Geoscience Australia’s new region-based spatial exploration tool, GeoInsight, has been awarded a Good Design Award for Design Strategy at the 2024 Australian Good Design Awards ceremony.
Developed as part of Geoscience Australia’s concluded Exploring for the Future Program in collaboration with Future Friendly, GeoInsight uses a human-centred design approach that utilises data visualisation and insights to help stakeholders understand and engage with geoscience information in a “digestible format”.
When using the tool, users can select a geographic region and multiple data areas of interest, such as mining and minerals, energy resources and groundwater, to create a curated map with regional and topic-based insights with available layers to explore.
Once selections have been completed, users are provided with synthesised reports, including links to additional resources to continue their research, ensuring that — regardless of the specific data sets included — they can easily find what they need, understand it and use it in a way that suits their situation.
Geoscience Project Leader, Kathryn Waltenberg, said that when developing GeoInsight, the team underwent several months of consultation and co-design to define their vision, with a key focus on user needs and efficiency.
“Geoscience Australia has a history of publishing robust scientific data, however current tools are often designed for highly technical users with a deep understanding of geological data,” Dr Waltenberg said.
“We designed GeoInsight to sit alongside these technical tools as a simpler alternative that fills the gap by providing
