Sunshine Coast Council has been recognised at the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) Awards with this year’s Smart City Achievement of the Year Award for its commitment to innovation and use of new platforms to improve community engagement.
Council received the Award for its development of a 3D visualisation tool which can actively engage with the community on complex planning and development issues.
Mayor Mark Jamieson said the award further highlighted council’s commitment to creating a healthy, smart and creative region.
“The Sunshine Coast has been named as one of the top 21 communities in the world for economic, social and cultural development in the digital age in four of the past five years.
“This MAV award once again demonstrates council’s proactive role in helping to drive innovation in our community.
“The aim of this project has been to create a user-friendly 3D visualisation model which council can use to better inform our community about complex planning and development issues.
“It can be applied to many uses including visualising the intent of the planning scheme in a particular area, mapping underground assets and bringing placemaking plans to life.”
Economic Development Portfolio Councillor Stephen Robinson said the 3D visualisation tool had already been successfully applied to demonstrate multiple elements of the new Maroochydore Smart City.
“A great example of this was the new above ground and underground infrastructure which was able to be clearly displayed using this new technology,” Cr Robinson said.
“Buildings which were proposed for inclusion in the new city centre were also able to be viewed in 3D on site to clearly demonstrate the look and feel of plans, building and vegetation shadow analysis, visual amenity and planning constraints.
“Securing a Software as a Service (SaaS) 3D visualisation solution with user-friendly tools was a key to demonstrating the value
of this tool.
“Developing this tool has also enabled council to carry out geo-visualisation works in-house rather than needing to engage expensive 3D modelling contractors, which is a great example of innovation delivering operational cost savings for council.”
