How Is It Used?

Locally:

The Woady Yaloak Catchment Project uses the Streets Ahead™ GIS program for planning projects, monitoring and reporting the progress of on-ground works and sharing information. The software is used at three different levels within the Catchment: by individual landholders, neighbourhood groups and the Project Executive.

Individual landholders use Streets Ahead to visualise their property layout, plan projects and record information about paddock management.

Neighbourhood groups use Streets Ahead to assist in the creation of their five year landscape plans. The groups use the GIS to view satellite images of their group area and display other useful maps of landscape features, e.g. hydrology, soil type and roads. The GIS also allows local, state and regional priorities to be included in the planning process. This aerial perspective helps groups to plan linkages between properties and build the "jigsaw puzzle" of on-ground works necessary to improve the local landscape.

The Woady Yaloak Project Executive is able to amalgamate all neighbourhood group plans to achieve a picture of the works program for the entire catchment. This information is used to report back to stakeholders, generate funding applications and track the progress of the Woady Yaloak Project as a whole.

Other users:

Since its launch, interest in Landscapes for the Future has increased Australia-wide. The Mallee and Corangamite catchment management regions, as well as part of the Glenelg-Hopkins, Upper Campaspe and other Victorian regions have adopted the tool for farm and group planning. Interest has also reached as far as Western Australia and Queensland.

Students from the School of Mines at the University of Ballarat use Streets Ahead in their Associate Diploma of Natural Resource Management. Students are introduced to geographic information systems (GIS) using Streets Ahead and are encouraged to explore its applications for land management. In 2003-04, a number of students went on to do biodiversity and salinity mapping projects where they used Streets Ahead as the main recording tool.

The Swan Bay Catchment uses the Streets Ahead software to map the distribution and detail of serrated tussock infestations in their catchment. They are planning to expand this application to include a wider range of weeds and incorporate monitor data from biological weed control trials being conducted in the area.

The Watershed 2000 project has been successfully using Streets Ahead for a number of years. They are mapping and recording the detail of all their project work. Landholders are also being taught to use the software and are encouraged to use it as a tool to assist with farm management and planning Landcare projects. Local secondary school students are also being introduced to the program.