Monash GPS

Urban Geospatial Intelligence

Beyond the City Limits: Australia's Rural Geospatial Blind Spot and the Cost of Being Off the Map

Australia's cities are awash in high-resolution location data, but venture beyond the metropolitan fringe and the picture changes dramatically. GPS accuracy degrades, mapping detail thins, and critical infrastructure decisions are made with spatial data that is years — sometimes decades — out of date. Monash researchers are investigating the economic, safety, and equity consequences of this geospatial divide, and working to build the open-source infrastructure that rural Australia urgently needs

Jul 15, 2026

Precision Agriculture

Mapping Country: When Aboriginal Spatial Knowledge and Satellite Technology Walk Together

Across remote Australia, Indigenous communities are reshaping how we think about location technology — not by abandoning traditional knowledge, but by weaving it into the fabric of modern geospatial science. Monash researchers are partnering with Aboriginal land managers to develop culturally grounded mapping tools that serve both ecological and community needs. The results suggest that the most accurate picture of country may be one drawn from two very different, yet deeply complementary, ways

Jul 15, 2026

Precision Agriculture

Satellites Over the Soil: How Precision GPS Is Helping Australian Farmers Survive a Drying Climate

Across Australia's vast agricultural heartland, a quiet technological transformation is underway. GPS-guided irrigation systems and satellite-derived soil moisture mapping are giving farmers unprecedented control over one of the continent's most precious resources — water. Monash geospatial researchers are at the forefront of this shift, developing tools that could redefine how Australia feeds itself in an era of deepening climate uncertainty.

Jul 14, 2026

Urban Geospatial Intelligence

The City Seen From Your Pocket: How Smartphone Location Data Is Quietly Transforming Australian Urban Planning

Millions of Australians carry a GPS receiver in their pocket every day without giving it a second thought. But the anonymised location signals generated by those devices are increasingly shaping decisions about where train lines run, how bus routes are designed, and where future suburbs will be built. This is an opinion piece exploring the promise — and the genuine risks — of harnessing smartphone GPS data for urban planning in Australia.

Jul 14, 2026