Environmental Data Dashboard
We partnered with Greater Wellington Regional Council to develop the Environmental Data Dashboard — a platform used to monitor the region's air, land, freshwater, and coastal environments to track the state of the environment over time.
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The Challenge
Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) needed to make real-time environmental monitoring data — including water levels, water quality, rainfall, groundwater and compliance flows — accessible to both the public and internal stakeholders.
Their existing Hilltop data server was built for scientific data storage, not public engagement. While technically robust, it lacked intuitive visualisation, contextual interpretation tools, and self-service configuration. Accessing and interpreting datasets required specialist knowledge, limiting broader transparency and usability.
GWRC required a modern, scalable platform that could:
- Translate complex environmental datasets into clear, accessible visualisations
- Support public transparency and regulatory reporting
- Allow internal teams to manage configuration independently
- Integrate seamlessly with live monitoring infrastructure
We designed and engineered the Environmental Data Dashboard (graphs.gw.govt.nz) — a decoupled, CMS-driven web application built specifically for public-sector resilience and flexibility.
The platform integrates directly with GWRC’s Hilltop API, rendering live environmental data through interactive Highcharts visualisations, structured tabular views, and geospatial interfaces.
Crucially, the system was architected with a CMS-first approach, enabling council staff to:
- Configure measurement types and parameters
- Manage compliance flow sites seasonally
- Control display thresholds and quality code indicators
- Update explanatory content without developer intervention
Over three major release cycles, we expanded the platform’s analytical capability to include:
- Envelope plots for historic min/max range comparison
- Cumulative rainfall analysis
- Scatter plots for discrete sampling data
- Compliance flow pages with seasonal toggle controls
- CSV exports for open data access
- Fully responsive layouts for mobile and field use
Every enhancement reinforced the goal of making complex environmental data both scientifically rigorous and publicly accessible.
The dashboard achieved rapid and sustained adoption:
- Active users grew from 21,000 in 2024 to 29,000 in 2025 — a 39% increase
- 846,000 interaction events were recorded in 2025
- Early 2026 engagement rates outpaced user growth by 11 percentage points
Seasonal usage patterns closely aligned with quarterly reporting cycles, indicating the dashboard has become embedded in how the region accesses and interprets environmental data.
Beyond usage metrics, the architectural impact has been equally significant:
- Council teams independently manage compliance sites and measurement configurations
- Reduced reliance on ongoing development support
- A future-ready platform capable of adapting to evolving monitoring requirements
The result is a genuinely self-sustaining public data platform — strengthening transparency, improving accessibility, and modernising how environmental information is delivered across the region.
Envelope graph plots
Graph tabular data display and CSV exports
Map-based filtering of monitoring site locations within the Greater Wellington region
Compliance flow summaries and water take restriction alerts
Climate maps visualiser and time-lapse
The Conclusion
The Environmental Data Dashboard continues to evolve as GWRC's primary public interface for environmental monitoring data.