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A year in review

We’ve been able to host workshops and national events, propose exciting new research and bring environmental and data researchers together to share and collaborate on their work.With Christmas just around the corner, we wanted to take this opportunity to share some of our highlights from 2022.Artificial intelligence used to predict the impacts of future flooding eventsEarlier this year, we were able to support the development of an artificial intelligence (AI) tool capable of predicting the im...

Wildlife identification App launched

A group of New Zealand researchers have developed the first comprehensive New Zealand-specific species classifier through Artificial Intelligence (AI).Members of the TAIAO project at the Universities of Waikato and Canterbury used a data set of over 1.2 million expert-annotated images to train AI to identify Aotearoa’s plants, animals, and fungi.The programme recognises unique features in photos of species large and small, from Hector’s dolphins to striated ants, and returns the scientific n...

Algal Bloom Detection using a Machine Learning Approach

University of Auckland computer science PhD student Olivier (Oli) Graffeuille has developed a novel machine learning algorithm which can lead to precise estimates from satellite imagery on the quantity and nature of the algae.“Currently algae is usually measured by taking one or two samples and analysing them in a lab. This often isn’t truly representative of the extent of the problem, and it’s costly and slow,’ Graffeuille says.“With remote sensing using satellite imagery, we can esti...

Artificial intelligence used to predict the impacts of future flooding events

It is being developed as part of the TAIAO project and will be one of only a handful of systems in operation in New Zealand using artificial intelligence (AI) machine learning to predict floods and the effects of flooding.Senior researcher at the University of Waikato AI Institute and senior regional hazard advisor at Waikato Regional Council, Dr Phil Mourot says the idea for the project first came about after the Queen’s Birthday weekend flooding in the Coromandel in 2020.“Currently, there ...