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Data Collection in Remote Communities
Data Collection in Remote Communities
Surveylab’s ike simplifies complex tasks and ensures data integrity...
Housing conditions have been identified as a major influence on the health and wellbeing of remote Indigenous communities in Australia so their improvement is a government priority.
In order to calculate repair costs, secure federal funding and make informed decisions on whether to upgrade or build new houses, the Department for Families and Communities (DFC) Aboriginal Asset Services (AAS) must have a comprehensive picture of the current state of repair of Aboriginal Community owned housing stock.
The department uses ikeGPS to capture the detailed condition of dwellings spread across thousands of kilometres in remote outback South Australia.
Only ikeGPS offers the AAS a simple and reliable data capture product which guarantees integrity and continuity of the captured information. From the start, captured data is fully verifiable through the image stored with each point taken.
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Lack of standardisation in previous manual data collection processes led to differences in how information was collected. Asset condition ratings were open to interpretation by individual Field Officers and there were no reporting tools to answer queries and communicate information at a federal or departmental level once the data was collected and stored. The true number of houses and their location needed to be confirmed. Surveylab’s ikeGPS solves these problems and adds further benefits to the data collection process. The ikeGPS is an all-in-one device that is efficient and easy to use by non GIS professionals. It saves the cost of a separate surveying exercise because the Field Inspectors can capture the location and footprint of a new house during the course of their maintenance inspections.
Inspectors only need to learn, carry and operate a single device. Rather than drawing attention to themselves by carrying backpacks and tripods, inspectors have just one discreet unit. They use the inbuilt GPS or laser range finder to locate the dwelling, the camera to take interior and exterior photos, and standardised data collection forms to enter up to 70 items of information that create a comprehensive, current record of the type and condition of each dwelling. Aerial photography downloaded to the unit may also be accessed and viewed to help inspectors locate and digitise the footprint of the house. ikeGPS is truly an all-in-one data capture appliance and ensures continued date integrity through image-data verification.
ikeGPS for data collection
Flying first from Adelaide to the outback town of Coober Pedy, Field Inspectors may then drive another 1000 kilometres to the most isolated communities. Their equipment must be rugged, reliable and compact. Inspectors record the audit date and their name, location data for the house and take a photo of the front and rear. They check that it has been built to specification and can create a detailed record of the interior and exterior, including major items such as number of bedrooms, type of floor construction and the condition of kitchens, gutters, fences, paint-work, and wet areas (showers and toilets), down to the detail of security screens, smoke detectors and handrails for the disabled. Signs of termite damage or asbestos are recorded – even the presence of a “long-drop” outside toilet! Standard forms and pick lists ensure consistent data entry and a polygon closure routine saves the inspector walking around the whole house to capture the footprint. Ten to fifteen houses can be assessed in a day.
On completion of the inspection, ikeGPS performs a full on-the-spot validation and flags any fields that have been missed. This is particularly valuable given the high cost of returning to a remote area to collect missing data. Training new ikeGPS operators is straightforward. Operators enter data direct on site and only once. Previously, Inspectors hand wrote results in the field and typed them in later presenting the risk of transposing numbers and of course, duplicated effort. Back at the office, data is cross checked against other documentation such as property identifiers and the ikeGPS units are handed over to the GIS Team for upload to the corporate GIS database environment. The data is then instantly available to users throughout the AAS unit and the Office of Aboriginal Housing improving the currency of information on which decisions are based.
Improved Intelligence Users exploit the spatial and business data gathered by ikeGPS with powerful new analysis, budgeting and reporting tools in an integrated business intelligence system built by the Department’s Online and Geographic Services Group. Instead of interpreting data from tables, Asset Planners can tie assets on an accurate map to financial information. Condition rating data captured in ikeGPS for major items such as kitchen, roof or guttering or for minor repairs and cleaning is linked to costing tables. The planner can create a map and report of costs for a specific dwelling or whole community. Pie charts highlight where major costs will be incurred to enable budgeting or application for additional funding. Planners can search on kitchen or wet area condition to determine how many, where and the total cost of replacement or repair. Previously, it wasn’t easy for a planner to accurately answer these business questions.
Capture and Communicate Field Inspectors use ikeGPS to capture a complete record of each dwelling – including photos, accurate location and footprint data, and the detailed condition of the interior and exterior. They do all of this in a single trip. The single, multi-function unit is easy to use by anyone in the field, not just experienced GIS specialists, and on-site validation reduces the potential for errors. Users now have a complete and accurate picture of assets in the field on which to base their strategic decisions. They can meet internal, State and Federal reporting requirements and submit detailed funding applications.
With the end goal being improvement in the health and wellbeing of remote Aboriginal communities, current and comprehensive asset information captured using ikeGPS ensures that the DFC can be much more responsive in delivering services and directing funds and resources where they are most needed. The Department for Families and Communities have realised significant efficiencies since ikeGPS was introduced. ikeGPS allows complete data verification, with all captured imagery geo-tagged with precise location. ikeGPS replaces a number of instruments in a robust and easy-to-use package, so asset management tasks can now be performed easier; the data is verifiable and its quality guaranteed. Only ikeGPS offers the Department for Families and Communities a simple and reliable all-in-one data capture appliance that ensures data integrity throughout the complete AAS system.
