Brumby Government to Spend $6.3Million of the Broadband Innovation Fund on Spatial Mapping
Brumby Government to Spend $6.3Million of the Broadband Innovation Fund on Spatial Mapping
September 26, 2007: The Victorian Minister for Information & Communication Technology, Theo Theophanous has announced that it will spend $6.3 million of the $15 million Broadband Innovation Fund on an environmentally motivated spatial imaging project.
Aiming to improve Victoria’s ability to manage environmental issues such as water quality and land degradation, the project will incorporate “Technology similar to the revolutionary Google Earth mapping service” Theophanous said.
According to Theophanous, the project will include mobile computing, so that field officers can send and receive data live on site.
“By integrating information such as satellite images, catchment data and addresses, field officers will have the ultimate in decision-making power at their fingertips” explained Theophanous.
The Broadband Innovation Fund was setup to finance new uses of broadband technology by Victorian Government agencies. The $15 million fund currently finances an array of projects, ranging from a Yarra Valley project to provide virtual health services to Far East Gippsland virtual education services.
“The technology will mean that very large images which are commonplace for natural resource managers – and that can often take days or weeks to download to a desktop – will be able to be viewed online within seconds” Theophanous said.