Capacity Building in Green Infrastructure and Housing for

Poverty Reduction in the Pacific Region, Nadi/Fiji June 2018

IGD-UNSW, ADBI, The World Bank, USP, The University of Fiji and the Plan International

The importance of collecting, analysing and

visualising spatial data for sustainable
infrastructure planning

Dr Simone Z Leao, s.zarpelonleao@unsw.edu.au

UNSW City Futures, Faculty of Built Environment

City Analytics team: Prof Chris Pettit, Dr Ori Gudes, Dr Aida Afrooz, Dr Vivien Shi, Mr Jonathan Doig, Ms Carmela Ticzon
The views expressed in this presentation are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), the Asian
Development Bank (ADB), its Board of Directors, or the governments they represent. ADBI does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this paper and accepts no responsibility
for any consequences.
New ‘DATASCAPE’ …
• Data is generated everywhere, all the time, by
any/everyone (big data, small data)
• Data became a commodity
• Data is the basis for many modern services

• Raise of business intelligence

• Raise of evidence-based planning
• Raise of more informed (and loud) citizens

• Development of sophisticated systems and

infrastructure for data flows

• Requirements for skills in data handling and

analysis

• Issues related to data quality, access

• Issues related to privacy in data
• Issues related to security in data ….
Rio de Janeiro Operational Centre
The Control Centre paradigm? NO!
A better paradigm ….
A framework of integrated infrastructures for data collection,
storage, metadata, harmonisation, sharing and applications.
Data  Information  Knowledge  Decision

Data: Data infrastructure: Data institutional framework:

• Contents • Internet • Evidence-based planning
• Quality • Storage • Monitoring
• Ownership • Security • Partnership between universities and governments
• Privacy • Shareability • Partnerships with public and private sectors
• Access • Maintenance • Public participation and empowerment
• Uses/Purposes • Analytical tools • Transparency
• Analytical skills
• Applications
• Update
Some examples from the Australian Experience:

UNSW City Analytics – Research, Gov/Industry Engagement,

Teaching

AURIN – Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (Since

June 2010)

Open Gov Portals – The power of open data.

https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/
https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/research/city-analytics/
https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/cityviz/
 The scope of our work
• Data Production, Curation and (Open) Delivery
Visualisation 2D 3D VR
• Data Analytics What/how is it?

• Simulation How could it be? (short, mid-term)

• Envisioning How could/should it be? (long-term)

• Education: New Master Degree in City Analytics/from 2018

https://www.be.unsw.edu.au/degrees/postgraduate-coursework/master-of-city-analytics
https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/cityviz/cycling-sydney/
https://public.tableau.com/profile/simone.z.leao#!/vizhome/Sydney_NSW_RiderLog_Tableau_small/Dashboard1
https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/cityviz/30-min-city/
 RAISE – Rapid Analytic Interactive Scenario Explorer
• Estimate and map land/property value uplift from new urban infrastructure (useful for value capture)
• 100% open source platform
• Mostly open data via API* (few licensed/restricted data)
• Co-designed with potential users
• Data integration + modelling + visualisation
• Evolving to additional functionalities and wider geographic coverage

*API: Application Programming Interface

RAISE – Rapid Analytic Interactive Scenario Explorer Video (2 min)
Parramatta
Light Rail
options
Sydney
Metro
North
West
Participatory Scenario making and
assessment

GIS + CommunityViz + MapTable

Geodesign
Collaborative Envisioning mediated by technology
(GeodesignHub)
Scenario assessment (DA assessment tasks)

3D modelling + Virtual Reality

 video 3 min - https://vimeo.com/205967595?autoplay=1

https://aurin.org.au/archived-pages/about/the-aurin-journey/
The AURIN Portal
Government
Open Data
Initiatives
Lessons learned:
Evidence-based planning and monitoring require the integration of …
• Reliable and relevant data
• Infrastructure to store, share, analyse, and communicate data
• Institutional framework to facilitate the use of data …

At all tiers and by multi-stakeholders.

Facilitators of this process include …

• Partnerships on data sharing
• The role of universities
• Open data portals
• Use of low cost solutions for data collection (crowdsourcing, Earth observations, open data,
etc) and data analytics (open source software)

• Training and Education – a critical need is to train the next generation of city planners and built
environment professionals with skills in data analytics.
 Thank you!

Dr Simone Z Leao, s.zarpelonleao@unsw.edu.au

UNSW City Futures, Faculty of Built Environment