The Draft National Infrastructure Data Collection and Dissemination Plan (Data Plan), which looks at how data can be used to make better infrastructure planning decisions, has been released for public comment.
Minister for Urban Infrastructure, Paul Fletcher, said there are big opportunities to use data to deliver better infrastructure services to Australians.
“The Data Plan project is part of the Turnbull Government’s reform agenda in infrastructure, with the aim of having better data to guide decision making,” Mr Fletcher said.
Opportunities discussed in the draft Data Plan include collecting road freight data for determining and addressing points of congestion for freight vehicles, and using telecommunications data to better understand large-scale patterns in the movement of people.
“Today’s cars and trucks generate large volumes of data, and there are rich opportunities use this data to build better roads,” Mr Fletcher said.
“For example, we can use the data to see whether the roads trucks actually use are the ones we think they use – helping us target where new road investment should go.
“The draft Data Plan identifies infrastructure data and information gaps, and highlights opportunities to use data better to monitor the performance of Australia’s infrastructure networks, and make more informed investment decisions as a result.
“We are asking for feedback by 1 November 2017, and I encourage everybody with an interest in this topic to have their say.”
The draft Data Plan was developed by the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) with infrastructure and transport experts from across the public sector, industry and academia.
Submission details, the draft Data Plan and further details on the project are available at: bitre.gov.au/data_dissemination/index.aspx
