Strategic Spatial Assessment for Industrial Land Development — Queensland Government
Client - Office of the Coordinator-General, Queensland Government
Sector - Government / Industrial Planning
Year - 2025/26
Role - Principal Consultant and Primary Report Author
Study area - 24,000 ha across the Gladstone SDA, Central Queensland
Services - MCDA framework design, spatial data preparation, suitability modelling, ecological desktop assessment, DLO identification, strategic planning advisory, report authorship
Project Overview
The Office of the Coordinator-General (OCG) commissioned BioGeo to undertake a spatial assessment of the Gladstone State Development Area (SDA) to identify Developable Land Opportunities (DLOs) across the 23,808 ha mainland study area. The goal was not to prescribe fixed development sites, but to provide a transparent, evidence-based framework showing where development is more or less constrained — and where clusters of industrial opportunity exist under different scenarios. BioGeo was the responsible consultant of record and sole report author.
What We Did
The assessment used a four-domain MCDA framework implemented in ArcGIS Pro, with the study area divided into eastern and western sectors modelled independently:
Physical — slope, watercourses, surface geology
Technical — rail corridors, electrical infrastructure, pipelines
Ecological/Environmental — threatened species and ecological communities, wetlands, Regional Ecosystems
Planning — road reserves, Mining Leases, Mineral Development Licences
Ecological constraint layers were developed through desktop assessment and likelihood-of-occurrence analysis, applying professional judgement where definitive mapping was unavailable. Absolute No-Go Zones were applied as a post-processing mask. DLOs were then identified using the Locate Regions tool in ArcGIS Pro. In total, 93 model configurations were generated to confirm that results were consistent across varying weightings, thresholds, and scenarios — demonstrating the robustness of the spatial framework rather than reliance on any single model run.
Outcome
Strategic planning report, 93-configuration model output suite, DLO summary tables (Excel and geodatabase), and technical memorandum delivered to the OCG — providing a defensible, evidence-based spatial framework for long-term industrial development planning across one of Queensland's most strategically significant industrial zones.