APSEA Award – Bathymetric LiDAR for Pacific Islands
Woolpert received the highly coveted J.K. Barrie Award and the People and Community Award at the Asia-Pacific Spatial Excellence Awards. APSEA recognise and celebrate individual’s and organisation’s achievements within the spatial information industry across the Asia-Pacific region.
The J.K. Barrie Award is the apex of achievement in the spatial industry with Woolpert receiving it at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. The project that won both awards was the “Pacific Island Coastal Inundation Capacity and Planning” project.
The Challenge
Woolpert were engaged to provide land and bathymetric aerial LiDAR expertise with NGIS providing capacity building and training.
The Solution
Woolpert trained the people in Tonga, Samoa, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea preparing them for a sea level rise due to climate change. We achieved this by teaching spatial modelling and decision making through LiDAR and aerial imagery. The judges were particularly impressed with our emphasis on customised solutions in training each country so they’d have the data, skills and tools necessary for their respective community.
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The Results
An emphasis on community involvement ultimately won us the People and Community Award. The project team made a conscious effort to include local people at every stage.
This happened by enabling locals to identify priority areas for survey and involving them in acquiring the data. NGIS Australia also enabled government officers to create coastal inundation maps and present output to their colleagues.
The project was showcased by Google at the White House Climate Data Initiative launch as a global example for increasing climate change awareness and preparing communities worldwide using spatial information and mapping.
The “Pacific Island Coastal Inundation Capacity and Planning” project exemplifies our collaborative abilities with external organisations.
