MangroveWatch Coastal Habitat Assessment & Monitoring Portal (CHAMP)

The project strategy is called the Coastal Health Archive and Monitoring Program (CHAMP). High resolution panolapse imagery & overlapping images with continuous views of the intertidal shorelines of Australasia. This category of ShoreView data includes - small vessel estuarine and shoreline imagery - the extent has been around 2000 km in total from multiple sites around the country. For example, surveys have been undertaken from 8 Southern GBR estuaries between Gladstone and Hervey Bay. Data has been collected under the supervision of JCU researchers by numerous community groups, as community volunteers, and by indigenous ranger teams.

Primary assessment of imagery includes: coordinate location of each image, the assignment of categories of ecosystem type, structure like tree height, condition, and the types and severity of processes observed like trees damaged by storms, fire, weeds, livestock, erosion. Further assessment includes apportioning these categories for specific estuarine sections, and ranking conditions for summary in regional reporting frameworks. The software required for uploading, processing and assessment of data is in development.