Data Story
The Problem
The Northern Territory offers much to residents and visitors in the form of natural beauty, cultural heritage, experiences and services.
However, tourism operators are pessimistic (1) about the future and Territory Government is reporting local services are underutilised.
In addition, recent events have officials more concerned than ever about the threat crocodiles pose to the safety of both tourists and residents (2).
The common thread that ties these things together is that people don’t have the information they need, and it affects their quality of life.
Areas of investigated/research:
· About Crocodiles (3)
· Traditional Stories about Crocodiles - Min-na-wee (4)
· History of crocodile hunting (5)
· Reporting a problem crocodile (6)
· Existing crocodile tracking methods (7 &8)
· Weather (9)
· Crocodile sightings, capture zones and remote are mobile coverage (10,11 &12)
· Northern Territory Digital Boundaries (13)
· Northern Territory Population Distributions (15)
· Norther Territory Police Stations (16)
· NT Market Basket Survey (17)
· Darwin Harbour Habitat Mapping (18)
Our Solution
CrocCierge is the answer! Obtaining Aerial surveys, satellite tracked crocodiles, traps, motion infra-red captures, community crowdsourced reports through our app, as well as external weather related data, this is housed in our cloud platform of choice. Then, by utilising various machine learning models, such as a logistic regression, to classify whether a certain area is of high risk, we can push that out through a live API to our website and phone app for our residents and tourists to use in real time. We also utilise machine learning models to forecast the number of sightings or number of crocs present in the northern territory. When the outputs don’t need to be live, we process them via a bulk batch process for our dashboards and other insights, added and called on from the Digital Atlas of Australia, Northern Territory Government’s Open Data Portal, and Tourism NT. The systems, models, and outputs are constantly monitored for quality assurance, to act on alerts when they are raised.
The app features a login screen, and after logging in, they are presented with a wide variety of options. Here they are able to report a crocodile incident, look at recent crocodile sightings and dangerous zones, explore where the safe zones are, learn more on crocodile related safety, as well as call an urgent crocodile hotline. When reporting a crocodile, users can put in their information, the estimated size of the croc, some optional description, as well as a picture.
It will allow people to ask, in plain language, via voice or text, for information, and using the Retrieval Augmented Generation Large Language Model, return relevant location specific responses to the user, which can be available to screen readers for audio responses, and displayed in various visual modes, such as high contrast, large print, dark mode and colourblind modes, to maximise accessibility for all users. A website will also be available for users who don’t have access to handheld technology or are outside mobile coverage zones. This will also provide data to government services on a number of metrics via dashboards, such as referrals to local services, requests that couldn’t be fulfilled, providing data on what’s needed, particularly in remote areas and generated datasets will create map layers that will improve the Digital Atlas of Australia.
By staying safe, informed and connected, everyone can enjoy the riches the Northern Territory has to offer.
Data Story
1. Industry Sentiment Tourism NT https://tourismnt.com.au/system/files/uploads/files/2024/Ind_Sent_poll_NT%20Jun%2024.pdf
2. Fatal Crocodile Attacks in Australia
https://aussieanimals.com/reptiles/fatal-crocodile-attacks-australia-timeline/
3. Crocodiles - Northern Territory Website
https://northernterritory.com/things-to-do/nature-and-wildlife/crocodiles
4. Min-na-wee (Why the crocodile rolls)
https://dreamtime.net.au/minnawee/
5. Original Crocodile Hunters https://www.earthtouchnews.com/conservation/human-impact/the-original-crocodile-hunters-archive-footage-from-1949-shows-how-australians-hunted-crocs/
6. Report a Problem Crocodile
https://nt.gov.au/emergency/community-safety/report-a-problem-crocodile
7. NT Saltwater Crocodile Wildlife Trade Management Plan: Monitoring Report
https://depws.nt.gov.au/programs-and-strategies/saltwater-crocodile-monitoring
8. Standardised method of spotlight surveys for crocodiles in the tidal rivers of the Northern Territory, Australia https://ntfieldnaturalists.org.au/site/assets/files/1331/ntn24_14-32_fukuda_et_al_crocodile_survey_methods.pdf
9. Weather Data – API
https://www.accuweather.com/
10. NT Crocodile Capture Zones and Daily Count
https://data.nt.gov.au/dataset/nt-crocodile-capture-zones-and-daily-count
11. Crocodile Monitoring Survey 2021-2022
https://data.nt.gov.au/dataset/crocodile-monitoring-survey
12. Mobile Phone Coverage in Remote Areas of the NT 2022
https://data.nt.gov.au/dataset/mobile-phone-coverage-in-remote-areas-of-the-nt
13. Northern Territory Mesh Blocks ASGS Ed 2016 Digital Boundaries https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/1270.0.55.001July%202016?OpenDocument
14. CrocCierge POC Dashboard
https://public.tableau.com/views/CrocCierge/Dashboard1?%3AshowVizHome=no#1
15. Digital Atlas of Australia - Population Distribution
https://digital.atlas.gov.au/pages/97a1af8284d24a7195ee51fb1f6d2059
16. Digital Atlas of Australia - Police Stations
https://digital.atlas.gov.au/datasets/e5097c31e56545839b236a86b25546e7_2/explore
17. NT Market Basket Survey 2023
https://data.nt.gov.au/dataset/nt-market-basket-survey-2023
18. Darwin Harbour Habitat Mapping Program 2015-2018 https://data.nt.gov.au/dataset/darwin-harbour-habitat-mapping-program/resource/964ee0be-fae7-444a-b47f-2d17b6d1a053