Queensland maps at the touch of a button

Published Thursday, 28 August, 2014 at 11:50 AM

Minister for Natural Resources and Mines
The Honourable Andrew Cripps

Town planners, emergency services and even the Girl Guides are among those expected to take advantage of a new, free Queensland Government initiative which can deliver topographical maps straight to an email inbox.

The new QTopo online service allows anyone to create and then download their own topographical map via the Department of Natural Resources and Mines website.

Minister for Natural Resources and Mines Andrew Cripps said the applications of the service, which is a key element of the Newman Government's Open Data initiative, were endless.

Residents can download maps of their own street or property, emergency services can use the service to co-ordinate live or training operations and businesses can create new maps to enhance their products and services for their clients.     

Minister Cripps joined Assistant Minister for Natural Resources and Mines and Member for Pine Rivers Seath Holswich at the Lawnton Girl Guides and Lawnton Scouts Group to see the youngsters take part in a scavenger hunt using local maps downloaded from QTopo.

“Our free QTopo program allows Scouts and Guides to have fun today but the maps will also be valuable to anyone who enjoys mountain biking, four-wheel driving or hiking,” Mr Cripps said.

“Industry will find it to be a powerful tool for professional applications such as urban planning, mining, emergency management, education and investigating boundaries and land ownership.”

Previously, the Department of Natural Resources and Mines only updated maps periodically, but now it is hoped thousands of people will go online and create custom-made maps for their own use.

“We want to unlock as many data sets for public use as we can,” said Mr Cripps.

“This is just one of the many ways we're helping to support business and grow the tourism pillar of the Queensland economy.”

The new application provides a high level of detail, including the location of water features, roads, urban development, railways, property boundaries and National Parks.

Users can select their own scale and custom define their coverage, including centring the map at their point of interest. Maps can be saved to a computer or tablet and then printed or emailed to others.

The application can be accessed through the Department of Natural Resources and Mines website or at qtopo.dnrm.qld.gov.au or as a web map service for a geographic information system (GIS)  package.

[ENDS] 28 August 2014

Media contact: Kate Haddan 0418 373 516