AIMS and partners win smart IT award for unifying scientific monitoring with images

The International Virtual Environment Centre (iVEC), AIMS and other partners won a prestigious Incite award from the WA Information Technology and Telecommunications Alliance (WAiTTA) in Perth recently.

The Incite award was presented to the team for the Collaborative and Automated Tools for Analysis of Marine Imagery (CATAMI ) project to develop smart online tools which enable users to upload, organise, categorise and share photo data from field trips.

“This means now that researchers can collectively view and analyse data in a standard way leading to far better and faster habitat assessment and monitoring which help to inform management decisions. It also means that scientists can collaborate better on research throughout Australia,” said AIMS spatial modeller, Dr Ben Radford.

CATAMI has now been shortlisted for the national iAwards for innovation in information technology later this year and it will be used as part of the Long Term Monitoring Program at AIMS. The program, which now has a comprehensive data set on the health of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), spanning 30 years, has made a substantial contribution toward the sustainable use the tropical marine environment through advising stakeholders of impacts to the GBR.

The WA Information Technology and Telecommunications Alliance (WAiTTA) has been conducting an annual award since 1991. The purpose of WAiTTA is to recognise outstanding performance and contributions by members of the information and computer technology community in Western Australia. The ceremony was held at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre. The majority of funding for the development of the CATAMI resource came from the National eResearch Collaboration Tools and Resources project.

For more information please visit: http://www.waitta.asn.au/