We Know Where

The Rapid Analytics Interactive Scenario (RAISE) toolkit is a spatial data tool that allows users to quickly estimate and visualise property value.   

The Challenge

The Rapid Analytics Interactive Scenario (RAISE) toolkit was a CRCSI project completed in 2017. RAISE is a spatial data tool allowing users to quickly estimate and visualise property value. It was optimised for NSW and Western Sydney council datasets, and hence was limited to these areas. A version of the tool was successfully deployed and tested in Brisbane. The purpose of this utilisation project was to apply, embed and value RAISE in real world scenarios across Sydney, focussing on several use cases as defined by key end users – city/transport planners, land development agencies and property valuers. This was in order to understand the scalability of the toolkit and market demand in the key  sectors across the built environment with a view to wider applicability and uptake of the tool.

Partners

The CRCSI partners were the NSW Department of Finance Services and Innovation (DFSI), University of NSW (UNSW), Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and Omnilink Pty Ltd. Other project partners were the City of Parramatta Council, Blacktown City Council, Landcom, Brisbane City Council, and Australian Property Monitors Price Finder (APMPF).

The Solution

RAISE estimates how property values are affected by features such as proximity to a school or the building of a new train station or hospital, using one of the automated valuation models built into the toolkit. The generated values are visualised on a map and can be overlayed with other geospatial information layers.

This project leveraged significant investment in both technical development of the RAISE software platform, a comprehensive databased spanning approximately 2 million properties in metropolitan Sydney, and a suite of econometric models developed and tested as part of the previous CRCSI project. The utilisation project focused the toolkit on four use cases:

1. Use Case 1 – assist council planners in Paramatta City Council and Blacktown City Councils.
2. Use Case 2 – assist State government agencies in investigating the value uplift associated with the North West Sydney Metro.
3. Use Case 3
   • automate the analysis of property and sales, and land valuations.
   • community facing RAISE interface.
4. Use Case 4 – redeploy and validate the toolkit for Brisbane City Council (BCC).

This project established both the backend architecture and frontend interface and tested several functions using hedonic price modelling. The outputs inform land valuations and expected ‘value uplift’ created through infrastructure provision across metropolitan Sydney as well as capture value uplift from rezoning of land in strategic locations. A dedicated Community Version of RAISE with reduced complexity of valuation and session sharing features between the agency and property owners was also presented particularly for use by Property NSW. The Brisbane use case extended the datasets used within RAISE to include QLD and BCC specific datasets to begin to evaluate wider applicability and uptake.

Impact

The RAISE utilisation project developed an innovative data driven and modelling approach to support strategic city planning, infrastructure management and infrastructure planning at scale. It delivered a first of its kind digital platform that can rapidly calculate value uplift from placing of new transport infrastructures. The outcomes and benefits include:

1. One of the innovative applications of this product is that the user is provided with an open “Input Panel” where planning controls can be entered, which provides flexibility in using RAISE to test a wide variety of case scenarios tailored for a user’s specific needs.
2. The improved functionality of the models will impact the future statutory land valuation process adopted by the NSW Government.
3. The community interface tool has significant implications for establishing a fairer and transparent land valuation process that can be realised by public agencies such as Property NSW.
4. The extension of the toolkit to Brisbane demonstrated that it is widely applicable and can be scaled to different regions and municipalities, which in turn increased the commercial readiness of the project.

RAISE has been recognised with the Best Industry-led Partnership Award at the Committee for Sydney Smart Cities Awards, and in 2020 won the Cutting Edge Research and Teaching Award at the Planning Institute of Australia Awards in NSW.

The accomplishments of the RAISE utilisation project built a strong case for continuation, and the project is now transitioning to a new project known as “Value Australia”. Value Australia is an innovative, new collaborative project which aims to address the challenges with Australia’s current approach to property value assessment through automated, transparent and interactive property valuations.

Contact

To learn more, contact FrontierSI at contact@frontiersi.com.au.