NSW's pioneering land use technology platform, Land iQ, has secured over $11 million in State and Commonwealth funding to support its ongoing efforts to identify surplus and under-utilised public land for housing and expand its applications across multiple sectors. Winner of the Australian Property Institute's Innovation in Property Award, Land iQ consolidates more than 40 types of land use data, enabling searches of more than 8 million parcels and properties and rapid testing of different land use scenarios.
Currently used by NSW Government departments and nine local councils, Land iQ streamlines processes, reduces time and costs and minimises duplication of effort. After playing a key role in flood management planning in northern NSW, the platform is now being used to support the State Government's housing audit of public land.
Land iQ transforms land and property management by providing rich data and analytics to accelerate the identification and assessment of land for housing and related uses. This results in faster outcomes that benefit local communities.
The NSW Government is investing $9.3 million over the next two years to further develop Land iQ, in addition to the initial $1.8 million invested in the pilot. The Australian Government is contributing $1.8 million through the first round of the Disaster Ready Fund. This funding will take Land iQ from a pilot to a mature tool available for licensing to a range of sectors including private industry, local government, universities, researchers and Aboriginal land councils.
Recommended by the 2022 NSW Flood Inquiry, Land iQ is being upgraded in line with Commonwealth funding to incorporate natural hazard risk and resilience analysis. This expansion will enable hazards such as bushfires, droughts and floods to be considered in Land iQ assessments. The Commonwealth funding also opens up the possibility for Land iQ to be adopted by other jurisdictions across Australia once fully mature. The platform was developed by WSP Australia and NSW start-up Giraffe, with high-resolution maps provided by Aerometrex.