015), to promote the development of open projects and systems that support the development of sustainable solutions to environmental, economic and social problems. The Growing Data Foundation is one of the very few, if not the only, project that was initiated during the GovHACK SA in 2014 that is still in existence and continuing to do great work.

For example, in 2016 the Growing Data Foundation founded The Things Network (TTN) Adelaide and currently facilitates the Adelaide OpenData and IoT Meetup that has over 900 subscribers.

In 2019, the Growing Data Foundation was awarded the sole rights to conduct The Things Network Asia Pacific On Tour Conference that was attended by over 150 people and very well-received by a diverse range of stakeholders. In lieu of a large physical conference due to COVID-19, the Growing Data Foundation is planning a range of smaller educational activities over the next 12 months featuring industry experts from across the globe in five key streams – Technical, Environmental, AgTech, Education and Smart Cities.

In June 2020, the Growing Data Foundation was invited by the District Council of Loxton Waikerie located in the Riverland region of South Australian to lead a Riverland Schools IoT Project. The aim of this project is to get staff and students in the four Riverland high schools involved in curriculum-based activities that use open, real-time data collected via sensors and LoRaWAN infrastructure recently installed across the Riverland to solve social, economic or environmental problems.

From Friday 14 – Sunday 16, 2020 members of the Growing Data Foundation will be joined by a team of other interested individuals to compete in the GovHack Competition which will be held simultaneously across Australia and New Zealand. During the 46-hour period the team will be required to create concepts, mashups and models with open government data, to examine the challenges facing government and communities in new and innovative ways.

Once again the Growing Data Foundation has an exciting and innovative project idea that it aims to bring to fruition over the weekend. Watch this space to find out what the Growing Data Foundation ‘Water Warriors’ have been able to achieve in this latest Govhack Competition!

First Names Here

Mon, 01 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

About

What grows here?

Fri, 01 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The App

See detailed descriptions of over 1000 Australian Native Plants ranging from trees and shrubs to ground-covers and grasses.

The well-being of all life on our planet is under increasing pressure from climate change.

It has been known for decades that part of the solution lies in repairing our natural environment through tree planting and restoring forest to areas that have been cleared.

The ‘What grows here?’ app will empower you to and be part of the solution and help you plant the right tree, at the right time in the right place.

__ WGH? for Android

__ WGH? for iOS

Open data sets

‘What Grows Here?’ uses the following open datasets:
State Flora Catalogue (data.sa.gov)
Waite Arboretum Spatial Data
Atlas of Living Australia

About

‘What Grows Here?’ won the following Unleashed SA and GovHack prizes:

Premiers Award: Unleashed SA Competition
Building on science, research and environmental data Award: Unleashed SA Competition
The People’s Choice Hack, 1st Prize: National GovHack Competition

Visit the South Australian Unleashed and GovHack websites to find out about the competition and see the amazing projects different teams have created using open data.