The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) is the statutory adviser to the government and devolved administrations on UK and international nature conservation. JNCC wanted to create a database of the spatial and temporal distribution of impulsive noise generating activities in UK seas in order that the activities could be analysed to determine their impact. This included such activities as:
- Seismic surveys
- Impact pile driving
- Explosive detonation
- Acoustic deterrent devices
After Tron Systems were commissioned, the application was developed using an Agile approach with 4 phases and a total of eight two-week sprints. The application was built using the Java-based Play Framework in conjunction with Scala templates. Java Persistence (JPA) was used to manage the storage into a PostgreSQL database. Each sprint was reviewed after deploying the application to the cloud. This enabled cooperative development of the application despite the participants being geographically dispersed.
The application involves use by both noise producers and the noise regulators. The application produces both notifications and reports so that the noise activities are monitored and completed correctly.
The application was developed to GOV.UK standards using the Government Service Design Manual so that it could be deployed on the GOV.UK portal. The application is now online at https://mnr.jncc.gov.uk/