Big data concepts for Natural Resource Management
Nick Marsh, Marsh Bonny · 2014
The internet has become a valuable resource for data driven industries. Natural Resource Management (NRM) is a data driven industry, and is well placed to make the most of government initiatives which publish rich environmental data. These public data resources can now easily be combined with local data using online data analysis platforms. This paper illustrates opportunities gained through leveraging locally collected data with larger government datasets. To make the most of the rich online data resources, NRM agencies need to have their data easily accessible and combinable with the online resources. To become a more data driven industry, NRM agencies can embrace online team-based data sharing and management. This online approach allows a distributed solution to data management which empowers all team members to be data custodians and data analysts (data democratisation). A major limitation to the NRM industry being more data driven is a lack of industry wide performance data to act as benchmarks for determining both the likely cost and benefits of NRM activities.