WeedScan is an innovative biosecurity tool and community resource designed to help people identify, record and map priority weed species across Australia. Here’s a presentation on WeedScan V2.0

It combines an AI-powered identification model with practical weed management information, so users can quickly assess whether a plant is a weed of concern and contribute records that support biosecurity and land management efforts nationwide.

WeedScan is developed and managed by the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions (CISS) in partnership with CSIRO and state government agencies, and is freely available as both a web tool and mobile app. After doubling the number of weed species the app can recognised we are now ready to test version 2.

WeedScan v2 has reached an exciting milestone, we are about to begin User Acceptance Testing (UAT) of both the website and the mobile app.

Before training commenced, our data set went through an independent sanitation and preprocessing process by our technology partners (2pi Software). The outcome was extremely positive.

Out of more than 600,000 images (after re-mining and culling), only 0.11% required removal, an exceptionally low correction rate at this scale. There were zero corrupt files, no structural issues, and no loss of weed categories. All classes remained strong and above required thresholds.

In practical terms, this means the image mining and curation work held up beautifully. The data corpus is clean, balanced, and ready, and model training is now underway, to be completed in the first week of March.

Now we need real-world eyes on the system.

We are running 2 additional 45-minute presentation sessions for volunteers and enthusiasts who were unable to attend our earlier briefings.

Dates and times

  • Thursday, 12 March @ 1.30pm: general update and UAT program

  • Tuesday, 24 March @ 12:30 PM (Lunchtime): Technical focus on App testing for Android and iOS devices.

If you are interested in attending either session, please reply to this email and Sabine will send you a formal invitation. Here are the Terms and Conditions for participation.

If you have never used the Weedscan website before, here is the link https://weedscan.org.au/
If you have never used the WeedScan App before, here is a short video on how to use it.https://invasives.com.au/video/introducing-weedscan/ (note that WeedScan v2 is now identifying over 930 weed species).

What’s involved – key details are:

🌿 UAT Schedule: 

User Acceptance Testing will take place in three phases:

Phase Dates
External Website UAT Saturday 14/03/2026 – Tuesday 17/03/2026
External Android UAT Saturday 28/03/2026 – Wednesday 01/04/2026
External iPhone (iOS) UAT Saturday 11/04/2026 – Wednesday 22/04/2026*
*The iOS testing window is longer due to the Easter weekend


Time commitment:

  • Website testing:
    • Self-paced UAT can be completed in your own time during the testing window.
    • Allow approx. 35 minutes – but can 1+ hours if you wish to be more thorough.
    • Can be done at home or work
    • Use weed photos from your image library or from the web. CISS will also email you some photos to use.
  • App (for Android and iOS) testing:
    • Self-paced, can be completed in your own time during the appropriate UAT phase (or in person – see details below)
    • Allow up to 2 hours (more if you are motivated and happen to take lost of photos in an area infested with weeds!)
  • Access:
    • Register your interest here: WeedScan 2.0 Registration Link
    • CISS will email you an online link to the survey form, as well as a pdf form for you to print and complete the survey manually if you prefer. Instructions will also be included in the email.
  • Weedscan Team contacts:
    During UAT, the CISS WeedScan team will be on hand to support you:
Name Email Mobile number
Richie Southerton (CISS) Richie.southerton@invasives.com.au 040 602 9088
Ashara Patterson (CISS) Ashara.patterson@invasives.com.au 043 124 3549

 

Accessing the correct version of WeedScan to test:

  • After you register for UAT, you’ll be able to download the latest version of the WeedScan app
  • Note that this has not been released to the public yet. It will only be accessible to UAT testers registered via the link (WeedScan 2.0 Registration Link).
  • Please delete any old versions of WeedScan on your phone prior to the UAT exercise or you will not be testing the correct version of the app.


When registering, you’ll need to provide the following details:

  • Your contact details
  • The email linked to your app store
  • Your phone model*
  • Your operating system version (Android or iOS)*

*A short PDF guide is attached to help you find the relevant information on your phone.

If you have access to both an Android and an iPhone, please let us know — Android testers are usually in shorter supply.

📅  You can also join us in-person field in Canberra or Melbourne – UAT schedule


ACT: join Richie for some weed spotting in Lawson, Canberra

Date Time Platform Leads
Saturday 28 March 2026 10:00 am Richie (Android) & Anubhav (iOS)
Monday 30 March 2026 10:00 am Richie (Android) & Anubhav (iOS)

 

 VIC: join Sabine and James for some weed spotting at the Banyule Flats (Viewbank), Melbourne
Sabine and James  will be running 6 in-person UAT sessions in the field as follows:

Weekend 1: 28 & 29 March 2026

Date Time Platform Leads
Saturday 28 March 2026 10:00 am James (Android) & Sabine (iOS)
Saturday 28 March 2026 2:00 pm James (Android) & Sabine (iOS)
Sunday 29 March 2026 3:00 pm James (Android) & Sabine (iOS)

 

Weekend 2: 18 & 19 April 2026

Date Time Platform Leads
Saturday 18 April 2026 10:00 am James (Android) & Sabine (iOS)
Saturday 18 April 2026 2:00 pm James (Android) & Sabine (iOS)
Sunday 19 April 2026 3:00 pm James (Android) & Sabine (iOS)

 

Closer to the date, we will send you a reminder email with a map (free parking will be available), a link to the on-line survey, a pdf of the survey if you wish to print it, and a set of instructions.

If you know colleagues, friends, botanists, keen naturalists or plant/weed enthusiasts or anyone who may enjoy contributing, please feel free to forward this invitation to them.

WeedScan v2 is now moving from data readiness into real-world validation, and we would genuinely value your involvement.