Supporting Queensland communities and koalas

Through innovative, spatial software solutions, GP One Consulting Pty Ltd is enabling Queenslanders to obtain rapid community disaster relief, supporting koala welfare, aiding Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games transport planning, and South East Queensland planning.

GP One Consulting strongly demonstrates its commitment to Queensland Government’s procurement ‘Delivering for Queensland’ approach through its work, and support of regional jobs.

Founded in 2012, GP One Consulting is headquartered in Townsville. It has 18 staff with 12 staff working in regional Queensland—Townsville, Cairns, Bundaberg, and Charters Towers.

CEO and founder, Gareck Packer said his company, comprised of programmers, developers and solution architects, is a delivery specialist in enterprise Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Gareck’s team leverage commercial off-the-shelf Esri technologies, coupled with advanced practical software development skillsets to collaborate with their clients and place the transformative power of location intelligence in their hands, exposing value, opportunity and efficiency.

Working with the Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy, the company developed a cloud first approach and managed service offering for the Queensland Government Community Recovery Assist platform to automatically assess an applicant's eligibility for funding assistance based on their address.

Gareck said modernising the system meant the advanced cloud infrastructure behind the solution remained accessible in high load periods, it was easier for the community to access grants, and funding assistance was expedited.

The spatial data also allowed the Queensland Government to see and adapt the boundaries for assistance where required, and quickly exclude fraudulent claims.

Following its successful 2020 launch of the QWildlife Platform for Crocodile Management for the Department of Environment and Science, GP One Consulting worked with wildlife officers to extend the platform to include koalas. This led to the development and release of the QWildlife Koala Sighting App in late 2022.

The app allows community members to upload details and a photo whenever they spot a koala and has had over 3,000 reported sightings in the last 6 months. Information is sent to the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) animal welfare teams for follow-up; supporting koala welfare, research, conservation, and management.

'Our team at GP One Consulting are honoured to be able to support Queensland wildlife efforts, and to have an opportunity to work with QPWS Rangers that are the people on the ground really making the difference,' Gareck said.

GP One Consulting has also provided several innovative online mapping decision tools to the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads including:

• Transport Analysis Unit GIS Portal (GISP)—facilitating internal and external collaboration with local councils and other regional stakeholders involved in planning Games Route Networks for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games
• Shaping South-East Queensland (SEQ) 2046 Spatial Explorer, which supports the Shaping SEQ Project and includes dwelling typology, housing demand, developability projections, and population growth modelling to allow users to identify trends and analyse future projections within SEQ.

GP One Consulting is an exemplar of what a small business can achieve in supporting the Queensland Government’s procurement approach, delivering value for Queensland through innovative solutions that support disaster recovery, koala conservation and SEQ planning.