Concluding our interview, we learn more about the kinds of useful high-value datasets to which AURIN can provide access.
By Jonathan Nally
In Part 1 of our interview with Pascal Perez, Director of the Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN), we learned about the organisation’s origin, the kind of research it supports and the growing influence of AI.
In this second and final part of the interview, we learn more about who has access to AURIN’s services, which kinds of high-value datasets are available, where urban digital twins are going, and the importance of collaborating with the private sector.
Where does AURIN get its data from? Who decides what you have access to?
Three years ago, we pivoted away from providing public data through our online portal; for example, socio-demographic data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and other well-known sources. This type of service is now obsolete as ABS is doing a fantastic job with their APIs and we don’t need to replicate the process.
So, we decided to go for what I called the ‘hard-to-get’ data, the data that researchers cannot easily access. The decision stemmed from my previous experience — partnering with AURIN as the Scientific Director of a research centre — and frustration with AURIN’s inability to source and share high-value datasets, such as mobile phone coverage.
Consequently, AURIN has spent a year negotiating access two major telecommunication companies in this country. We now have contracts not only to access it, but also to share it with researchers under specific rules.
And we’ve done the same with geospatial data and visualisation operators, real estate transactions and valuation companies, and, more recently, vehicle positioning providers. There will be more coming; this year we’re going to focus on the utilities.
If I’m a GIS analyst working for a local council, can I get access to what AURIN provides?
The short answer is “yes,” although our mandate is to serve researchers and students developing high-impact research, due to our funding through the Department of Education. However, we also aim at serving the broader community, local councils included, whenever it is relevant. The details of our engagement are governed by AURIN’s operating model, which includes three value streams for our partners and users.
You can think of us as having bronze, silver and gold levels of engagement and support. The bronze one is what we call the ‘Foundational support,’ which is an online portal offering public-access datasets. The type of data presented ranges from samples of commercial high-value datasets to secondary datasets of national significance generated by our research partners. The sample datasets are important as it allows users to play with the data and create innovative pilot solutions. Then, some of these users might think: ‘Oh, we’ve played with this little sample and these are the ideas we’ve had. Do you think we could scale that up?’
The type of data presented ranges from samples of high-value commercial datasets to secondary datasets of national significance…
Next, the silver level is called ‘Breakthrough opportunities’ on specific challenges that we identify with AURIN’s scientific and industry advisory committees. For each challenge, we open a call for proposals. Researchers can access high-value datasets and technical expertise from AURIN staff, as well as in-kind support from technological partners.
Then the gold level is called ‘Strategic priority’ stream. This is where AURIN provides cash investment, technical expertise, access to high-value datasets and partnerships with industry and government whenever needed.
If you’re not a researcher with a university email, you can access data from the Foundational support stream (bronze level) and you can be a partner in the silver or the gold level.
Are there any other AURIN initiatives you can share?
We continue to play in the urban digital twin space. We’re probably far more cautious than we were three years ago when I arrived. At that time, each state had a digital twin of some sort, pushing a lot of data and injecting a lot of funding into it. I think it’s fair to say that these initiatives have plateaued a little bit.
In discussions with some of the key executives from these different initiatives around the country, I always argued that there will be a difficult time coming up where the business case for these tools funded by taxpayers’ money will be under scrutiny, and I think that’s where we are now.
Over the last couple of years, I’ve been publicly scathing about the status of urban digital twins. I understand what an industrial digital twin is; for example, a virtual representation of a Rolls-Royce turbine. Everything is in there, it’s three dimensional, you have all the wires, all the nuts and bolts, you can inject virtual fuel, and you have virtual power coming into it. You can even, in real time, compare it with an actual Rolls-Royce turbine under the wing of an aircraft.
But urban digital twins… up until now, I still don’t understand what we’re talking about. And I’m an old agent-based modeller, so I like to represent things straight. For the moment, the first generation of digital twins at state or city level, for me, have never been beyond a shopping cart behind a three-dimensional map. You’re desperately searching for the ‘Go’ button around the map but there’s nothing to push because there are no dynamics embedded in the so-called Urban Digital Twin.
I’m an old agent-based modeller, so I like to represent things straight.
But there are things internationally starting to happen now, so I think it’s something we’re going to probably revisit. I’ve had discussions with people from an urban design company, who have an interesting vision for where these urban digital twins should move next.
Should the public sector learn from, and work more with, the private sector?
Yes, absolutely. This is part of our new operating model where — especially on the data side, because it’s obvious in cities — most of the data is already in the hands of the private sector. If you don’t want to collaborate with and learn from private sector, you already trying to fight with only one leg and one arm. So, from that perspective, yes, engaging with the private sector is key.
One thing I should mention is that Government sector is sometimes at the forefront of innovation. For example, the NSW Government has supported the most advanced high-resolution climate model we have (NARCliM 2.0).
Yes, the private sector runs fast, and faster than ever thanks to the rise of artificial intelligence. Whether it runs in the right direction and the race will lead to actual societal benefits remains to be seen.
Public research — including national research infrastructure facilities such as AURIN — has a role to play as a moral and technological compass.
You can read Part 1 of our interview with Pascal Perez, here.
