Sports Fields Data Capture

Background

Brisbane City Council is establishing a turf and asset management application for sports fields across Brisbane. To assist with the registration and management of sports fields and park assets, Council needed up to date information for each and every sports field site across Brisbane.

Objective

To collect detailed sports field information and associated infrastructure to assist Council in planning, asset management, turf maintenance and financial management purposes.

Scope of Services

This project required the mapping and collection of detailed asset data for over 1200 sports fields across Brisbane.

Project

The following asset groups were included in the project:

• Sports surfaces, both turf and non-turf
• Sports field boundaries, including rugby, soccer, AFL, cricket, tennis, hockey, athletics, baseball, basketball, netball, lawn bowls, croquet, equestrian, volleyball, etc.
• Associated infrastructure, including goal posts, sports lights, water tanks
• Buildings including pavilions, clubrooms, toilets, grandstands, storage sheds etc
• Typical attributes included Unique Asset ID, Type, Material, Dimensions, Comment, Photo, Reserve Name/ID, and Date.

Methodology

Aerial photography was used to plot the sports surfaces, sports field boundaries and other visible assets in the office. These features were then verified in the field using custom GIS field software on tablet PCs. Additional features were located in the field to sub metre accuracy using differential GPS.
All assets were fully attributed in the field. A unique photo was taken for each sports field and cricket wicket. Sports lights were linked to a generic photo of the light type.
A challenge was to define the sports field boundaries and surfaces wherever possible. Seasonally, the sporting areas will be re-marked to be used for different sports. For example, fields could be marked as rugby pitches in the winter and cricket in the summer.
Careful review of aerial photography taken at different times of the year allowed the boundaries of individual sport fields to be defined.

Deliverables

The project deliverables included:

• Individual GIS layers for surfaces, boundaries, goal posts, sports lights, water tanks and buildings. GIS data was in MapInfo table format in the projection MGA94 Zone 56, compatible with Council’s GIS.
• Data suitable for use as reference in Crest Turf Inspection application.
• Asset images including generic photos of lights and unique photos of sports fields and cricket wickets.