After a poor wet season across the Territory, water resources have not been refilled and the Department of Environment and Resources is working to get the message out to the community that everyone needs to do their bit to reduce demand on the groundwater resources.
In recent years, 10% to 15% of Darwin’s urban drinking water supply has been sourced from groundwater aquifers in the Darwin rural area resulting in some groundwater systems operating at critical levels. At this rate some bores in the rural area will become unserviceable this dry season which means, amongst other things, rural residents may need to purchase and store drinking water if this happens.
As part of its natural resource management plan the Department of Environment and Resources has created an initiative called “Help stop the Drop!” https://denr.nt.gov.au/land-resource-management/water/water-resources/help-stop-the-drop which includes marketing activities and community consultation, as well as tools for helping residents understand bore water usage. One of these tools is the Know your bore web application based on the Weave Mobile Client.
Figure 1 – http://nrmaps.nt.gov.au/knowyourbore.html
This is a simple Weave Mobile Client that allows the public to search for and review the status of water bores in the Territory. Bores can be located using the standard pan/zoom touch capability of the map interface, or a simple search can be conducted using a property address or bore number. Once a bore is identified the relevant information about that water resource is displayed.
Future releases of the Know your bore application are being planned to allow licensed bore owners to record water meter readings.
The Cohga Weave solution includes all the necessary code and configuration files to develop Mobile Web Applications for searching, reviewing and editing information from all mobile devices – tablets and phones – using their native web browsers. The Weave mobile client makes use of all the existing Weave resources such as maps, data, indexes, searches, etc., meaning mobile web applications can be developed and deployed very quickly.
In addition, all the security associated with an existing Weave system continues to be used which removes the risk and effort of implementing another security protocol.
“Cohga Australia provided a simple and effective mobile web solution that exceeded client expectations. Under an extremely tight deadline, they developed a product that was cost-effective and most importantly, re-usable in other applications. Despite the time pressures, Cohga’s customer service was always polite and solution-focused.
This company has proved themselves to be a leader in spatial systems integration and mobile web development.”
Ross O’Campo, Geospatial Services Branch, Department of Environment and Natural Resources
Know your Bore Web Application
Clicking the Search Button opens the Quick Search tool to enable the user to search for a property or bore. In this case the search term is “Secrett” which returns all the properties in Secrett Road.
Figure 2 – Search Button |
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Selecting a property from the drop down list will zoom the map to that property (in this case, 160 Secrett Road) and show the water bores in the vicinity (shown as red, orange, green and blue points). By clicking on a bore the relevant details are displayed.
Figure 4 – Water bore locations |
Figure 5 – Details of selected bore |
The View report and More information hyperlinks will open new browser pages with additional information.
Finally, clicking the Layers button on the home page presents a set of base map layers under user control.
Figure 6 – Change Layers Button |
Figure 7 – User controlled map layers |
Positive Outcomes
The launch of the Know your bore tool includes both a desktop browser client and a mobile client. Weave has the ability to determine what platform is being used and serves the relevant client as appropriate.
Since its launch the Department has been monitoring the use of the system and notes that over 90% of access to the site is via mobile devices, which accords with their understanding of current user preferences.
Given that Territorians are the highest water users in Australia and that across the Territory about two thirds of water is used on gardens, it is important to communicate as widely as possible the need for everyone to do their bit to reduce demand on groundwater resources.
By making this information resource available via the Know your bore mobile application the Department has greatly broadened their public reach thereby potentially influencing many more people about the urgent need to conserve water.
Cohga’s Weave technology has been recognised as an industry leading solution, winning multiple awards.