For ecologists delivering Queensland offsets

The Offset Delivery Plan's numbers, straight from the field sheet.

BioCondition field data in. Habitat quality scores and the plan's tables out.

SiteCensus Offsets looks up the Herbarium benchmark for the regional ecosystem, scores every attribute by the Manual's tables, rolls sampling sites up through assessment units to the matter area score out of 10, runs the conservation outcome test, and prints what the Guide's checklists ask for.

Guide to determining terrestrial habitat quality v1.3 · BioCondition Manual v2.2 · Herbarium benchmarks v3.6 · Queensland

sitecensus.biogeo.com.au/offsets

Habitat quality calculation, Guide 1.4.4 · RE 12.3.3 impact matter area

Assessment unitMean BCArea (ha)Weighted
AU1 remnant, 2 sampling sites0.90944.200.6585
AU2 high-value regrowth, 2 sampling sites0.51561.600.1422
Matter area BioCondition score5.800.8008
Habitat quality score (out of 10)8.01
An add-on to SiteCensus. No SiteCensus subscription needed for the test release.
The problem

Every offset job ends in the same spreadsheet

Field sheets on one screen, the benchmark on another, and a workbook rebuilt for each regional ecosystem and checked twice before it goes in the plan.

PER RE

The arithmetic moves

Which attributes apply, the maximum score, the layers to average, the thresholds that flip a 5 to a 3: all of it changes with the benchmark, and the workbook has to change with it.

PER SITE

The roll-up is where errors hide

Sampling sites averaged into units, units weighted by area into the matter area, then out of 10 to two decimals. One wrong cell reference and the offset is the wrong size.

PER SUBMISSION

The checklist is long

Coordinates and bearings, percent of benchmark and score for every attribute at every site, calculations at every level, the landscape scores, the assessor's qualifications. Gaps come back.

What it does

The Guide, done in order, with the working shown

Five things, in the order the Guide sets them out. Each one carries its source page.

01

Benchmark lookup and scoring

All 536 published Herbarium benchmarks, with variants. Every attribute scored by the Manual's tables, layered height and cover averaged, ecosystem-specific maximums applied, missing values flagged rather than hidden.

02

Roll-up to the matter area

Sampling site to assessment unit to area-weighted matter area to the score out of 10, exactly as Guide 1.4.4 sets out, with the suggested number of sampling sites checked against the unit's area.

03

Landscape, fauna and koala

The landscape-scale attributes for offset site selection. The species habitat attributes, indicators and threat matrix for fauna. The tree counts and stem density method for koala habitat in South East Queensland.

04

The outcome test

Each offset matter area linked to the impact matter area it counterbalances, the 20-year criteria applied, and the flags the Guide raises for gains above 2 points or scores of 9 and 10.

05

The report pack

The tables the Appendix checklists ask for, a submission-readiness list of what is still missing, and an Excel export of every score. Field data comes in from a CSV or the form.

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Guidance as you go

A question mark on every field opens the definition, the plot, the method, the scoring table and the trap, with the page it comes from. Switch it off when you know it.

Free calculator

Score one plot, free

The same engine and the same benchmarks as the licensed product, for a single 100 x 50 m plot. Nothing is saved. Copy the link to send the result to a colleague.

No benchmark selectedPick a regional ecosystem to see its benchmark values and which attributes apply.
The field sheet appears once a benchmark is selected.

That is one plot. The licensed product does the rest: several plots to a unit, units weighted to the matter area, the landscape, fauna and koala methods, the outcome test and the report pack.

Score the whole matter area →

Loads the engine and benchmark data from sitecensus.biogeo.com.au. Scores follow the BioCondition Assessment Manual v2.2 tables; the maximum site score follows the benchmark's own attributes.

Method

The government's method, transcribed with page numbers

Three documents, all Crown copyright under Creative Commons. Every rule the engine applies is written down beside the page it came from, and the worked examples in those documents are the engine's test cases.

1

Guide to determining terrestrial habitat quality, version 1.3 (Department of Environment and Science, February 2020). All three chapters: regional ecosystems, terrestrial fauna habitat, koala habitat in South East Queensland. Still the current version.

2

BioCondition Assessment Manual, version 2.2 (Eyre et al., Queensland Herbarium, 2015). The site-based attribute tables, the ecosystem-specific maximums, and the landscape-scale attributes.

3

BioCondition benchmarks, version 3.6 (Queensland Herbarium, August 2025). 536 regional ecosystems and variants. Where none is published, the product takes reference-site values as a custom benchmark.

!

Where two readings are possible, the scoring tables apply and the assessor decides. Where a worked example in the Manual and its scoring table give different figures, the table is used. Where a benchmark allows two maximum site scores, the tool asks the assessor to choose and prints the choice and the reason in the report. Nothing is decided silently.

Not included: the government's Land-based Offsets Multiplier Calculator and the financial settlement calculator, map figures, and automated patch, context and connectivity metrics from mapping. Those values are entered from your GIS.

Pricing

One licence per firm

All prices in AUD, GST added. Unlimited users at your firm.

Founding licence — first group only
Half price for the first year. $490 instead of $990 for the founding group, then the standard rate at renewal. Founding licensees get a direct line for anything the tool should do that it does not yet.
Refund if the arithmetic is wrong. Score an assessment by hand and in the tool on the same field data. If they disagree and the tool is at fault, the licence is refunded in full.
Founding licence

Firm licence

Unlimited users at one firm · 12 months

$990$490

per firm, first year

Request a founding licence →

Reply within a business day with an invoice and an access code

Included in the price, not added to it. BioGeo is a profit-for-purpose business: part of every licence funds wildlife conservation, out of our revenue, with nothing to opt into.

Included in the licence

  • All 536 Herbarium benchmarks, with updates when the Herbarium revises them
  • Custom benchmarks from reference-site data
  • Unlimited projects, sites, matter areas, units and plots
  • Chapters 1, 2 and 3 of the Guide, plus the landscape attributes
  • The conservation outcome test and the multiplier planning figure
  • Report pack, submission-readiness check and Excel export
  • CSV import from Survey123, QField and spreadsheets
  • Guidance on every field, with source pages
  • Projects stay in your browser; export JSON to keep with the job
  • A direct line to the developer
Common questions

Before you ask

Does it replace the field work?

No. It takes the BioCondition field sheet as recorded and does everything after it. The plots, the transects, the quadrats and the photographs are still yours.

Will the regulator accept the output?

The method is the department's own Guide and the Herbarium's own Manual, applied as written, with the page references shown. The report lays out every calculation the Appendix checklists ask for. The assessor remains responsible for the assessment and the submission, as the Guide requires.

What about the multiplier calculator?

The government's Land-based Offsets Multiplier Calculator is not replicated. The product reports the Policy multiplier and the resulting offset area as a planning figure, and leaves the argument for a lower multiplier to that calculator and the administering agency.

My RE has no published benchmark.

Enter reference-site values as a custom benchmark. The report notes that a custom benchmark was used, and the reference-site details go in with the submission as the Guide requires.

Where is my data stored?

In your browser, on your machine. Nothing is sent to us. Export a project as JSON to keep it with the job file or move it between machines.

Do I need a SiteCensus subscription?

Not for the test release. The licence is separate and stands on its own. SiteCensus subscribers will see it appear inside their account when the two are joined.

Get started

Score a plot now, or bring the whole job.

The calculator above is free and needs no sign-in. The founding licence is open to a small first group and closes when it is full.