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Welcome!

This week’s newsletter is focused on the usual interest pieces to planners, plus a bit more:

• 👨‍🏫 ChatGPT Prompt of the Week: Plan Criteria Information Requirements

• 🔍 Tool of the Week: MaxAI.me

• 🌊 Google's FloodHub Expansion: A Resource for Planners

• 📊 Create Diagrams on ChatGPT

• 🔍 Midjourney 5.1 - Zoom Out Functionality

• 🛠️ Visual Edits with Clipdrop

• 🌐 From Around the Web: Things to Know

• 🍗 AI Roast of the Week - Zones

Hope you enjoy! Any feedback, please hit reply and let me know your thoughts.

👨‍🏫 ChatGPT Prompt of the Week: Plan Criteria Information Requirements

We'll provide you with an example prompt each week that you can use with ChatGPT.

This week's prompt is focused on assisting planners to identify what information may be required to assess against plan criteria, and the circumstances where that information may be necessary.

Example prompt:

Below is a list of matters for discretion for the assessment of [describe what is being assessed, and activity status].

I would like you table these [matters/criteria/rules] and include in a column what information an applicant would need to provide with their application to enable an assessment against that [matter/criterion/rule], and then another column advising whether that information would always be required, or what circumstances where it would not.

[Insert the plan matters here]

I ran the prompt using the below from the Christchurch District Plan:

Here is an example output from this prompt:

You can then follow up by asking ChatGPT to generate a list in a format that could be sent to an expert or applicant explaining what information they need to prepare:

You can also ask it to generate a report outline or structure that would comprehensively cover each of the relevant matters:

Remember, while AI can be a useful tool, it's always a good idea to cross-check its advice and continue to use your professional judgement.

Some of the information sought above is either a little over the top, or on the flip side perhaps us planners aren’t doing our job properly…🤔

We hope you find this week's prompt useful, and as always, we'd love to hear about your experiences in using it!

🔍Tool of the Week: MaxAI.AI

MaxAI.me is a free Chrome extension allowing easy access to AI-powered tools like ChatGPT, Bard, Bing Chat, and Claude on any website without copy-pasting.

Users can write, rewrite, summarise, translate, explain, or reply to any text with one click, or pull up the helpful sidebar with a tap of the keyboard (Cmd/Alt+J depending on whether you’re using Mac or Windows).

Watch this video for a quick take on how the tool works:

The Chrome plugin (which also supports Chromium-based search engines like Microsoft Edge) offers a fast, intuitive interface and supports customisation with your own prompts. Key features include text rewriting, reading assistance, and generating personalised replies.

The extension is compatible across various websites and supports multiple AI providers and languages.

Privacy-friendly and constantly updated with new features, it was awarded #1 Product of the Day & Week on Product Hunt.

I’ve started using it to ‘co-power’ what I do on the web, and am finding it useful so far, especially at negating the need to pull up ChatGPT all the time.

I have just added in my OpenAI API key for GPT-4, which means I am not subject to the 25 messages an hour cap, but instead charged on token usage. Not sure how much that is going to cost me just yet, but I can report back for anyone interested.

🌊 Google's FloodHub Expansion: A Resource for Planners

Google recently announced the expansion of its FloodHub platform to 80 countries, enhancing the capabilities of its flood forecasting system. Leveraging artificial intelligence, FloodHub aims to provide flood forecasts up to 7 days in advance to over 460 million people, thereby helping communities prepare for and mitigate the impacts of flooding events.

Tackling Floods with AI

Floods are among the most common natural disasters, affecting over 250 million people globally each year. All of us on North Island are well acquainted with the effects of flooding this year. Google's FloodHub utilises publicly available data sources like weather forecasts and satellite imagery. It combines the Hydrologic Model, predicting water flow in rivers, with the Inundation Model, estimating the affected areas and water depths. These AI-powered models offer unprecedented accuracy in forecasting, empowering governments, aid organisations, and individuals to take timely actions. Learn more about how it works.

The Reach of FloodHub

Initially launched in India and Bangladesh, the platform’s recent expansion includes territories with high flood exposure, including regions in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and the Americas. FloodHub's daily updated forecasts cover over 1800 sites across river basins worldwide. To further accessibility, Google plans to disseminate forecasts through alerts on Google Search, Maps, and Android notifications in 2023.

Supporting Vulnerable Communities

Apart from providing critical information online, FloodHub works with organisations like Google.org, the Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and others, to establish offline alerting networks through community volunteers. This ensures that communities with limited access to smartphones or the internet can receive early warnings, significantly improving their safety during floods.

Implications for New Zealand

For resource management planners in New Zealand, FloodHub could be an invaluable tool. The platform's AI-powered predictions can inform decisions on land use, infrastructure planning, and emergency response strategies. By using FloodHub maps, planners can better understand flood risks and develop more resilient communities, especially crucial as climate change increases the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events.

Google's FloodHub represents a significant advancement in flood forecasting technology. Through its AI-driven approach, it not only offers timely information to those at risk but also serves as a resource for planners and authorities in formulating effective disaster management strategies.

📊 Create Diagrams on ChatGPT

You can now create diagrams within ChatGPT using the “Show Me Diagrams” plugin. Below is the representation it gave of the process of applying for a resource consent application.

This was based on the following zero-shot prompt:

To those unfamiliar with zero-shot, it's when you provide no context to the AI and rely on its training data set containing the required data.

For more complex processes where the AI may not have the necessary information, you should first provide the context it needs. An example of this could be if you wanted to create a diagram showing the processes under the COVID-19 Recovery (Fast-track Consenting) Act 2020.

The tool also lets you open your diagram in a new tab on its own, or go to a website where you can edit the diagram and correct spelling or errors.

🛠️ Visual Edits with Clipdrop

I've uncovered a powerful AI photo editing tool - Clipdrop - which is straightforward and efficient to use. Clipdrop provides an array of free but strong tools that make creating or editing visual content a breeze, at zero cost.

In particular, the Cleanup feature on Clipdrop could prove to be helpful to planners who want to get an idea of what a site or environment could look like if certain features were removed.

My video demo at the link below shows an example of how the Cleanup tool allows me to 'remove' architectural elements in cities such as Shanghai and Auckland. Another use case would be tree removal, where the value or significance of a project might not make it feasible to obtain properly prepared visual simulations. You could take a photo of a site with a tree, and then using this tool quickly show what the site could look like without the tree.

🌐 From Around the Web: Things to Know

Below are the top things I’ve read online in the last fortnight that I think you should know about in the world of AI.

1. SoundStorm: Pretty Amazing AI Speech Synthesis
   Google's SoundStorm transforms text into lifelike dialogue with great efficiency. By swiftly turning written conversation into verbal communication, it exceeds previous methods. It can also mimic voices, ideal for realistic audiobooks or assistants. Synced with safeguards against misuse, SoundStorm is essentially a speed-efficient, voice-adapting ventriloquist. Not available for public use yet due to concerns about misuse - imagine hearing your Mum calling, asking for money. Read more

1. "Zones: where innovation meets 'but we've always done it that way'." 🏭

2. "Zones: ensuring your dream home fits snuggly in a one-size-fits-all box." 🏡

3. "Zones: because who doesn't love a good game of Tetris with their city?" 🎮

4. "Ah, the joy of zoning, where 'mixed-use' often feels like trying to mix oil and water." 💧

5. "Zones: where dreams of architectural creativity meet the brick wall of bureaucracy." 🏢

6. "Zone rules: because nothing says, 'vibrant city life' like a paperwork labyrinth." 📑

- Written by ChatGPT