About Festra

Independent, open-data location intelligence for Greater Melbourne - built so that buyers and renters get a transparent, sourced second opinion on a location before they commit. Built independently in Melbourne; not affiliated with any agent, portal, developer or government body.

Independent

Not funded by, affiliated with, or paid by any real-estate agent, listing portal, developer, lender, insurer or government body. No ads. No behavioural profiling. We do not sell your data - at most privacy-friendly, cookieless page counts.

Open data, fully sourced

Every figure is compiled from Australian government / official open data and OpenStreetMap, with the source, licence, data period and fetch date recorded. Where we lack data, we say so - we never invent or overclaim it.

A second opinion, not a verdict

We describe area-level context and what to verify. We never tell you to buy or avoid a place, and never label a suburb or its residents.

Not advice

Information only - not financial, property, legal, insurance or planning advice. Always verify anything material with the relevant professional.

Why this exists

The data that tells you what a location is actually like - transport, schools, hazards and planning overlays, walkable amenities, community context - is scattered across the ABS, PTV, the Crime Statistics Agency, Victorian planning portals and OpenStreetMap, in formats most people never see. Listing portals are funded by agents and lead with price and growth. We compile the open data into one transparent view and surface the trade-offs and risks to verify - the second opinion the portals do not give.

How it stays free

Festra is free - the map, every area profile, and the Buyer Location Check. No ads, no behavioural profiling, no agent payments, and we never resell the open data. If a paid convenience is ever added later, the map and all the underlying facts will stay free.

What data we use, and what we leave out

We use: ABS (Census, SEIFA, regional population), PTV GTFS, Victorian Crime Statistics Agency, Victorian planning overlays & MapShare (all CC BY 4.0) and © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Full detail and how each score is built is on the methodology page.

We do not use: sale prices, valuations or yield estimates (not open data we can licence); your personal data; or any ads or behavioural profiling - at most privacy-friendly, cookieless page counts (see privacy). Each area also carries a data-completeness measure, and every finding shows its source, geographic precision, confidence and caveats.

Found a data issue?

Open data can be incomplete, outdated or wrong. If something looks off, tell us - ideally with the source - and we will check it.