A chance chat with a tree contractor led one Tasmanian council to overhaul its operations.
Sorell Council’s GIS team has transformed its operations by expanding its use of the Konect mobile data platform – from tree inspections to dog registration, waste collection, stormwater modelling and capital works planning.
Serving a population of 16,000 dispersed across 583 square kilometres, the southern Tasmanian council needed technology that could streamline asset monitoring and service delivery without heavy resourcing.
What began as a simple conversation between GIS Manager Julie Mann and a tree contractor sparked the shift.
“He was tracking and monitoring the condition of trees, and told me that a neighbouring Council were using Konect,” Mann said.
“When I saw what it could do, I thought this is really easy. It did what we needed it to, it was simple to create forms, and gave us the mobile solution we just didn’t have.”
The platform enabled the council to build a tree asset register focused on condition, safety risk and follow-up inspections.
“I’m not a coder, but this was really easy to use and very intuitive,” Mann said.
“You can simply copy from other data sets, which is a huge advantage in time saving and productivity.”
Since then, Konect has been adopted across multiple functions.
The dog registration system is now fully digital, with ownership data instantly accessible to both field officers and the contact centre. In waste management, Konect underpins Sorell’s oversized collection booking system, streamlining driver routes, recording pickups, and resolving disputes through timestamped photos.
“It’s the biggest automated thing Konect does for us,” said Mann.
“We had so many disputes with people claiming that the driver had not turned up… With Konect, the driver has a 100 per cent accurate record, takes a photo and can eliminate the, ‘he said, she said’ stuff.”
Stormwater data collection has also been modernised, with Konect supporting precise asset location and feeding into flood modelling. For asset renewal planning, building condition surveys are now carried out room by room and used to model Sorell’s 10-year capital works program.
The platform is also central to Sorell’s annual fire abatement program. Field staff use Konect to track required actions, reinspections and contractor handoffs.
“From the administration to the person on the front line, we have a system that’s easy to use across so many departments,” Mann said.
“It’s customisable, there’s no duplication… and it’s brilliant for picking up a lot of data in one shot.”
