ASM
GIS Battles Exotic Pests
Go to your local store and wherever you are, the chances are your butter and meat will come from New Zealand. If it does, it will probably promote itself as clean and green.
That doesn't happen by accident. New Zealand agricultural authorities wage a constant battle against introduced pests to keep the country's reputation and the livelihood of its farmers intact.
| A screen grab from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries system developed by Eagle Technology |
The front line agency in this battle is the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. MAF began providing farmers with expert scientific advice to improve the quality and quantity of their production back in 1892.
More than a century later, the agency has expanded its role to forests and fisheries and continues to protect New Zealand’s interests by managing the quality and security of food stocks throughout the nation.
Times and technology have changed since the late 19th century and MAF has been at the forefront of innovation every step of the way.
'The New Zealand government is strong on protecting our ports; bio-security is a big deal,' says Clifton King, the systems design manager at MAF.
Protecting New Zealand from imported pests is important for the economy and general health of the land and its people and animals. In 2001, New Zealand experienced unwanted hitchhikers on a container shipment from overseas: red fire ants.
Native to South America, these small ants are particularly aggressive and will repeatedly sting anything that appears threatening.
While the stings are not dangerous to most people, the ants pose a serious threat to New Zealand’s native plants and wildlife. Of all the exotic ants discovered in the country to date, red fire ants would have the most significant impact should they become established, with a predicted toll on human health, the environment and economy of NZ$318 million over the next 30 years.
After eradicating the pest at the first attempted incursion, MAF realised containment might not always be possible at the entry port. The Ministry went to tender the next year to create a computerised system that could assist in surveillance monitoring and emergency response to national biohazards.
Eagle Technology Group in Auckland won the contract, adding new capabilities to an existing system to help authorities deal with unfolding biohazards.
The solution, named the Incursion Response System version 2 (IRS2), uses ESRI’s ArcGIS Server software for spatial viewing and modelling of biohazard outbreaks.
'With biohazardous organisms able to travel quickly, rapid response and containment means the difference between a minor incident and a national disaster,' states King.
The system was up and running in 2005 and provides necessary datasets in current map-based views to field response teams. Information from all government ministries is part of the system, including survey accurate 1:50,000 topographic maps and a database with farm locations and boundaries called AgriBase, developed by AsureQuality New Zealand.
This database provides an index of farm type, ownership and management. MAF also includes information on the coastline and in-country water bodies for possible marine incursions.
The data is stored and maintained in an IBM Informix Dynamic Server (IDS) RDBMS with Informix Spatial DataBlade Module.
The database expands the IBM IDS object-relational data server to provide SQL-based spatial data types and functions, which can be used directly through standard SQL and with ESRI’s ArcGIS.
To further enhance the accessibility of spatial data, MAF employs ArcSDE technology. This enhances data management performance, extends the range of data types that can be stored in the database and facilitates a multi-user editing environment.
'The low overhead of this solution makes it one of the better databases for complex spatial operations,' states King.
Built around an XML Browser Application Framework and employing .NET Web services to communicate, IRS2 is set up for fast data service over the internet. However, in response to real life conditions, it also employs a rich Javascript based client application allowing it to communicate with a server via XML, providing for a highly interactive client environment while also reducing network traffic and server loading.
This is especially important when surveillance and monitoring teams go out in the field to areas not set up for high speed internet services. In these instances, the reality is that paper continues to be the chosen method of communication between field and office. The advantage of the system comes when field response teams are able to share information without travelling back to the office.
In cases where a link to the office from all field locations is just not possible, MAF sets up a front online response team (FORT) at the location and dispatches experts into the field with printed maps and forms.
The experts are able to visit the farms, fill out the necessary information, and return to FORT instead of travelling back to the main office. This saves valuable time and resources and has made MAF very efficient when responding to threats, whether they be collecting avian blood samples or monitoring for slow moving pest incursions like red fire ants.
Information sharing between multiple field response teams while out on investigation has become almost real-time. By using dynamic HTML, individual components of the team make their own calls to the Web service.
As a result, IRS2 has a fast response time. Personnel can immediately update the system with the new information, alerting teams both in and out of the office to who has been where and what they have found.
'Sharing information in this manner vastly improves co-ordination and ensures all at-risk areas are investigated and recorded,' says King.
'We had a clear mandate from the government to address the threats posed by exotic incursions,' says King. 'Research showed that a limited outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease affecting pigs, sheep or cattle would result in a cumulative loss of $6 billion in the first year and around $10 billion after two years, not to mention the loss of 20,000 jobs.
‘Clearly, every effort had to be made to reduce the chances of an outbreak like this happening and to have systems in place to mitigate and contain such an outbreak if indeed it did occur.
'On average, four mid-level exotic incursions occur each year,' he continues. 'With global threats such as foot-and-mouth disease and avian flu, we need to know we are taking every precaution we can to intercept any exotic organisms before they get here and contain and eradicate them when they do. IRS2 has given us the tools and the confidence to respond quickly.'
