RFF

Spent the day at the 1Spatial World Tour 2026 in Perth, a solid mix of technical insight, practical use cases, and time to connect with the WA spatial community.

The recurring theme was data quality, and how everything else builds on it. Easy to take for granted, but the message landed clearly: if the data isn't right, the outcomes won't be either. Poor data means poor decisions, higher risk, and more cost, something plenty of government and utility organisations are working through as they manage ageing infrastructure and disparate data sources.

Good to hear the latest on FME and FME Flow, and where Safe Software is heading with AI native workflows. The AI conversation cut both ways, with real upside but also real risk if it's pointed at messy data. The interesting flip side was how AI might help tackle the "dirty data" problem itself, which feels like one of the bigger opportunities for our industry right now. For those of us building field data and spatial systems day to day, none of that works without a clean, trustworthy foundation underneath it.

The customer presentations were where it all came together. From Sandow's work to building a national mining tenement dashboard from disparate inputs with FME-driven Spatial ETL, through to the of Swan's approach to consolidating data from firebreak inspections and Power's use case of FME to automate the transformation of enterprise opportunity data into accurate, network-aligned spatial products. Real problems, real data, and a clear line back to the quality fundamentals that ran through the whole day.

Kudos to the 1Spatial team for a well run and genuinely useful day, and to everyone who shared their work.

This is a significant achievement for a 100% Indigenous-owned Kimberley business and an important step forward for housing delivery, local manufacturing and regional employment across WA’s north. The grant will support Kimberley Manufacturing to establish a dedicated modular housing workshop, helping deliver affordable, energy-efficient homes to remote and regional communities.

RFF Australia is proud to have assisted Kimberley Manufacturing through this process and to have played a role in supporting an outcome that aligns so strongly with regional development, Aboriginal business growth and practical housing solutions for the north.

Kimberley Manufacturing’s model shows what regional innovation can look like when housing, skills, employment and local enterprise are brought together. With a workforce and contractor base that already includes strong Aboriginal employment participation, this investment has the potential to create long-term social and economic value for communities across the Kimberley.

Congratulations to Brock Watling and the Kimberley Manufacturing team on this well-deserved recognition. We look forward to seeing this project move from grant success to delivery on the ground.