FreightRelocate

Team Name

Milk is Optional

Team Members

Project Description

This is a GovHack 2022 submission, primarily targeted at the flood, fire and the future: the road to resilience challenge. We created a data visualization tool which can be used to view common freight routes and infrastructure along with disaster maps such as the 2011 flood inundation map.

Freight routes are currently displayed as highlighted green roads. In order to improve performance, the API will intelligently filter out roads which are not relevant to your viewing window. On the left, various display options can be toggled on and off to ensure only relevant data is displayed.

There are several opportunities for future expansion to improve the utility of FreightRelocate:

• In the proof of concept, only Queensland data was used. A real website would collate data from all states in order to form a national system.
• Pandemic route complications are not considered, since only one state is being considered.
• Bushfire visualization was partially working previously, but due to time limitations it was not re-implemented after moving to a faster rendering method.
• In a final system, users would be able to enter (and store) routes. This tool could then show which sections of the route are at most risk along with possible detours.
• Routing should take rest stop locations into account, for instance, and the estimated cost for each detour. For in-progress routes, the vehicle's current locations could be super-imposed.
• Use data from the Bureau of Meteorology to show routes which could potentially be affected within the next 24 hours.
• Use data from emergency services and local councils to show which routes are being affected currently.
• Based on the three previous dot points and data about the cargo, it can prioritize routes that need to be reviewed based on urgency, risk and importance.

If these future expansions were implemented, this could potentially make FreightRelocate an indispensable tool for freight and logistics companies. If you would like more information, please check our repository and try the site for yourself.

Data Story

This data shows Queensland's past with various types of natural disasters, and to some extent where they are likely to occur in the future. With the climate emergency only getting worse, it is imperative that we prepare for a future where we have to not only love a sunburnt country, but one that is burnt the normal way too. One of the best ways to prepare is to ensure that no disaster can leave our road network and associated infrastructure inoperable, and using open source mapping data along with road census and rest stop data, FreightRelocate could be a vital tool in preparing for our future. Throughout this project, we have explored how to best utilize this data and brainstormed what we could do, given more time and resources, to prevent supply shortages.