Project Snapshot
- Client: BHP, Rio Tinto, Hancock Iron Ore, Fortescue, Mineral Resources
- Partners: Curtin University, Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER), and Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA)
- Expertise: Environmental Monitoring, Satellite Earth Observations, Geospatial Applications and Analytics
The challenge
Groundwater dependent vegetation (GDV) plays a vital role in maintaining ecosystems, biodiversity, and water quality, yet it is highly sensitive to changes in groundwater levels caused by mining and land development. Without accurate, ongoing monitoring, declines in GDV health could go unnoticed until significant environmental impacts occur.
Regulators and industry needed a reliable, scalable and data-driven way to detect and respond to environmental change early, moving away from infrequent or hazardous field surveys. The challenge was to make Earth observation and machine learning methods more accessible, automated, and adaptable, so decision-makers could confidently track vegetation health, species distribution, and waterbody dynamics across large and remote landscapes.
The FrontierSI solution
FrontierSI led the development of the ENVestigator toolkit, in close collaboration with DWER, Curtin University, and major mining companies. The project focused on transforming proven research into practical geospatial tools that support regulatory confidence, improve transparency, and strengthen sustainable land and water management.
Our Approach
- Developed the ENVestigator toolkit to support large-scale monitoring and regulatory use.
- Built a new ArcGIS Pro toolkit for groundwater dependant vegetation extent mapping, condition trajectory analysis, reference site comparison, species mapping, and waterbody analysis.
- Applied advanced Earth observation and machine learning techniques to expand mapping, modelling, and change detection capability.
- Collaborated with DWER, industry, and research partners to ensure the tools align with real-world regulatory needs and can be maintained sustainably.
The Result
The ENVestigator toolkit provides an integrated, easy-to-use platform for monitoring vegetation and waterbodies across the Pilbara. It combines data and imagery from multiple satellite sensors (Landsat, Sentinel-2, and WorldView) to deliver consistent, repeatable, and transparent environmental insights.
Regulators and resource companies can now monitor environmental change with greater accuracy and confidence, reducing risk and improving how sensitive groundwater ecosystems are managed.
The Impact
- Enabled smarter environmental decision-making through automated analysis of vegetation health, species distribution, and waterbody change.
- Improved early detection of ecosystem decline, helping DWER and industry partners act proactively to prevent environmental impacts.
- Reduced risk and operational cost by reducing manual, infrequent surveys with scalable, satellite-based monitoring.
- Supported sustainable land and water management through consistent, transparent, and repeatable environmental reporting tools.
- Delivered data-driven insights that strengthen resilience to environmental change and improve long-term planning.
FrontierSI continues to be a trusted partner using complex spatial data to deliver innovative, science-based solutions for better environmental outcomes.
Looking Ahead
FrontierSI and its partners, including DWER, DBCA, Curtin University, and leading resource companies, are now building the next phase of ENVestigator, focused on scaling its reach and capability across Western Australia and beyond.
The upcoming development will strengthen ENVestigator as a validated, trusted, and scalable environmental monitoring system, extending its proven science into a cloud-based, user-friendly platform.
Future enhancements will:
- Expand model validation and scientific transparency, ensuring consistent, regulator-ready outputs built on trusted data and methods.
- Automate quality assurance and reporting, making environmental insights faster to access, easier to share, and aligned with compliance requirements.
- Enable regional-scale monitoring through efficient cloud processing and flexible deployment options, accessible via both web and ArcGIS environments.
- Enhance user access and support, with training, guidance, and helpdesk capability to build confidence and long-term adoption among regulators and industry users.
These developments position ENVestigator as a benchmark platform for data-driven environmental intelligence, empowering partners and organisations to make informed, transparent decisions that protect ecosystems while supporting responsible development.
FrontierSI will continue leading this collaborative effort, uniting science, technology, and industry insight to deliver practical, scalable tools for Australia’s environmental future.
Get in Touch
Looking to unlock the full potential of Earth observation and spatial data for smarter environmental monitoring?
Contact FrontierSI – your partner in turning complex data into actionable insights.
Project Links:
Stage 1 Project Outputs
- Modelling and Monitoring Groundwater Dependent Vegetation with Open Data Cube Imagery (Report)
- Communique 1
- Communique 2
Stage 2 Project Outputs