Council’s inhouse developed, Tr@ceR Mobile Mapping Program recently won the prestigious National Local Government Award for Innovation in Natural Resource Management.
Some two years ago Council sought a more strategic approach to weed management that would enable performance monitoring and the benchmarking of weed control in the Shire. Council staff had trialed a number of mapping products however these did not deliver the functionality and integration required with Council’s existing property data. Council’s IT staff and weed officers then set about developing a Mobile Mapping program inhouse.
The program initially focused upon weed control but this has now expanded to include septic tanks, food shops, buildings, Section 68 plumbing inspections and overgrown property inspections.
The mapping and inspection program integrates with property data and the Google Earth program which provides officers with an exact location of weed infestations, septic tank installations, food shops and building locations. The program also allows officers to create inspection reports in the field and this reduces the previous duplication of data entry into the system.
Tr@ceR Mobile mapping has excellent reporting functionality for the scheduling of follow up inspections and this permits staff to plan their future work programs. Council also furnishes the Department of Primary Industries with comprehensive mapping of weed incursions in the Shire.
The Namoi Catchment Management Authority (CMA) in north western New South Wales has now implemented the Tr@ceR program to assist with weed control around catchments in its six Local Government areas.
The noxious weeds officers use Tr@cer to collect and feed information on weeds in the area into the CMA’s computer system. The information populates an electronic map and provides an overall view of each catchment in the area. This enables the CMA to make better informed decisions and provides a visual perspective as to where weeds have spread. The CMA has also added its existing information, such as endangered land areas, as layers to the Tr@cer Weeds program.
Council’s presence at the Bi-annual Weeds Conference at Narrabri in 2009 has resulted in numerous expressions of interest for the Tr@ceR mobile mapping product from Catchment Management Authorities, Weed Control Authorities and general purpose councils.
