Client: Geoscience Australia
Expertise: Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning | Data Science | Project Management
The challenge
Flooding continues to pose a serious risk to Australian communities, causing the evacuation of thousands of people and billions of dollars in damage each year.
To plan effectively and estimate the impacts of flooding, Geoscience Australia (GA) needed accurate, up-to-date data on First Floor Heights (FFH) for residential buildings in high-risk areas across the country. This information is critical for understanding property vulnerability, modelling potential losses, and supporting mitigation decisions.
GA required a scalable and repeatable scientific method to produce FFH that can be applied to other infrastructure types and hazards in the future.
The FrontierSI solution
FrontierSI were engaged to design and test a new, data-driven approach to estimating first-floor heights. Using our expertise in spatial research, AI/ML, data science and analytics, we worked closely with the client to:
- Research available data and potential methods applicable to Australia.
- Test and trial the chosen method, working iteratively with GA to understand gaps and refine the approach.
- Develop a repeatable machine learning based method to determine FFH from street view imagery and 3D point cloud data.
- Develop a user interface to enable visualisation and interaction with FFH results.
The impact
The FFH method and data produced are accurate, repeatable, scalable, cost-effective, and transparent and will help GA and a range of other users to:
- Determine more accurate estimations of loss for the residential National Flood Risk Assessment and therefore enable better insurance affordability.
- Undertake flood risk assessments to identify properties at or below different flood levels.
- Conduct property mitigation planning to recommend house raising or retrofitting.
- Improve development approvals by conditioning new builds and extensions based on a more nuanced understanding of risk.
- Improve emergency evacuation and planning by mapping high-risk communities for targeted alerts.
- Provide evidence to support policy for buyback and relocation schemes.
This project shows how FrontierSI helps governments translate complex data challenges into practical, scalable solutions that build resilience for communities across Australia.
Contact Us
Looking to explore the flood risk to properties in your area? Contact FrontierSI.