Spatial datasets are organised into the following themes (ref ANZLIC Metadata Profile Guidelines Version: 1.2)*.
QSpatial Name | ANZLIC Name | Definition |
Agriculture and Farming | farming | rearing of animals and cultivation of plants eg. agriculture, irrigation, aquaculture, pests and diseases affecting crops and livestock |
Biology and Ecology | biota | flora and/or fauna in natural environment eg: wildlife, vegetation, ecology, wetlands, habitat |
Administrative and Political Boundaries | boundaries | legal land descriptions eg: electoral, locality and LGA and administrative boundaries (not cadastre) |
Atmosphere and Climatic | Climatology Meteorology Atmosphere | processes and phenomena of the atmosphere eg: weather, climate change, precipitation |
Business and Economic | economy | economic activities eg: production, labour, revenue, commerce, industry, tourism, forestry, fisheries, exploration and exploitation of resources such as minerals, oil and gas |
Elevation | elevation | height above or below sea level eg: contours, LiDAR, digital elevation models (DEMs), bathymetry |
Environment and Conservation | environment | environmental resources, protection and conservation eg: environmental pollution, waste storage and treatment, environmental impact assessment, monitoring environmental risk, nature reserves |
Geological and Geophysical | Geoscientific Information | earth sciences eg: geophysical features, geology, minerals, sciences dealing with the composition, structure and origin of the earth's rocks, soils, hydrogeology, erosion |
Human Health and Disease | health | health, health services and safety eg: disease, factors affecting health, hygiene, substance abuse, health services |
Imagery and Base Maps | Imagery Base Maps Earth Cover | base maps eg: satellite, drone, aerial imagery land cover, basemaps, topographic maps |
Military | Intelligence Military | military bases, structures, activities eg: barracks, training grounds, military transportation, information collection |
Inland Water Resources | Inland Waters | inland water features, drainage eg: watercourses, rivers, creeks, water use plans, dams, floods, water quality |
Locations and Geodetic Networks | location | positional information eg: addresses, population centres, geodetic networks, control points, postcodes, place names |
Oceans and Estuaries | oceans | features and characteristics of salt water bodies (not inland waters) eg: tides, reefs |
Cadastral | Planning Cadastre | eg: parcel boundaries, property boundaries, spatial cadastre, land use maps, zoning maps, cadastral surveys, land ownership |
Cultural, Society and Demography | society | characteristics of society and cultures eg: settlements, anthropology, archaeology, education, demographic data, crime |
Facilities and Structures | structure | man-made construction eg: buildings, |
churches, factories, housing, monuments, shops, towers, homesteads | ||
Transportation Networks | transportation | means and aids for conveying persons and/or goods eg: roads, airports, railways |
Utilities and Communication | Utilities Communication | energy, water and waste systems and communications infrastructure and services eg: solar energy, electricity and gas distribution, telecommunication |
*(Currently based on the ISO 19115:2003 metadata profile. the next iteration of QSpatial will adopt the current standard AS/NZS ISO 19115.1:2015 Geographic information - Metadata, Part 1: Fundamentals)
Foundation Spatial Data Framework
This list provides a description of the spatial data themes and key federal government datasets and hyperlinks to the data.
Theme | Dataset Name | Federal custodian | Dataset Description |
Geocoded Addressing | GeoScape | G-NAF validates the captured address and makes it possible to verify a physical address and locate its position. | |
Geocoded Addressing | Aus Post | A physical or virtual address used by a recipient for the purposes of receiving correspondence through Australia Post. | |
Administrative Boundaries | GeoScape | Jurisdictional boundaries are a collection of legislative, regulatory, political and general administrative boundaries sourced from Federal, State and Territory authorities | |
Administrative Boundaries | ABS | The geographical boundaries that divide the area of interest on which the statistics are collected (SA1, SA2 and SA3 meshblocks). Digital boundary files | Australian Bureau of Statistics (abs.gov.au) | |
Administrative Boundaries | AEC | The geographical boundaries that divide the area of interest for the purposes of an election or referendum | |
Administrative Boundaries | GA | The delineation of the baseline from which the outer limits of the various maritime zones are measured | |
Positioning | GA | Coordinates of sites within the Australian Regional GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) Network (ARGN), South Pacific Regional GNSS Network (SPRGN), AuScope Network and the Asia-Pacific Reference Frame (APREF). | |
Land Parcel and Property | PSMA | Contains a seamless national database of cadastral boundaries, excluding easements and road drainage easements, and parcel identifiers which are compatible with jurisdictional land titles. | |
Land Parcel and Property | PSMA | Hierarchical classification of land parcels; aligning land tenure classifications to cadastral parcel identifiers | |
Imagery | GA | This imagery has been collected at the National level since the 1970s and includes MODIS, AVHRR, VIIRS sensors carried on satellites which capture image data at specific frequencies across the electromagnetic spectrum. | |
Imagery | GA | This imagery has been collected at the National level since 1979 and includes MSS, TM, ETM+, Aster and OLI sensors carried on satellites which capture image data at specific frequencies across the electromagnetic spectrum. | |
Imagery | GA | This imagery has been collected at a Local / Regional level since 1998, Regional level since 2005 and National level since 2009 and includes data obtained from SPOT, ALOS and HyMap sensors carried on satellites which capture image data at specific frequencies across the electromagnetic spectrum. | |
Imagery | Very High Resolution | Airborne imagery that has been collected at a National level from 1947-1988 and at Regional and Urban levels since the 1970s. | |
Transport | PSMA | Defined paths for the transfer of goods or movement of vehicles and people. They do not have fixed tracks for vehicular movement like a railway. Includes foot tracks, cycleways and ferry routes. | |
Transport | PSMA | Transport systems using one or more rails to move vehicles carrying freight or passengers. | |
Transport | PSMA | Defined areas intended to be used for the arrival, departure and surface movement of aircraft and associated cargo, and the transfer of goods and passengers from one form of transport to the air network | |
Transport | GA | Variable forms of markers or devices that aid travellers in determining their position or safe course. Includes transmission lines, buildings, radio towers and masts, skyscrapers, chimneys on power plants. | |
Transport | PSMA | Structures built to facilitate transport over or under another physical feature. Includes bridges, tunnels, fords, culverts and boardwalks. | |
Transport | PSMA | Structures used to control, calm, slow or impede the movement of traffic on another transport feature. | |
Water | Surface Hyrdology |
| The Surface Hydrology dataset provides a set of related feature classes to be used as the basis of the production of consistent hydrological information. |
Water | GA | Catchments Boundaries represent geographic surface boundaries that have a hydrological relationship to surface hydrology features. | |
Water | GA | Hydrological Obstructions are manmade features that impact the water network either by obstruction, diversion or storage of water. | |
Water | DAWR | A national regular grid of surface flow directions accompanying the GEODATA 9 Second Digital Elevation Model Version 3 | |
Water | BOM | Nationally consistent set of groundwater boundaries and properties including aquaifer boundaries, geomertry, salinity, yield and hydraulic conductivity. | |
Water | BOM | National consistent set of bores information including purpose (ie monitoring, irrigation and commercial water use) as well as lithology, construction and hydrostratigraphy logs, 2D and 3D aquifer geometry. | |
Water | BOM | Ecological and hydrogeological information on known groundwater dependent ecosystems and ecosystems that potentially use groundwater | |
Elevation and Depth | GA | National DEM provides a national authoritative digital representation of the Earth’s surface | |
Elevation and Depth | GA | Provides and understanding of the nature of the seafloor. | |
Elevation and Depth | Coastal Zone |
| Various depictions of the coast ranging from lowest tide to highest tide. |
Land Cover and Land Use | GA | Provides nationally consistent land cover information at 250 metre resolution. It is essential to understanding and addressing a range of national challenges such as drought, salinity, water availability and ecosystem health. | |
Land Cover and Land Use | CSIRO | The fraction of an area that covered by a specific cover type eg green or photosynthetic veg, non-photosynthetic veg (stubble, senescent herbage, leaf litter) or bare soil/rock. | |
Land Cover and Land Use | DOE | A comprehensive means of describing and representing vegetation information based on establishing relationships between structural and floristic data. | |
Land Cover and Land Use | DAWR | Describes the extent and distribution of Australia's major forest types | |
Land Cover and Land Use | GA | Contains elements that form key constraints in defining various land cover data sets and also provides data for mapping the built environment. | |
Land Cover and Land Use | Australian Collaborative Land Use and Management Program (ACLUMP) | DAWR | Land use mapping provides nationally consistent land mapping at catchment and national level. |