Administrative Boundaries
What's New with Administrative Boundaries
13 September 2016. The Australian Bureau of Statistics - Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Volumes 1-3 have been published. Provided to enhance useage of the 2016 Census, these geographies also include nationally consistent PSMA Administrative Boundary datasets and Indigenous Structure.
1 July 2015. The Intergovernmental Committee for Survey and Mapping is coordinating an agreed cartographic representation of borders between states/territories that allows consistent analysis on the cross-border zones. With expected completion in 2016, work on the boundaries defined by lines of latitude and longitude is largely complete. The VIC/NSW and NSW/QLD boundaries are the most complex and significant data sharing regarding the natural boundary sections is occurring in order to finalise the work.
Theme Sponsor
Australian Bureau of Statistics
Description
Administrative Boundaries define the spatial extent of legislative jurisdictions and regulatory, electoral, statistical and maritime geographic areas.
Committees
ICSM
Standards
- AS/NZS ISO 19115 - ANZLIC Metadata Profile Version 1.1 (implemented using ISO/TS 19139:2007, Geographic information – Metadata – XML schema implementation)
- AS/NZS ISO 19131:2008 Geographic Information – Data product specifications
- Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Feature Service (WFS) Implementation Specification 1.1.0 (OGC Document No. 04-094)
- Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map Service (WMS) Implementation Specification 1.3.0 (OGC Document No. 06-042)
Datasets
Jurisdictional Boundaries: Collection of legislative, regulatory, political and general administrative boundaries sourced from Federal, State and Territory authorities; including national boundary, state and territory boundaries, local government areas, parishes, regions and suburbs.
Australian Statistical Geographical Standard Boundaries: The geographical boundaries that divide the area of interest on which statistics are collected under the Australian Bureau of Statistics Act 1975 (Cwlth).
Australian Electoral Boundaries: The geographical boundaries for the purposes of an election or referendum held under the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918.
Maritime Boundaries: The delineation of the baseline from which the outer limits of the various maritime zones are measured as set out in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973 (Cwlth).
Description
The Administrative Boundaries theme is a collection of legislative, regulatory, political, statistical, maritime and general administrative boundaries sourced from local, state and territory, national and international boundary datasets
Datasets
Jurisdictional Boundaries - The agreed boundary separating the individual states and territories of Australia and bounded by the maritime boundary.
Australian Statistical Geographical Standard Boundaries - The geographical boundaries that divide the area of interest on which the statistics are collected for purposes under the Australian Bureau of Statistics Act, 1975.
Australian Electoral Boundaries - The geographical boundaries that divide the area of interest for the purposes of an election or referendum held under the Commonwealth Electoral Act, 1918.
Maritime Boundaries - The delineation of the baseline from which the outer limits of the various maritime zones are measured as set out in the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and Seas and Submerged Lands Act, 1973.
Purpose
The Administrative Boundaries theme is used to visualise administrative areas that represent voting districts, redistributions, zoning, socio-economic analysis, regional planning, service distribution and local and state government boundaries.
In addition, Administrative Boundaries can be used to aggregate information for analytical purposes and geographically stable boundaries (over time) can be used to establish and analyse time series trends. Administrative boundary data in combination with geo-coded address data, demographic information and government agency specific business information underpins the ability to perform high quality spatial analysis.
The aggregation and analysis of data includes:
- evidence-based development and assessment of government policy
- providing the ability to undertake spatial accounting
- support for emergency management
- market catchment analysis, micromarketing and customer analysis and market segmentation
Current Status
National coverage is aggregated from information provided by the jurisdictions and other data custodians which PSMA updates every three months. The PSMA Administrative Boundaries provides the best available national coverage.
Jurisdictions currently update their Administrative Boundaries dataset with information from relevant stakeholders and custodians, by data verification from other internal and external databases through defined specification.
This update period varies between jurisdictions from daily to “as required”. Jurisdictional data are held at a range of scales, 1:500 to 1:100000, resulting in inconsistent accuracy and capture.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) maintains the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) which replaced the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) from July 2011.
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) maintains each State and Territories Electoral Divisions in preparation for the next electoral event.
Geoscience Australia currently maintains an Australian Maritime Boundary database under UNCLOS and the Seas and Submerged Lands Act, 1973.
There is currently no single vertical integration of all four administrative datasets, as listed, for the national coverage.
Future Status
Provide a nationally consistent administrative boundary dataset which supports and delivers administrative boundary information through the vertical and horizontal integration of the listed datasets. This will allow linking of location of these features across all themes.
Short Term Objectives:
- fully aggregate all jurisdictional data into a national dataset which provides a complete, consistent representation of the administrative boundaries
- establish governance structure between ANZLIC and National Spatial Data Framework supply chain (sponsor, custodian, aggregator and distributor)
- compliance to relevant ISO 19100 series, Australian and international spatial standards
- engage Industry on validation of use cases for this dataset
Long term Objectives:
- positional accuracy appropriate to feature; administrative boundaries will be captured to accuracy no worse than 1m in urban and between 2m and 10m in non-urban areas
- expand with new categories e.g. education, defence, school zone boundaries
- lower resolution formats delivered via web service
- boundaries to have temporal stamp
Standards
- AS/NZS ISO 19115 - ANZLIC Metadata Profile Version 1.1 (implemented using ISO/TS 19139:2007, Geographic information – Metadata – XML schema implementation)
- AS/NZS ISO 19131:2008 Geographic Information – Data product specifications
- Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Feature Service (WFS) Implementation Specification 1.1.0 (OGC Document No. 04-094)
- Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map Service (WMS) Implementation Specification 1.3.0 (OGC Document No. 06-042)
Access and Licensing
Products and services relating to this theme are distributed by:
Australian Bureau of Statistics under Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Australia licence
Australian Electoral Commission under Creative Commans Attribution 3.0 licence
The Australian Government under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence and
Commercial resellers still operating under previous commercial arrangements for PSMA data.
Related Websites
- Law of the Sea and other Legislation Databases
- Australian Hydrographic Service
- Territories of Australia
- Australian Capital Territory Interactive Mapping site
Coverage
Complete, current and continuous coverage of agreed Administrative Boundaries data set for all Australia.
Sponsor
Australian Bureau of Statistics
Key Users
Key users of the Administrative Boundaries data are Commonwealth, State and Territory and Local governments and the Research and Industry sectors.
Version
1.1
On this page:
- Jurisdictional Boundaries
- Australian Statistical Geographical Standard Boundaries
- Australian Electoral Boundaries
- Maritime Jurisdictional Boundaries
Jurisdictional Boundaries
Description
The agreed boundary separating the individual states and territories of Australia and bounded by the maritime boundary.
Jurisdictional boundaries are a collection of legislative, regulatory, political and general administrative boundaries sourced from Federal, State and Territory authorities.
- National boundary
- State/Territory boundary
- Local government areas
- Parishes
- Regions
- Suburbs
Purpose
The Jurisdictional Boundaries dataset is a data aggregation from multiple jurisdiction sources which depicts a national seamless and consistent representation of jurisdictional boundary information.
Specifically, the dataset is intended for defining National, State/Territory, local and sub area boundaries.
Dataset Uses
Jurisdictional boundaries are used to define administrative areas to support socio-economic analysis, national and regional planning, and study service distribution. They are used to help aggregate information for analytical purposes within geographical boundaries.
The aggregation and analysis of the data includes:
- evidence-based development and assessment of government policy
- providing the ability to undertake spatial accounting
- support for emergency management
Current Status
Jurisdictions currently update their Administrative Boundaries dataset with information from relevant stakeholders and custodians, by data verification from other internal and external databases through defined specification. This update period varies between jurisdictions from daily to “as required”.
Jurisdictional data are held at a range of scales, 1:500 to 1:100000, resulting in inconsistent accuracy and capture.
A national aggregation of this information provided by the jurisdictions and other data custodians is delivered by PSMA every three months.
Future Status
Short-term objectives
- Define coastline boundaries and resolve topology issues between state borders
Standards
- AS/NZS ISO 19115 - ANZLIC Metadata Profile Version 1.1 (implemented using ISO/TS 19139:2007, Geographic information – Metadata – XML schema implementation)
- AS/NZS ISO 19131:2008 Geographic Information – Data product specifications
- Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Feature Service (WFS) Implementation Specification 1.1.0 (OGC Document No. 04-094)
- Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map Service (WMS) Implementation Specification 1.3.0 (OGC Document No. 06-042)
Access and Licensing
From 26 February 2016, PSMA products are available as open data through data.gov.au under a Creative Commons 4.0 licence
Coverage
Complete, current and continuous coverage of Australia excluding external territories
Quality
Various resolutions at a range of scale 1:500 to 1:100000 exist resulting in inconsistent accuracy.
Spatial accuracy issues include:
- edge mismatch at jurisdictional borders
- overlaps, mismatches and gaps exist within the dataset
- spatial accuracy of boundaries, which varies depending on the custodian and the purpose for which the boundary was captured
Information is currently updated by PSMA every three months
Metadata
https://www.psma.com.au/administrative-boundaries-metadata-statement
Custodian Agency and Contact
PSMA; enquiries@psma.com.au
Aggregator
PSMA
Distributor(s) and Products
Data.gov.au
Formats
- shp
- tab
- dmp
Key Users
Federal, State and Territory Governments, industry and research communities and Business and community at large
Version
1.1
Australian Statistical Geographical Standard Boundaries
Description
The geographical boundaries that divide the area of interest on which the statistics are collected for purposes under the Australian Bureau of Statistics Act, 1975.
The Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) is the Australian Bureau of Statistics' geographical framework.
The ASGS brings all the regions used by the ABS to output data under the one umbrella. They are divided into two broad categories:
- ABS Structures, those regions which are defined and maintained by the ABS.
- Non-ABS Structures, those regions defined and maintained by other organisations, but for which the ABS supplies data.
The ABS Structures are a hierarchy of regions developed for the release of ABS statistical information. Their main components are listed below:
- Australia
- State/Territory
- Statistical Areas Level 4
- Statistical Areas Level 3
- Statistical Areas Level 2
- Statistical Areas Level 1
- Mesh blocks
Purpose
ASGS items are used to define geographical areas to support statistical and socio-economic analysis at a national and regional scale. They are used to help aggregate information for analytical purposes within statistical geographic standard boundaries
Dataset Uses
ASGS items are used to define geographical areas to support statistical and socio-economic analysis at a national and regional scale. They are used to help aggregate information for analytical purposes within statistical geographic standard boundaries
Current Status
Australian Bureau of Statistic (ABS) maintains the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) and the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) for pre-2011 census information.
PSMA aggregates ASGS and other jurisdictional datasets to develop PSMA Administrative Boundaries product.
Future Status
Short term objectives:
- fully aggregate all jurisdictional data into a national dataset which provides a complete, consistent representation of the Australian Statistical Geographical Standard Boundaries
Long term objectives include:
- continued spatial upgrades of Administrative Boundaries data
- improve timeframes on applying updates from jurisdictions to national datasets
- all products and services to be made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Australia licence from Australian Bureau of Statistics at zero cost via web services
Standards
- AS/NZS ISO 19115 - ANZLIC Metadata Profile Version 1.1 (implemented using ISO/TS 19139:2007, Geographic information – Metadata – XML schema implementation)
- AS/NZS ISO 19131:2008 Geographic Information – Data product specifications
- Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Feature Service (WFS) Implementation Specification 1.1.0 (OGC Document No. 04-094)
- Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map Service (WMS) Implementation Specification 1.3.0 (OGC Document No. 06-042)
Access and Licensing
Products and Services relating to this dataset distributed by Australian Bureau of Statistics are made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Australia licence; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/
Products and services relating to this dataset are distributed by PSMA and are available through commercial resellers under a PSMA licence
Coverage
Complete, current and continuous coverage of Australia excluding external territories
Quality
The regions defined in the ABS Structures will not change until the next Census in 2016. The Non-ABS Structures are updated only when the ABS considers that there are major changes to the administrative boundaries they represent. The changes are approximated with whole Mesh Blocks or SA1s.
Metadata
Custodian Agency and Contact
Australian Bureau of Statistics
Aggregator
Australian Bureau of Statistics
Distributor(s) and Products
Australian Bureau of Statistics
http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/d3310114.nsf/home/australian+statistical+geography+standard+(asgs)
PSMA
http://www.psma.com.au/products/administrative-boundaries
Formats
- shp
- tab
- dmp
- csv
- WMS
- WFS
- ESRI File Geodatabase (gdb)
Key Users
Federal, State and Territory Government Departments, industry and research communities
Additional
Related products:
- PSMA Geocoded National Address File (G-NAF®) product. http://www.psma.com.au/products/g-naf
- ABS Online Beta
http://betaworks.abs.gov.au/betaworks/betaworks.nsf/projects/ASGSBoundariesOnline/frame.htm
Version
1.0 Draft for Consultation
Australian Electoral Boundaries
Description/Purpose
The geographical boundaries that divide the area of interest for the purposes of an election or referendum held under the Commonwealth Electoral Act, 1918.
Australian Electoral boundaries are a collection of legislative, political boundaries sourced from Federal, State and Territory authorities:
- Federal electoral boundaries
- State electoral boundaries
- Local government wards
Dataset Uses
They are used to visualise electoral areas to support socio-economic analysis, national and regional planning, and study service distribution.
The aggregation and analysis of the data includes:
- evidence-based development and assessment of government policy
- providing the ability to undertake spatial accounting
- support for emergency management
Current Status
National and State electoral boundaries are maintained by Australian Electoral Commission. Currently not supplied as national products but as Divisional data; http://www.aec.gov.au/electorates/maps.htm.
PSMA aggregates Australian Electoral Boundaries into their Administrative Boundaries product; http://www.psma.com.au/products/administrative-boundaries.
Future Status
Short term objectives include:
- fully aggregate all jurisdictional data into a national dataset which provides a complete, consistent representation of the Australian Electoral Boundaries
- develop web services
- Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Feature Service (WFS) Implementation Specification 1.1.0 (OGC Document No. 04-094)
- Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map Service (WMS) Implementation Specification 1.3.0 (OGC Document No. 06-042)
Long term objectives include:
- continued spatial upgrades of Electoral Boundaries data
- improve timeframes on applying updates from jurisdictions to national datasets
Standards
- AS/NZS ISO 19115 - ANZLIC Metadata Profile Version 1.1 (implemented using ISO/TS 19139:2007, Geographic information – Metadata – XML schema implementation)
- AS/NZS ISO 19131:2008 Geographic Information – Data product specifications
Access and Licensing
Products and Services relating to this dataset distributed by Australian Electoral Commission are made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia Licence; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au/
State and Local Boundaries are available under a PSMA licence through commercial resellers.
Coverage
Complete, current and continuous coverage of Australia excluding external territories
Quality
Data have been gathered from a variety of sources including the Australian Electoral Commission National, State and Territory Offices. The data have been created using the AEC Electoral Boundary Mapping System, which utilises Census Collection Districts (CCD) boundary information supplied by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. In some cases boundaries follow the alignment of MapInfo Streetworks and StreetPro content.
Data for each State and Territory are created as a result of the redistribution of that State or Territory in accordance with timeframes specified by the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918.
Positional accuracy is dependent upon the accuracy of the source material at the time of compilation at the source.
Metadata
http://www.aec.gov.au/Electorates/gis/gis_datadownload.htm
Custodian Agency and Contact
Australian Electoral Commission for Federal electoral boundaries
Individual State & Territory Electoral Commissions for electoral boundaries within States and territories.
Aggregator
Australian Electoral Commission for Federal electoral boundaries
Individual State & Territory Electoral Commissions for electoral boundaries within States and territories.
Distributor(s) and Products
Australian Electoral Commission
http://www.aec.gov.au/electorates/gis/GIS_Data_Download_Data_Licence.htm
PSMA
http://www.psma.com.au/products/administrative-boundaries
Formats
- shp
- tab
- Mid
- mif
Key Users
Federal, State and Territory Government Departments, industry and research communities.
Additional
Related product:
- PSMA Geocoded National Address File (G-NAF®) product. http://www.psma.com.au/products/g-naf
Version
1.0 Draft for Consultation
Maritime Jurisdictional Boundaries
Description
The delineation of the baseline from which the outer limits of the various maritime zones are measured as set out in the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and Seas and Submerged Lands Act, 1973.
- Territorial Sea Baseline
- Territorial Sea (12 nautical mile limit)
- Contiguous Zone (24 nautical mile limit)
- Exclusive Economic Zone (200 nautical mile limit)
- Australian Fishing Zone
Purpose/Dataset Uses
To provide geographical boundaries to allow integration of government and non-government information in the Australian Maritime Jurisdiction.
Current Status
Available online through the Australian Maritime Spatial Information System (AMSIS) portal. AMSIS is a web based interactive mapping and decision support system that improves access to integrated government and non-government information in the Australian Marine Jurisdiction.
Future Status
Short-term objectives
- All national information products will be available under open access arrangements (for example, by CCBY) at zero cost.
- Provide a consistent coastline dataset
Standards
- AS/NZS ISO 19115 - ANZLIC Metadata Profile Version 1.1 (implemented using ISO/TS 19139:2007, Geographic information – Metadata – XML schema implementation)
- AS/NZS ISO 19131:2008 Geographic Information – Data product specifications
- Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Feature Service (WFS) Implementation Specification 1.1.0 (OGC Document No. 04-094)
- Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map Service (WMS) Implementation Specification 1.3.0 (OGC Document No. 06-042)
Access and Licensing
Available under open access at zero cost online through the Australian Maritime Spatial Information System (AMSIS) portal.
Coverage
Complete, current and continuous coverage of Australia and external territories (except Antarctica)
Quality
Australian Maritime Boundaries User Guide, p 30; http://www.ga.gov.au/webtemp/image_cache/GA7675.pdf
Metadata
ANZLIC Metadata File Identifier: a05f7892-eef0-7506-e044-00144fdd4fa6.
http://www.ga.gov.au/metadata-gateway/metadata/record/69867/
Custodian Agency and Contact
Geoscience Australia
Aggregator
Geoscience Australia
Distributor(s) and Products
Geoscience Australia - Australian Maritime Spatial Information System (AMSIS) portal. http://www.ga.gov.au/marine/jurisdiction/amsis.html
Formats
- wfs
- wms
- shp
Key Users
Federal, State and Territory Government Departments, industry and research communities
Additional
Related products:
- Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction map series 1:1,500,000
http://www.ga.gov.au/marine/jurisdiction/map-series.html
Version
1.0 Draft for Consultation
Roadmap for Administrative Boundaries
Purpose:
The roadmap outlines the development goals for the following three years, for all national foundation datasets within each theme. The goals are to be achieved in order to meet the defined end-state for the theme.
Owner:
Australian Bureau of Statistics
Click here for full version of the roadmap
Details:
- Goals are owned by the theme sponsor to achieve within the FSDF governance framework
- Goals are designated as funded/unfunded
- The roadmap is approved by ANZLIC annually
- The roadmap will be referenced as a benchmark in work plans and updates to ANZLIC
- The roadmap is updated annually or on a major change as required
Notes:
1. The roadmaps (and goals) are agreed by ANZLIC and FSDF sponsors. An unfunded goal indicates that the sponsor is actively seeking to resolve the funding issue. Where this cannot be resolved the sponsor may elevate the issue for the attention of ANZLIC.
2. Dataset custodians are identified in the Dataset Profiles available on this website and their role in the delivery of the roadmaps is critical. State/Territory jurisdictions are also integral to the implementation of the roadmaps.
3. Engagement with custodians and/or jurisdictions in the FSDF and roadmaps is an ongoing process through 2015.