Realtime display of landslide monitoring data

Russ Pennell, Senior Lecturer, CEDIR, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, 2522. Email: russ@uow.edu.au
Dhammika Ruberu, Technical Production Manager, Flexible Learning Services, CEDIR, University of Wollongong, NSW, 2522. dhammika@uow.edu.au
Dr Phil Flentje, Research Fellow, Faculty of Engineering, University of Wollongong, NSW, 2522. pflentje@uow.edu.au

Keywords

landslide, ASP.NET, remote, monitoring, configuration, REALbasic

Abstract

In areas of high landslide risk, dangerous situations can develop rapidly. The system described here provides near real-time landslide information via the web to researchers, emergency personnel and others assisting them to assess developing risks. Remote field stations collect data continuously and download this to a central site at varying intervals via mobile phone. Processing and display software written using the ASP.NET framework stores the data in directly-graphable form and displays graphs in response to web requests. Design challenges included the changing nature of the instruments in the field, resolved by the use of user-editable configuration files that allowed for instrument changes at short notice.