Data, Data, Everywhere - Life After Data Collection

Since 2014, Christchurch City Council has invested in the collection of asset condition data for over 500 km of open channel waterways. The purpose was to understand the impacts of the earthquakes and to help derive the current condition of the watercourses across the city. Over the past two years, a specialised condition assessment specification has been developed and over 3,500 hours have been logged collecting data in the field.

With data collection and verification now complete, the true benefit of this data is becoming evident. Over 25,000 data points have been captured through the field assessments, showing that about 15% of the faults identified on the waterways have been directly caused or impacted by the earthquakes. With 25GB of data and photos available, the focus shifts to analysis of the data to guide asset management and operations & maintenance decisions.

The critical benefits that have been accrued to date are:

- obtaining a baseline snapshot of network condition and damage;

- identifying a series of critical asset failures;

- validating and augmenting Council GIS information;

- highlighting the prevalence of compliance issues affecting hydraulic capacity of the waterways;

- delivering baseline information for a long term operational and maintenance contract;

- feeding the long-term asset renewals pipeline; and

- providing information to support the Council’s asset valuation activities.

This paper summarises the benefits of a comprehensive data collection process and shows examples of how a large amount of data can be utilised for strategic decisions that ultimately lead to better planning and cost-savings.