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Queensland Government Partner with AAM for Rapid Mapping Response to Cyclone Debbie

Queensland Government Partner with AAM for Rapid Mapping Response to Cyclone Debbie

The Queensland Government recently partnered with the AAM Group to leverage their GEOCIRRUS ‘Geospatial Cloud’ solution to capture, process and deliver imagery of areas affected by Tropical Cyclone Debbie to assist with their response and recovery operations.

As Cyclone Debbie bore down on the Queensland coast, the Queensland Department of Natural Resources, Environment and Mines (DNRM) worked in collaboration with the AAM mapping team to capture and supply high resolution aerial imagery covering the areas that were affected by the cyclone and subsequent flooding events. These locations were rapidly changing and spread over large parts of the state, so close collaboration, teamwork and the ability to adapt quickly were crucial, as with all natural disasters. This close teamwork between government and private industry has been built over many years of successful projects and trust built between organisations.

Aerial imagery showing the flood affected areas of Logan

AAM’s aircrew began preparation for data capture as soon as they received word from the DNRM Imagery Coordinator and immediately mobilised to affected areas. The AAM team captured high resolution imagery over affected areas in the immediate aftermath of the cyclone including some of the worst hit areas of Hamilton and Daydream Island; the coastal regions around Airlie Beach and the resources port and environmentally sensitive wetlands at Abbott Point.

As the cyclone moved inland and further south, the AAM crews worked with the Queensland Government and the State Disaster Coordination Centre to ensure that imagery was captured over the flood affected areas, including Rockhampton. Working together with those closest to the response, AAM were able to coordinate the capture at the time of the peak flood event to ensure a permanent record of the areas that were affected.

Close collaboration between all stakeholders was crucial to ensure the rapid and efficient coordination required to capture areas as widespread as the Whitsunday Islands and Airlie beach in the north of the state, Logan in the south east and the badly flood affected areas of Rockhampton.

Once the imagery was acquired and by leveraging the latest developments in cloud technology that underpins AAM’s GEOCIRRUS platform, the imagery was processed and delivered using open standards to all those that required the imagery. Through utilising the latest streaming technology and open standards, the data was viewable in whatever software application the end-users required and was not limited to any particular application.

Aerial imagery showing the flood affected areas of Rockhampton

DNRM’s Steve Jacoby commented that, “AAM’s ability to work cooperatively with the Queensland Government proved vital in ensuring the affected areas were captured in order to best support response and recovery operations.”

The GEOCIRRUS imagery Service is still being actively used by many Queensland Government and local government organisations to support their ongoing response to the cyclone and flood events and to assist in planning for future events.

According to Logan City Council, “…the fact that GEOCIRRUS can immediately allow high resolution imagery to stream directly into our internal CityMaps Web application ensures this important data is used as a good reference tool for extent of inundation to complement other captures we have over the event”. Hence the speed of capture, processing and availability provided by AAM were crucial in ensuring the value of this data.

The Cyclone Debbie imagery can be accessed in the URL below:

http://qldspatial.information.qld.gov.au/catalogue/custom/detail.page?fid={47C30567-21F7-4797-A64B-9A1AA929B5C4}

For more information on how GEOCIRRUS can assist with your geospatial needs, please visit GEOCIRRUS.

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