[LINK] InnAus: Digital National Address File / G-NAF / PSMA now Geospace

[Roger Clarke]

[ It's a bit alarming that, for the last 3 years, the CEO of the public 
body responsible for the national address database has previously been 
with News Corporation, NineMSN and arch-consumer-privacy-invader Acxiom. 
   Another Morrison-era appointee?

[ The report on the interview is interesting, informative and of course 
welll-written, and, in itself, provides no additional cause for concern.

[ For clarity, as a 50-year ICT person, eBusiness consultant, etc., I 
regard that database as highly valuable for both economic and social 
good - but also as a data-collection that is a natural monopoly, and 
intrinsically risky to individuals because of its scope for being used 
to pinpoint their locations and their associations.

[ So it's essential that control, usage, and licensing are all under the 
control of a public body, and one that is carefully managed in the 
interests of the Australian public. ]


Dean Capobianco and our digital National Address File
James Riley
Editorial Director
Innovation Aus
14 February 2024
https://www.innovationaus.com/dean-capobianco-and-our-digital-national-address-file/

The geocoded national address file – known as the G-NAF – is 
little-known in the mainstream community but nonetheless a critical 
national data asset that enables services ranging from risk management 
in the insurance industry to the efficient delivery of pizza.

The G-NAF is the ultimate single source of truth for addresses in 
Australia. It maps properties across all states and territories. It is a 
foundational layer for the geolocation data that drives large parts of 
the economy.

This national data asset is managed and serviced by Geoscape Australia, 
a commercial location intelligence company owned collectively by the 
governments of Australia – federal, state and territories.

The Geospace Australia chief executive is former Olympian Dean 
Capobianco, who in his post athletics career in the years since the late 
90s has been immersed in digital technology and managing digital 
transformations across a variety of businesses and industries.

In this episode of the Commercial Disco, Dean Capobianco talks about 
geolocation data in a way that will make you sit up a little straighter 
and open your eyes a little wider.


Dean Capobianco first came to public prominence as a 200-metre sprinter, 
Australia’s best. He represented the country at the 1992 Barcelona and 
1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.

His transition from sport to business came through News Corporation and 
what would become News Digital Media, and along the way included stints 
at Yahoo!, NineMSN, CareerOne and Acxiom. He has been CEO at Geoscape 
Australia for about three years.

At Geoscape, Mr Capobianco has built a digital transformation engine 
that he says can drive better and more efficient services across the 
economy, whether those services are delivered by the public sector – 
state or federal – or through private sector customers.

“Geoscape Australia is a location intelligence company, and we focus on 
data and data outcomes,”Mr Capobianco says. We are considered the source 
of truth for national geolocation information and insights for both 
government and industry.

“And really, at Geoscape we view our business as a critical data asset 
that supports and enables the Australian economy.”

The focus on creating products on top of that foundational layer of 
geocoded address data. Part of that focus has been to lift the profile 
of the data-sets that Geoscape maintains, and to encourage engagement 
from potential customers that can build value-added services on top of 
that foundation.

A short history lesson he tells is that the organisation has been around 
for 25 years. It was originally the Public Sector Mapping Agency (PSMA), 
set up to bring together all of the land administration data of the 
states and territories to build a national asset.

“There was this real need to stitch a lot of information together to 
develop a national data footprint, effectively Both government and 
industry really required sort of consistent, reliable national data set 
to support their own initiatives.

That is what has been created. The G-NAF dataset is freely available, 
used by governments and the business community, from corporations to 
startups.

This is a commercial operation, owned by government shareholders. It is 
expected to be profitable, in which the shareholders have allowed the 
organisation to push the profits back into the development of the data 
products.

The value of the G-NAF data-set – and others that have been built with 
that – is best described through emergency services.

“One of the examples that really helps explain what we do is in 
emergency services, it’s a great example of how the information is 
used,” Mr Capobianco said.

“And so in the case of natural disasters, which we’ve seen a lot of over 
recent years – floods and fires – the Geoscape data helps responders to 
understand more about the impacts on the areas that are affected, so 
that they can make timely decisions,” he said.

“They need to understand which properties are impacted by these natural 
disasters. They need to know what the street address of that property 
is, they need to know information about a property to help them manage 
disaster recovery efforts – such as where is the position of that 
building on a certain property so that they can get access to it to 
support people and evacuate people.”

Outside of the governments themselves, the biggest users of these 
datasets are insurance companies and financial institutions. Insurance 
companies use the address data to price premiums, to better understand 
areas affected by natural disasters.

But the data is central to government service and relief operations, 
also, tracking social services and emergency in a way that could not 
have been contemplated in the past.

It’s clearly a strange transition from elite sport to business, and 
there are plenty of lessons learned. Dean Capobianco became attached to 
the fast-moving digital world very soon after leaving athletics and says 
there have been plenty of lessons learned.

He has led a transformation of Geoscape – mercifully renamed from PSMA – 
to make its base products more available to a wider community of users.

This is a great interview. There is a lot for smaller Australian 
companies and startups to understand about the datasets that are 
available. There is huge opportunity here. This is the base layer of any 
digital twin.

The Commercial Disco podcast is produced in partnership with the 
national science agency, CSIRO.


-- 
Roger Clarke                            mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au
T: +61 2 6288 6916   http://www.xamax.com.au  http://www.rogerclarke.com

Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
Visiting Professorial Fellow                          UNSW Law & Justice
Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University
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