My Local Buy Story | Mangoesmapping

Published on 02 April 2026

From Manila Folders to Mobile Maps: A Sustainable Digital Transformation in Cook Shire

Across Queensland, regional councils are working to modernise the way they manage essential infrastructure. Accurate asset information is critical for maintaining services, planning upgrades and responding to community needs—but many councils face inherited challenges: fragmented records, outdated mapping systems and limited resourcing for large-scale asset improvement. Mangoesmapping partners with councils to address exactly these challenges. By combining modern surveying technology, practical GIS solutions and hands-on support, we help local governments build reliable and sustainable asset information foundations. Local Buy arrangements make this work even more accessible, providing councils with a fast and compliant way to engage Mangoesmapping for both services and equipment supply.

A Local Buy partner supporting regional Queensland

Mangoesmapping is a pre-qualified supplier on five Local Buy arrangements:

LB280 – Asset Management Services (now LB347)
LB308 – ICT Solutions, Products, Services & New Tech
LB309 – Business Management & Consulting Services
LB312 – Engineering & Environmental Consultancy Services
LB335 – Planning, Surveying, Design & Architecture

Through these arrangements, councils can directly procure:

Asset capture and validation programs
GIS development and spatial data improvements
Surveying and GNSS equipment supply
Geospatial consulting and system integration
Aerial imaging, LiDAR and digital mapping
Staff training and long-term capability building

For many regional councils, Local Buy eliminates time-consuming tender processes and helps align procurement with workforce and budget cycles.

How Cook Shire Council used Local Buy to modernise its water and sewer asset records

A recent example of Local Buy in action is the Water & Sewer Assets Project delivered for Cook Shire Council.

Cook Shire faced a common challenge among regional councils: essential water and sewer information was incomplete, inconsistent and difficult to access. Much of the network was recorded in legacy files, paper sketches or long-serving staff knowledge. For a region with dispersed communities and limited on-the-ground resources, these gaps created operational inefficiencies and risk.

Through Local Buy arrangements, Cook Shire Council was able to engage Mangoesmapping quickly for:

Asset capture and field verification
Spatial data improvement and realignment
Digitisation of sewer drawings
Procurement of GNSS receivers and field technology
Deployment of a mobile-ready, open-source mapping platform

By streamlining procurement, Local Buy enabled Council to begin the project when the need was identified—not months later.

A collaborative and practical approach

Working side-by-side with Council’s water operations team, Mangoesmapping surveyed surface-visible water assets across Cooktown, Laura and Lakeland using modern RTK GNSS technology. This collaborative approach ensured that field knowledge—often the only record of buried or undocumented infrastructure—was captured and preserved.

The result was a significant improvement in data completeness and accuracy. The number of mapped features more than doubled, and many misaligned or missing assets were corrected or rediscovered.

Simple operational enhancements made a measurable difference. For example, spray-marking assets during capture reduced meter reading time by around 40%, freeing staff capacity and improving efficiency.

Delivering accessible, sustainable technology

One of the most valuable outcomes for Council was the introduction of an easy-to-use, web-based mapping platform. Staff across operations, customer service and management can now view up-to-date water and sewer information on any device—without needing desktop GIS software or specialist training. Key benefits include:

Consistent asset information accessible across teams
Mobile-ready maps for field response
Automated integration of Queensland Government datasets
Reduced reliance on ageing proprietary systems
Long-term sustainability through open-source tools

Through LB308, Council also procured modern GNSS equipment, giving staff the capability to update and maintain asset data internally.

Why Local Buy matters for councils

For Cook Shire Council, Local Buy made a direct and meaningful difference:

Faster engagement with a specialist provider
Procurement compliance without a lengthy tender
Clear scope flexibility as project needs evolved
Ability to procure both services and equipment from the same supplier
Transparency and predictable budgeting

For Mangoesmapping, Local Buy ensures that councils—especially regional and remote ones—can access high-quality asset management support when they need it most.

Building stronger, more resilient councils

Mangoesmapping continues to support Queensland councils in building the modern, reliable asset systems required to manage essential water and wastewater infrastructure. With Local Buy arrangements spanning asset management, engineering, ICT, consulting, surveying and planning, we provide councils with a single, trusted partner for improving their data, technology and capability.

For Cook Shire Council, the combination of Local Buy procurement and collaborative project delivery has created a long-term foundation for better operations, planning and community service. And for regional Queensland more broadly, it demonstrates how practical partnerships and accessible procurement pathways can deliver meaningful improvements in infrastructure management.

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