A little over a week into the NZ lockdown and I’m sure all parents are searching for creative ways to keep their kids occupied.
In just a few weeks of starting my new job at Abley as a Graduate Spatial Advisor, I found myself mapping the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic across New Zealand. This project allowed me to put into practice some of the new skills I have acquired so far, and learn from the opportunity of working with real-time data, with some help from my colleagues. The following is a brief rundown of the process I used to create and maintain a real-time dashboard and some of the challenges I faced.
On Tuesday 23 March, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern lifted New Zealand’s COVID-19 alert status to Level 3 and announced this will move to Level 4 on Wednesday 25 March for a minimum of 4 weeks. Under Level 4, all non-essential services must close their physical premises and staff must self-isolate and work from home.
This year's Engineering New Zealand Transportation Group Conference was held in Christchurch from 11-13 March. Two hundred delegates from both the private and public sectors descended on the newly restored Town Hall. Massive thanks to the conference committee, Harding Consultants, and all the sponsors and speakers who organised this excellent conference.
The Abley Auckland team participated in the Ports of Auckland 'Round the Bays' fun run again this year, held on Sunday 8th March.
In early March, our Land Development team went out and about in Auckland to take a first-hand look at some major development areas, including new subdivisions, residential dwellings and schools.
Picture this: Monday morning 8:00am, you’re on your way to work, you turn out of your quiet street to get to the main road and you can see bumper to bumper traffic all the way up the road. A 15 minute drive has now turned into 45 minutes+.
To further ignite Abley's agile journey, some of our Software Development team members attended the third annual Agile Christchurch Conference held at the Hagley Oval on 21st February 2020.
If the places we visit are within cycling distance, do we drive less? Is it really accessibility that is stopping us from using our bike to visit work, the supermarket, doctors and schools or is it something more such as behaviour or convenience? This is the question I wanted to answer through research for my masters, comparing transport accessibility to vehicle kilometres travelled (VKT).
The focus of this year’s Transportation Group Conference is “Equity in Transportation”. The speakers and delegates will explore what it means to develop transport solutions that are multi-modal, environmentally friendly, healthier and safer for all.
