Bushfire Incidents
- Created by
- Arek Drozda
- data.australia.gov.au datasets used
NSW Rural Fire Service – Current Incidents
- Other datasets used
- Google Map API
- Google Geocoding engine (location search + real time geocoding of CFA RSS)
- Country Fire Authority (Vic) announcements (RSS feed)
- Geoscience Australia 5M, 1M & 250K Topo Maps (Web Map Service)
- Geoscience Australia Sentinel fire hotspots (KML, Web Map Service)
- World fire hotspots from The Fire Information for Resource Management System (Web Map Service)
- Bureau of Meteorology wind information (Web Feature Service)
- Bureau of Meteorology weather conditions and forecasts (Web Feature Service, Google Chart API, via web widget from aus-emaps.com)
- YouTube videos (YouTube Data API via video player widget from aus-emaps.com)
Linked applications, using more open access data sources:
- Australian Weather
- World Emergency Incidents
- World Earthquakes
Bushfire Incidents page displays the latest fire hotspots detected by satellites and those reported by Victorian CFA and NSW RFS. It is a part of a larger Natural Hazards Monitor concept, currently under development. In “true spirit of mashing up”, only Victorian Fire Brigades information is coming from a local database, for obvious reasons. All remaining information is sourced in real time from third parties via various online services. A smaller version of the map is also available and can be embedded in any website (instructions at www.aus-emaps.com/bushfires.html). Best viewed on large screen monitors.
Well done! Looks awfully similar to Victoria:FireReady though which was posted much earlier.
Thanks Harshit for your kind words.
I knew someone will raise “similarity” issue. Life is so unfair…:-) So, just for the record then:
- Since we are dealing with the same datasets and same mapping platform, similarities are unavoidable.
- I have been serving bushfire maps since late 2006… this page has been operational since early 2008 and served Victorians well during 2009 bushfires (in fact, tens of thousands of visitors from around the world). Just google “bushfire maps” and see what you get. There are links there to screenshots of the application depicting extents of fires on 7 and 8 Feb 2009…
- I have been gradually adding new functionality – wind information and RSS feeds were on my “to do” list for this fire season.
- Geocoded CFA RSS feeds were first used for mapping by Google in Feb 2009 and Sensis is using it as well.
- Chequered markers for Police and Fire Stations are not unique (eg. I used this design in Postcode Finder submitted on the first day of this contest).
- I planned to submit this application from day one this contest was announced so, it’s not that I “just happened to follow someone else’s idea” (you can find references to it in my blog post from 3rd October here http://all-things-spatial.blogspot.com/2009/10/mushup-australia-contest.html)
But I guess, in the end, it is all immaterial… Victoria: FireReady is a very nice application, and surely you hit the mark with the audience. That’s all that counts! There is nothing more for me to say than just to sincerely congratulate you a great idea and attractive implementation. And, good luck with the contest, you are with a great chance for a prize!
Cheers
Arek
PS. There is one thing I meant to ask, if you don’t mind. What’s your source of weather information? I am looking for free alternatives to BOM’s WFS feed as a backup option.
Arek,
If only I had known you were the chap behind aus-emaps.com I would have reserved my comment.
As for your inquiry about weather data, I’m afraid I’m using BOM data as well and haven’t found any other resource that covers all the regional areas. Furthermore, I’m reluctant to use information from unofficial sources.
Cheers!
Harshit
No worries Mate,
BOM data will have to suffice for me as well. Cheers!
I was considering such a project but you’ve already done it, so I’m scared off, but … I tried the site on the iPhone but it just showed empty map page, ie zoom sliders etc but no terrain. Have you considerd an iPhone app version? In times of bushfires, the more is your info the better.
Hi Peter, you should not have given up on you project! There is always room for more alternatives.
As it stands, Bushfire Incidents map is “too big” for iPhone Safari browser (my code is only 60Kb but on top of this are all the overheads: Google scripts (100kb+), map imagery, data feeds. But it could be adapted using latest version 3 of Google Maps, or better, static maps. Other information would also have to be converted to imagery before serving – otherwise it would be too costly for the user to access the information. I haven’t got the skills to create iPhone app but will be happy to partner with someone who does!
About an iPhone version, I’m interested in NSW fire situations. I’d like to do a native app not a web app.
There is, and you reference, a RFS NSW fire incident site, but it gives an RSS feed and no lat/long. I need lat/long to place on an Apple MapKit map.
There is also the Sentinel KML service available, but am thinking I’d need to parse detail, since KML no use to MapKit maps.
I’m not really sure best way to get the info.
Hi again Peter, drop me a line on info at aus-emaps.com and we can explore it in more details.
I have an appeal to all able and willing bodies who can help in cleaning positional accuracy for fire brigades information.
As it is now, all locations have been geocoded automatically, some with better accuracy, some with not as good. And there are a few missing points as well. There is also an opportunity to add other States.
Please use this simple geocoder tool to identify exact location and send coordinates to me with relevant brigade details via aus-emaps.com. I will publish updated information for anyone to use. It would be something that would last beyond this contest. Thanks!
On the same note Arek, were you able to geocode all the fire brigade locations for Victoria? I’ve had some trouble with about 40+ where the provided address just doesn’t seem to show up, atleast through Google’s geocoding service.
I think I am short by 8 or 9 locations but only about 350 of 1228 are with address level accuracy. I used a combination of Google and Yahoo. Sometimes it took more than one attempt to get a result…
I suspect that missing records and positional accuracy is an issue with point locations presented in all the mashups, including those based on data originally supplied with geographic coordinates. Hence my appeal to deal at least with one dataset for a “common good”… We really need people with local knowledge to verify those points!
The sad thing is that collectively we spent 100′s of hours on geocoding the same datasets but no one has a perfect set! And even worse, there are dozens of versions now…