DAS launches groundbreaking regional 3D terrain mapping

Geospatial technology company DAS (Digital Agricultural Services) have launched a 3D terrain mapping solution for the regional and rural property sector to easily visualise the topography of hectares of land.

A global first, the company says the technology will have broad implications for real estate, finance and agribusiness.

DAS expects broader uptake from its existing property industry clients which include JLL, Ray White, AWN and multiple smaller agencies, who increasingly see a demand to trade properties remotely in order to cater to overseas purchasers.

According to the Foreign Investment in Australia Bureau (FIRB), the country saw a modest uptick in the percentage of farmland owned by foreign entities, from 12.3% in the 2022 financial year to 12.9% in the 2023 financial year. The majority of overseas owners originate from China and the UK.

“Charting topography is a major component of selling land,” Anthony Willmott, CEO of DAS said.

“Significant hills and slopes, existing vegetation and water supplies are defining aspects of a rural property. They can affect its value, its resilience to disasters and the overall use cases. All of this easily accessible, immersive information helps facilitate qualified buyers through a transaction lifecycle, and can help properties stand out.”

“This essentially brings the same 3D virtual tour technology that’s well-used with urban properties and applies it to a regional context – in a more granular and meaningful way than Google Earth alone. This technology brings data that typically resides in spreadsheets to life, so both business and their customers can visualise specialised information that affects land value, productivity and utility in a meaningful way. Think ‘walking through’ a rural property and its ‘layout’ without leaving your home or office.”

Willmott added, “Until now, landowners and the property ecosystem had to chart this manually. Or alternatively, when buying a property, inspect it to get a sense of what they are working with. This world-first innovation from DAS, being pioneered for Australia and New Zealand, will save so much time.”

The innovation was driven by DAS’ customers in the finance and insurance sectors, who leverage this information to help assess loans, risk and financing for rural properties. For those clients, DAS’ tool is essential for assessing a property’s profile including climate change risk, identifying crops, land use and predicting yield.

Powered by advances in geospatial technology, DAS’ data and powerful suite of tools has proved instrumental in decision making for a number of policy agendas including: risk mitigation, food security, spatial finance, land use mapping and trade.