Open space and parks seem to be a world away from the cutting edge of IT, but appearances can be deceptive. The City of Yarra in Victoria, working with InfoPark Pty Ltd, has raised the benchmark in planning and managing open space by using information technology.
They have created an Open Space Information Management System to help deliver measurable improvements in providing parks, gardens, sports complexes, nature reserves and other open space areas to people of the municipality.
Manager Environment and Recreation Services, Geoff Ovens, said the software was a tremendous management tool.
“It captures all the details of any park,” he said. “This can help with the level of servicing and we can use it for performance management.”
Other features include planning and preparing plans of management for open space sites by preparing site specific service charters or specifications for maintenance. It also calculates budget estimates and depreciation amounts for inventory schedules. The system records incidences of graffiti, vandalism or accidents at sites.
Further more it records water consumption and information about irrigation systems. On top of this workload, it manages street and park trees and playgrounds, auditing contractor performance to meet the service charters for open space sites and street cleaning.
InfoPark uses information technology in a complex multi-relationship database to provide a user friendly system to provide relevant information to the community. The system is under continuous development to address topical issues, for example the management of water during drought.
The Cities of Yarra and Port Phillip have similar open space management issues and InfoPark allows comparison of management strategies. It assists in managing infrastructure, provides meaningful information, transparent decision making, accountability and measurable results.
For further information contact Geoff Owens at the City of Yarra on (03) 9205 5555 or Andrew Taylor at InfoPark on (02) 9566 1237.
