Author Archives: Michael

Update 12: Aldinga Washpool

The relevant media releases about the land additions to the Conservation Park:

More recreational opportunities with further conservation park expansions | Premier of South Australia

Department for Environment and Water – More recreational…

I’ve reproduced the media release from the Premier’s office below:

 

 

Update 11: Aldinga Washpool

Exciting to see most of the remaining land parcels finally being added into the Aldinga Conservation Park. The Park also has a new name – Wangkuntila–Aldinga Conservation Park. The parcels adjacent to the Silver Sands housing area have stormwater complications – it remains to be seen whether these will be resolved and these parcels also added.

Gazette proclamations below (ignore the Criminal Law proclamation), as well as the updated park map (hatched areas are the new additions – the Blue Lagoon site is in the northwest):

20250902_Aldinga_Additions_ProclamationMAP:

Update 5: Australian sandalwood conservation

Sourced from: https://www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/Pages/McGowan/2022/11/Community-invited-to-comment-on-sandalwood-management.aspx

Community invited to comment on sandalwood management

Friday, 4 November 2022
  • Public to shape how sandalwood will be conserved and protected
  • Helps sustain native species for future generations
  • Consultation period runs for six weeks until 9 December

Western Australians can now have their say on the conservation and use of sandalwood over the next five years.

The draft Sandalwood Biodiversity Management Programme aims to stabilise wild sandalwood and outlines how it can be sustained into the future.

Sandalwood (Santalum spicatum) is a slow-growing tree found across 146 million hectares of the Wheatbelt, Goldfields, Murchison, Gascoyne and southern Pilbara. Extensive agricultural clearing has seen wild sandalwood dwindle over the past 200 years, particularly in the Wheatbelt. It’s also been impacted by illegal harvesting, pests, grazing and bushfires.

The draft programme prepared by the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions sets out how wild sandalwood will be conserved, protected and managed, consistent with the requirements of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016. It will not apply to plantation sandalwood.

The public comment period is open until 9 December. To have your say, visit http://www.dbca.wa.gov.au/sandalwood

Comments attributed to Environment Minister Reece Whitby:

“Sandalwood is a unique resource and we’re committed to protecting and sustaining this remarkable species for generations to come.

“This will apply to the management of wild sandalwood on both Crown and private land, but won’t apply to plantation sandalwood.

“Having your say will help us understand any industry or community concerns to help shape the management of this important native species.”

Update 5: University of Adelaide and a net zero emissions target

Draft Sustainability Strategy now available: https://www.adelaide.edu.au/sustainability/hereforgood

The headline targets from the Strategy reproduced below; note that they have chosen net zero carbon emissions by 2025, and carbon neutral by 2030 (carbon neutral means “The University’s scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions are balanced via removal of equal greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere as per the Climate Active standard.“)

Update 1: GIS data for SA nature park outlines

Good Evening Michael,

Apologies for the length of time it’s taken to get back to you.

Since we last exchanged emails on this topic we have discovered there is a bit more to this issue than we originally thought.  We’ve engaged with the DEW Parks Marketing team to get a better understanding of the information that the department already provides to Google – this has helped to define the scope of what we need to consider.  Here is a summary of what we have uncovered.

Information Discovery

  • The department is already providing information to Google for high visitation parks through a Google Business Profile account.
  • The information provided includes:

o   park name

o   park address

o   contact phone number

o   opening times

o   web link to DEW Parks web site – eg Belair National… – National Parks and Wildlife Service South Australia

o   an (XY) map coordinate to define the centroid for the park – for Google functions like display, zoom and obtaining directions

  • This is an example of the information for Belair National Park –  Belair National park – Google Search
  • An additional Google Map Content Partner account would be required to upload mapping data representing park boundaries to Google for inclusion on Google map products

Considerations

  • The Google Business Profile and Map Content Partner accounts are not the same – we are not able to use the existing departmental Business Profile account to upload mapping data.
  • There is an overlap in the park information that can be provided to Google by each account – this means there is a potential to provide conflicting information for a park, unless there is careful curation of park information content.

o   For example, the use of park type abbreviations in the park name in our mapping layer is likely to be different to that required for public use, as currently delivered through the Business Profile account – some reformatting of park information will be required

  • As mentioned in our previous email, Google has published some guidelines defining the required format and structure of mapping data to be provided by a Map Content Partner account – Geo Data Upload Content Requirements – Map Content Partners Help (google.com).  For mapping data representing Parks and Protected Areas, our park mapping data will need to be translated to meet the guidelines below.  This will require an automated (scripted) translation process if were are to provide parks mapping data to Google on a regular basis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related Issue

  • We’ve also been informed of a related issue – there is a need to provide map coordinates to identify the main entrance / public access points for a park.  This is to help provide more accurate directions in Google maps.
  • At the moment the directions function in Google does not always guide visitors to the most logical access point for a park – see example below

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • In some cases this will require verification with regional parks staff to ensure we are providing up-to-date access information.

Next Steps

We’re currently looking to arrange a conversation with a Google contact so that we can discuss these issues and hopefully identify options for providing the required information (for both Parks Business and Mapping) in a coordinated approach – ideally without the need for overlapping accounts.

Thanks for your patience whilst we work through these issues.

Kind Regards,  Online Mapping Support

DEW Online Mapping

Department for Environment and Water

GPO Box 1047, Adelaide, SA 5001
environment.sa.gov.au