Portable has been at the forefront of geospatial innovation, collaborating with government agencies and organisations to enhance geospatial platforms and improve data visualisation. Explore how our work with the Victoria Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA), the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), and with Digital Twin Victoria demonstrates how thoughtful design and user-centric approaches can transform environmental decision-making.
Enhancing water data visualisation with DEECA’s Water Measurement Information System (WMIS)
Water resource management relies on accurate, accessible, and well-visualised data. The Water Measurement Information System (WMIS) serves as Victoria’s central repository for waterway and groundwater data. However, as a legacy platform, WMIS required a design upgrade to improve user experience and better serve stakeholders.
Working with DEECA, Portable conducted extensive user research to identify needs and challenges. Through a co-design approach, we:
- Evaluated user needs to ensure the redesigned platform would meet the expectations of water resource professionals and decision-makers.
- Documented business requirements to guide the redesign and future development phases.
- Created design concepts to visualise an improved user interface, ensuring that complex water data could be easily navigated and interpreted.
The WMIS site allows users to find, explore, visualise, and download water monitoring data from across Victoria, including:
- Surface water: water level, streamflow (discharge), water quality
- Groundwater: water level, water quality
- Rainfall and weather
By integrating geovisualisation techniques, we helped lay the foundation for a more intuitive and insightful WMIS platform that will support water resource management and policy-making in Victoria.
The image below shows the WMIS platform sharing data from March 14 2025 at noon. There is rain predicted in the forecast for March 16 - have a look to compare yourself.
Developing a roadmap for geospatial data services with the Australian Bureau of Statistics
Geovisualisation is not just about maps; it’s about making data more actionable and meaningful. Portable collaborated with the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Tetra Tech, and Coffey to design a roadmap for geospatial data services that would enable better access to socio-economic and public sector data.
Our work involved:
- Engaging federal and state government agencies, private industry, academia, and the general public to identify common needs and challenges in geospatial data usage.
- Developing a strategic roadmap to guide the implementation of geospatially presented socio-economic data.
- Ensuring the roadmap was designed to secure stakeholder buy-in, facilitating future adoption and use of geospatial data services.
Through this initiative, we contributed to shaping the future of geospatial analytics in Australia, ensuring that geospatial data is not only available but also meaningful and accessible for decision-makers across industries.
We recommend checking out how the ABS uses data visualisation on its social platforms with topical and valuable insights.
The image below shows de-indentified screens of the final handover.
Building a digital twin to empower Victoria’s environmental and urban planning decision makers
The future of geovisualisation lies in digital twins; highly detailed, interactive models that replicate real-world environments in 2D, 3D, and even 4D. Portable has been a key partner in enhancing the Digital Twin Victoria (DTV) platform, a web mapping application originally built by DEECA to enable advanced geospatial visualisation.
Our ongoing work with Digital Twin Victoria includes:
- Improving the user experience and interface to make the platform more intuitive and user-friendly.
- Enhancing backend functionalities to allow users to manage, introduce, and visualise new data sources.
- Providing support in development of enhancements to keep the platform performing optimally for Victorians.
By enabling users to interact with real-time, multi-dimensional geospatial data, the DTV platform is transforming how Victoria’s environmental and urban planning decisions are made. Making decisions in a fuller context allows for better, more sustainable choices for a brighter future.
The image below shows the DTV platform with 5 layers in use overlooking Melbourne CBD.
Improving air quality data accessibility with AQVx
Air quality monitoring is essential for public health, environmental management, and policy development. However, translating complex scientific data into accessible and actionable insights can be challenging. To bridge this gap, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the Victorian Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA), and the University of Tasmania developed the Air Quality Visualisation Tool (AQVx), a web-based platform that integrates diverse air quality datasets into a single interface.
Recognising the need to enhance usability and technical sustainability, these organisations partnered with Portable to refine the platform. Our role in this project involved:
- Assessing user needs to ensure the tool effectively serves researchers, policymakers, and the public.
- Improving usability by redesigning the interface to make complex air quality data more intuitive and interactive.
- Enhancing technical sustainability to ensure the platform remains scalable, adaptable, and easy to maintain in the long term.
By applying user-centred design principles, we transformed AQVx into a more accessible and practical tool, empowering stakeholders to make informed decisions based on real-time air quality data. It’s imperative that technology can be applied in such a way as to make scientific data more usable and impactful, and we did so here through thoughtful geovisualisation.
The image below shows the historical site and a glimpse at the more accessible tool that's on its way.
Using tech for climate hope
Geovisualisation is revolutionising the way we interpret and engage with environmental data. Through collaborations with DEECA, ABS, and other governmental agencies, Portable has played a key role in advancing geospatial design to enhance geospatial data accessibility and usability.
As environmental challenges grow more complex, the need for innovative geospatial solutions will only increase. By prioritising user-centered design, stakeholder engagement, and cutting-edge technology, Portable is helping shape the future of geovisualisation and environmental decision-making.
Want to learn more about how geospatial design can improve your organisation's data visualisation capabilities? Get in touch with our team today.
Ask us more about geospatial design
Our team can facilitate a Discovery Workshop, where we work with you to define the problem and brainstorm solutions, engineered for your needs.
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