Earth:Australia addresses the transformation challenge of opening up government data sets in its ‘re-purposing’ of GIS (geographic information systems) data from ERSI shapefiles, to the more useable, and accessible KML (Keyhole Markup Language) format. KML files are supported by many different GIS viewers and as discussed in Wikipedia are excellent for: ‘expressing geographic annotation and visualization on existing or future Web-based, two-dimensional maps and three-dimensional Earth browsers’.

The technology Infrastructure for Earth:Australia includes: Google Earth browser plugin for data viewing, Adobe Flex framework for the user interface, and the Geospatial Data Abstraction Libray (GDAL) with related application libraries for shapefile to KML format conversion.

By incorporating the Mashup data into the site, volunteers can now view Government GIS mapping information to help strategically position their local river monitoring sites. For example, they can identify Government surface water monitoring stations, ground water bore sites, major river basins and protected areas across Queensland. They can identify Detox facilities around Victoria to encourage local communities to dispose of toxic substances, such as paint and batteries, at appropriate facilities to prevent them being illegally dumped down drains or directly into our rivers and creeks.

If you have been collecting data on the health of your local river, creek or wetland from anywhere around Australia and would like to submit you information online through our community-owned website, please send us a message using the Contact Us button on our home page at www.communityrivers.org.au.

Victernet automatically detects your location and find Internet access spots based on your location. You may call from your phone directly to book a position or inquire a staff.

Victernet runs on iPhone and Android mobile phones.

Just open http://victernet.com/ on your mobile phone browser and enjoy your surfing!

Our website is aimed to rise awareness of the climate change in state Victoria. Therefore name “Green Victoria” speaks for itself. Green government initiatives such as roadside cleanup and solar hot water systems installations are also part of this solution. List of major functionalities is outlined below:

• Read latest environment news;
• Check water consumption for Melbourne suburbs;
• Check solar hot water usage and carbon emissins in Victoria;
• View custom reports;
• Check roadside cleanup data;
• View you carbon footprint based on your travel habbits, electricity bill, recycling;
• Search and compare “smart” retailers to buy environmental friendly appliances;
• Search nearest recycling facilities;

Become a responsible citizen now!

We explored information from the 2006 Census and crime incident data and selected some key points that we considered significant in the decision making process of anyone choosing where to live. Suburb Matchmaker also benefits people that want to know more about the area they live at and provides crime data trends to see how your area is evolving.

We believe that one of the major benefits of using open government data is that it bridges the gap between the information provided by public agencies and the citizens reacting to that information to engage in and with their communities. Suburb Matchmaker empowers inhabitants of any area wanting to attract more people to use its functionality to promote their events and other highlights with the use of visual media.

Web applications like Suburb Matchmaker that provide access to information and engage citizens reacting positively to this data could promote the creation of communities that become more integrated and self-sufficient

Our mashup allows cyclists or would-be cyclists:

• to access and exchange safety information, contributed both by the road safety authorities (crash locations) and other cyclists (reported hazards)
• to study the best (safest, simplest) route in an interactive map
• to review and rate up and coming bicycle lane developments
• to access government representatives information for a given location

This project has been a catalyst for implementing a number of ideas and concepts that are shaping the new relationship between government and citizens:

• transparency,
• accountability,
• collaboration,
• civic engagement.

Walter’s Walk-a-meter is a customizable interactive map that allows users to plot walking times and distances and calculates calories burnt (with Freddo Frog equivalents). It also displays the amount of CO2 produced if you were to drive different vehicle types to the selected location and if you chose not to drive what that amount of CO2 could be used for.

Information in this Mashup includes; BBQ’s, Playgrounds, Public Internet, Public Toilets and Schools.

Walter’s Walk-a meter is named in honour of Sir Walter Murdoch (1874-1970) after whom the Murdoch University is named. He was famous for his intelligence, wit and humanity and the fact that he was a keen walker. Living in the age before the internet Sir Walter might have been amused by the liberty taken here.

Read more about Sir Walter here.

The Walk-a-meter alludes to important and topical issues. Should we walk to the shops or drive our 4 wheel drive? Would our kid’s health benefit from a trip to the local playground by foot? How much CO2 do we put into the atmosphere by driving to have a BBQ at the local park? Can it be offset by walking? Ultimately the Walk-a-meter may raise more questions than it answers.