The Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information (CRCSI) recently granted funds to three New Zealand research projects.
The first project is being developed by University of Canterbury’s HITLab and Christchurch-based ZNO Ltd. The project aims to develop a mobile phone application that will be used to visualise the future urban design of Christchurch. It’s hoped that users of the app – including residents, planners, and government – will be able to see new building designs on top of real-world, real-time views of the ‘red zone’, in order to provide better feedback on the proposed city re-designs.
The second project aims to tap into the substantial growth in the GNSS industry by better preparing New Zealand’s and Australia's geospatial reference frames (geodetic datums). With the availability of 2 cm accurate real-time data, driverless vehicles, better weather predictions and improved earth movement modelling could be converted into a reality. Graeme Blick, Land Information New Zealand’s (LINZ) Chief Geodesist, is a key member of the Australia New Zealand project team.
Under the third project, also initiated by University of Canterbury, Prof Simon Kingham and his team from the Geohealth Lab will conduct research on the spatial relationships between stress-related health outcomes and the level of neighbourhood damage. Among other uses, the information could be used to inform how health services should be targeted following a future natural hazard event.
