Aus-OMI — Subsurface Intelligence
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LiDAR reality capture of trees and landform in South Australia for heritage mapping

Adelaide · Aboriginal cultural heritage

Aboriginal heritage mapping in Adelaide.

Based in Adelaide, on Kaurna Country. Working across South Australia and Australia-wide.

Aus-OMI maps Aboriginal cultural heritage in Adelaide and across South Australia — multiarray GPR, LiDAR and restricted spatial records, commissioned under Traditional Owner direction.

Geophysics for Country, under Traditional Owner direction

Aboriginal sites, objects and remains in South Australia sit under the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988. Aus-OMI supplies the measured layer: georeferenced LiDAR of the place and its setting, targeted multiarray GPR where investigation is requested, and a restricted GIS or 3D record the organisation actually controls.

Traditional Owners decide what is recorded, where we may enter, which equipment may be used, who owns the data, who can view it, and whether coordinates or imagery leave the organisation. A public model is not the default.

What we map

Known cultural places and their landscape setting. Pathways and landscape relationships. Quarry landscapes and stone arrangements. Former missions. Surface documentation around rockshelters. Scarred trees, associated landform and surrounding terrain. Middens and coastal sites under erosion. Repeat LiDAR where a place is under pressure from visitors, vegetation or nearby works. Targeted GPR where Traditional Owners request subsurface investigation.

Every anomaly carries position, estimated depth, orientation, response type and confidence. Archaeological and cultural meaning stays with the heritage professional and with Traditional Owners.

How this sits with an Aboriginal heritage assessment

Development, infrastructure, energy and mining projects in South Australia need a spatial record of cultural heritage before ground is opened. We issue that record as evidence into the assessment the qualified heritage professional is already writing.

Restricted cultural information stays in a controlled dataset. Designers and contractors receive only what the data owner has released — avoidance geometry, approved access, and nothing else.

Where it is used

  • Traditional Owner-directed mapping of cultural places and Country
  • Scarred-tree and landform records before nearby works
  • Middens, coastal sites and erosion monitoring
  • Restricted community GIS and 3D heritage registers
  • Pre-development spatial evidence for Aboriginal heritage assessments
  • Repeat capture of threatened or actively managed places

Questions

Before you brief us.

Do you do Aboriginal heritage mapping in Adelaide?
Yes. Aus-OMI is based in Adelaide, on Kaurna Country, and maps Aboriginal cultural heritage across South Australia with multiarray GPR and LiDAR. Work is commissioned under Traditional Owner direction, with a qualified heritage professional.
How do you work with Traditional Owners?
The organisation decides the question, access, equipment, data ownership, who may view the record, whether coordinates or imagery may leave the organisation, and whether anything is published. We supply geophysics and spatial evidence. Cultural authority stays with Traditional Owners.
What can GPR and LiDAR record on Aboriginal heritage places?
LiDAR records the place as it is: scarred trees, landform, rockshelter setting, paths and the ground around them. Multiarray GPR maps subsurface response — disturbed ground, voids, former structures — with coverage and confidence stated. Meaning and significance are not a geophysical call.
Is this an Aboriginal heritage assessment under the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988?
It is the spatial and geophysical evidence that assessment is written from. The qualified heritage professional and Traditional Owners own the assessment, consultation and statutory process. Restricted cultural information is never the default public deliverable.
Do you map scarred trees and Aboriginal cultural places in Adelaide?
Yes. Georeferenced LiDAR of scarred trees, associated landform and surrounding terrain, and targeted multiarray GPR where Traditional Owners request subsurface investigation. Records can be issued as a restricted GIS or 3D register the organisation controls.

Where this sits

Equipment is how we get there. The product is a better understanding of the site before you excavate, design or decide.

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Send the drawings.
We reduce uncertainty before works begin.

Cultural places, scarred trees, middens or a restricted spatial record. Brief us from Adelaide. Work is commissioned under Traditional Owner direction.

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