CHEMISTRY

CSIRO researchers have taken part in an international demonstration of a key technology for monitoring Australia’s scarce water resources. CSIRO’s information interoperability technology was involved in the recent demonstration of how spatial information can address diverse community problems. In this case, the scenario was a mock terrorist incident in the United States, but the technology is equally applicable to monitoring water resources. Mr Gavin Walker, from the CSIRO ICT Centre, says the demonstration improved a set of Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) specifications to provide access to multiple sources of geospatial information to assist decision making. CSIRO is a member of the OGC, which also includes the world’s leading spatial data organisations, and has been a key participant in the development of OGC’s Sensor Web Enablement technology over a number of years. OGC specifications improve the interoperable geospatial capability of the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream information technology. The demonstration featured real time data sourced from CSIRO wireless sensor networks delivered as web services. “Spatial data and sensor technology have a wide range of applications, particularly in the environmental field,” Mr Walker says. “This technology will improve our scientific understanding of Australia’s scarce water resources and will revolutionise the way scientists gather data. “Wireless sensor networks act as ‘macroscopes’ allowing a study of environmental indicators, such as salinity, at a fine scale over a considerable area.” The technology is part of the $9 million-a-year Water Resources Observation Network (WRON) being built by CSIRO’s Water for a Healthy Country Flagship. WRON will provide the technical framework and standards required to support water information management. “OGC services have sufficient market penetration that they will form an important element of WRON infrastructure,” Mr Walker says. "By taking part in the development of international standards we are ensuring that the world's big software companies are recognising and responding to Australia's needs in their next generation of products.” WRON aims to achieve a 20 per cent saving in annual costs of water resource management. By linking Australia’s water data and harnessing information from satellites and on-ground sensor networks, WRON technologies will make it easier to monitor, forecast and manage water demand, supply, quality and use patterns in any part of the country and provide reliable forecasts of the status of our water resources. CSIRO is working with State and Federal government agencies and public and private sector organisations to realise the WRON vision. Further information about the Water Resources Observation Network is available at: its Web site.