Posts in Meetup Group
The current state of AI in the world of Data and Analytics with Greg Nash
The current state of AI in the world of Data and Analytics with Greg Nash

AI is reshaping industries faster than we ever imagined, and nowhere is this impact more profound than in the world of structured data. With tools like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and generative AI becoming mainstream, there's a growing fear - and excitement - that AI might be coming for our data jobs. But what's really happening?

In this session, Greg takes us through the current state of AI in the context of structured data and analytics, cutting through hype to understand what's genuinely possible, what's at risk, and what opportunities are emerging for data professionals. It was a robust and engaging discussion which helped to clarify the realistic understanding of AI's impact on structured data roles and how to position yourself (and your team) to stay ahead.

Read More
Meetup Group, Power BIChristian BorovacDiscover EIMeetup, Learning, Empowering, Environmental, Power BI, Artificial IntelligenceComment
Visualising guidelines and exceedances in Power BI
Visualising guidelines and exceedances in Power BI

We often assess environmental data against one (or more) guidelines but it can be notoriously challenging to model, calculate and visualise inside of Power BI. In this session Alice explored some real-world tips and tricks for working with guidelines and exceedances in Power BI, and Daniel showcased a custom Deneb visual he created to highlight water quality exceedances over time, and share his lessons learnt for improving report efficiency!!

Read More
Meetup Group, Power BIAlice DrummondDiscover EIMeetup, Learning, Empowering, Environmental, Power BIComment
Blue Mountains City Council (BMCC) Healthy Waterway Explorer Power BI Report
Blue Mountains City Council (BMCC) Healthy Waterway Explorer Power BI Report

The DiscoverEI and Blue Mountains City Council (BMCC) team worked together to create the public-facing healthy waterway explorer dashboard (available here: https://www.bmcc.nsw.gov.au/waterquality).

In the session Amy StLawrence (BMCC Aquatic Systems Officer) and Alice Drummond discuss the project from start to finish, including: challenges faced; meeting the teams' vision for the report and arriving at the final solution.

The session also explored useful Power BI techniques and visualisations for showcasing this type of environmental water quality and waterbug data, to help inform data-driven decision making across the region.

Read More
Meetup Group, Power BIAlice DrummondDiscover EIMeetup, Learning, Empowering, Environmental, Power BIComment
Using GenAI and Power BI - Fossil Hunting in Kansas
Using GenAI and Power BI - Fossil Hunting in Kansas

In this conversation, Mark McClure discusses various AI tools, particularly focusing on ChatGPT, Perplexity AI, and Copilot, and their applications in data analysis and research. He demonstrates how to gather data for fossil hunting in Kansas using these tools, organize it in Excel, and visualize it in Power BI. The discussion emphasizes the importance of experimenting with AI tools and showcases practical steps for data manipulation and visualization.

Read More
Meetup Group, Power BI, GenAIAlice DrummondDiscover EIMeetup, Learning, Empowering, Environmental, Power BIComment
Exploring the DCCEEW Flood Recovery Power BI Dashboard
Exploring the DCCEEW Flood Recovery Power BI Dashboard

In this session, Alice & Christian from DiscoverEI deep-dived into exploring the recently completed DCCEEW (NSW State Government) Flood Recovery Power BI Dashboard. It is a public dashboard available via the EPA NSW website: https://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/reporting-and-incidents/flood-recovery-programs/water-quality-monitoring-program/flood-recovery-program-east-coast-dashboard.

The session focused on explaining the context behind the tool, then identifying several Power BI techniques adopted to allow for the dynamic user interface. This included Power Query steps, the data model creation, DAX calcs and various visuals including the more advanced Icon Map features. We hope you learn more about Power BI's functionality from viewing this video

Read More
Meetup Group, Dashboard Design, Power BIAlice DrummondDiscover EIMeetup, Learning, Empowering, Environmental, Power BIComment
AI, not Excel: Using ChatGPT for environmental data analysis
AI, not Excel: Using ChatGPT for environmental data analysis

In this session, Matthew O'Brien guided us through some practical AI use cases developed for environmental data using ChatGPT, drawing from his own experience and insights from his peers. These examples aimed to illustrate the potential of AI as a valuable part of your data exploration and automation toolkit, possibly saving time and sanity from performing similar processes in Excel!

Read More
Meetup GroupAlice DrummondDiscover EIMeetup, Learning, Empowering, Environmental, Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPTComment
The next generation of maps for Power BI with Icon Map Pro
The next generation of maps for Power BI with Icon Map Pro

In this session James Dales dived into his new custom visual: Icon Map Pro. James showed how to achieve some of the more advanced mapping requirements in Power BI. The new Icon Map Pro visual opens up more opportunities for creating more complex geospatial visuals. For example working with your own polygons to create choropleth maps, drawing lines, shapes and images to create interactive utility network diagrams and clustering data using the H3 hexagon grid system.

Read More
Meetup Group, Power BIAlice DrummondDiscover EIMeetup, Learning, Sharing, Empowering, Environmental, Mapping, Icon MapComment
UWA’s data-driven journey towards sustainability
UWA’s data-driven journey towards sustainability

Dr Jason Hamer (dARTa) presented on The University of Western Australia’s (UWA) data-driven journey to become a sustainable campus. While the focus was on UWA’s internal and external sustainability dashboards, Jason also showcased the backend architecture that makes them possible, provided some amazing Power BI tips and tricks and shared his story and journey towards working with Power BI for the environmental industry..

Read More
Meetup Group, Power BIAlice DrummondDiscover EIMeetup, Learning, Sharing, Empowering, EnvironmentalComment
ArcGIS Mapping and Maptaskr for Power BI
ArcGIS Mapping and Maptaskr for Power BI

In this two-part session, we firstly had Peter Schmidt (Maptaskr) presenting on Maptaskr for Geospatial Intelligence, where he demonstrated Maptaskr’s mapping & geo-productivity solution for the Microsoft BizApps platform showcasing how it streamlines business processes, drives operational intelligence and complements Power BI analytics. Next up we had Alice Drummond (DiscoverEI) deep-dive into the world of the ArcGIS mapping visual for Power BI, explaining her tips, tricks and limitations based on real-world experiences with trying to implement the visual in Power BI reports.

Read More
Meetup Group, Power BI, ArcGISAlice DrummondDiscover EIMeetup, Learning, Sharing, Empowering, EnvironmentalComment
Dredge Dash: A real-time dredging project management tool harnessing Power BI
Dredge Dash: A real-time dredging project management tool harnessing Power BI

Dredging projects are critical to maintaining or establishing navigational access to ports, waterways and maritime infrastructure. Engagement and reporting to various internal and external stakeholders are required for these unique projects. Dredging project data collection and reporting can be timely and cumbersome. This ‘one stop shop’ Power BI reporting dashboard is used to track and communicate results from dredging projects. The session focused on a range of tech, including: Logic Apps; Azure Functions and SQL; SharePoint Excel files and Power BI aka the hero tool!.

Read More
Meetup Group, Power BIAlice DrummondDiscover EIMeetup, Learning, Sharing, Empowering, EnvironmentalComment
West Gate Tunnel – Cradle to Grave Power BI Reporting Solution
West Gate Tunnel – Cradle to Grave Power BI Reporting Solution

Spoil management is an integral part of any construction project. West Gate Tunnel Project provided an opportunity to develop centralised data management system and hence near real-time reporting solution to monitor movement of spoil from one site to another. This Power BI for Enviro’s presentation focused on the Operational Power BI reporting solution for the construction industry emphasizing:

  1. How key business problems can be solved through reporting.

  2. How key stakeholders can make informed decisions to run successful operations.

  3. How time and money can be saved when information is available at hand.

Read More
Meetup Group, Power BIAlice DrummondDiscover EIMeetup, Learning, Sharing, Empowering, EnvironmentalComment
Going Paperless in the Waste Industry - From Data Collection Apps to Power BI
Going Paperless in the Waste Industry - From Data Collection Apps to Power BI

In this digital world where technology is continuing to revolutionize the way we do business, going paperless is becoming more and more common. In his time working as a waste auditor, Simon has learnt from the 'traditional' methods of waste reporting, which often lacks transparency and can be difficult to audit & verify. This led to the creation of Traste, a digital app solution to track waste transparently, bringing waste processing facilities into the 21st century. In this session Simon introduced Traste's waste collection app and the workflow which feeds into a Power BI report. From here the Power BI reports are exported to PDF as this is the preferred method of reviewing the data by the client.

Read More
Meetup Group, Power BIAlice DrummondDiscover EIMeetup, Learning, Sharing, Empowering, EnvironmentalComment
Power BI as an Environmental Sensitivity Mapping tool
Power BI as an Environmental Sensitivity Mapping tool

After a 6-month break we were excited for our June 2023 session return for Power BI 4 Enviro's. This was a joint presentation between DiscoverEI and Alluvium, who supported South East Water (SEW), in developing a Power BI Environmental Sensitivity Mapping (ESM) report, to help SEW identify key sensitivities of both environmental and public health across their region, to help inform risk assessments and incident response.

Read More
Meetup Group, Power BIAlice DrummondDiscover EIMeetup, Learning, Sharing, Empowering, EnvironmentalComment
Using Power BI to track the recent floods across eastern Australia
Using Power BI to track the recent floods across eastern Australia

For our December 2022 session, we were lucky to have Matt Allington (Microsoft MVP Data Platform - Sydney, Australia) joining us again to share his Power BI report presenting streamflow data from the most recent October floods that impacted much of Australia. Matt has been posting daily updates about impacts to the Big Bend region through his YouTube channel, which you can keep up-to-date with on his YouTube channel (Excelerator BI YouTube)

Our thoughts remain with anyone that has been or is being impacted by these devastating floods, especially those within our meetup community❤️ !

Read More
Meetup Group, Power BIAlice DrummondDiscover EIMeetup, Learning, Sharing, Empowering, EnvironmentalComment
Power BI with Will Thompson: Analysing the UN’s sustainable development goals with Power BI
Power BI with Will Thompson: Analysing the UN’s sustainable development goals with Power BI

For our July 2022 session, we had the pleasure of having Will Thompson (Microsoft Power BI Program Manager) present on the recent demo Power BI report from the Gartner Bake-Off Summit. You can also see Will's demo at the Gartner Bake-Off summit here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGjJ-dY01NA

Read More
Meetup Group, Power BIAlice DrummondDiscover EIMeetup, Learning, Sharing, Empowering, EnvironmentalComment