The NSW government has launched a single online resource portal to manage, share and update environmental data for communities and the industry.

The NSW government will open up online access to planning data with the launch of a dedicated portal. This Sharing and Enabling Environmental Data (SEED) portal contains 70 sets of data from nine different NSW agencies.
 
The online data incorporates information about soil, air and water quality, mining activities and some vegetation. More data sets will be added in the next stage of the portal’s development.
 
Mark Speakman, minister for the environment, said this portal demonstrates the potential of online and geospatial technology to deliver timely, transparent and easy-to-access quality data.
 
“The future vision for SEED is for the portal to become one of the most accessible and richest sources of quality data on the NSW environment,” he said.
 
This information-sharing incorporates the use of powerful visualisation tools to gain an understanding of flora and fauna, as well as the environment.
 
End users can add successive layers of geospatial information on an online map without having to download additional or expensive software. In future, community groups can share their own data in an information-rich environment.
 
Andrew Roberts, minister for industry, resources and energy, said the portal was built in response to community requests for reliable and readily-available information about the environment in NSW.
 
“The beauty of this new initiative is that it makes all that valuable information available in a single online resource,” he said.