Use Case

• Bureau of Meterology: Geofabric

  Summary 

  The Bureau of Meteorology is Australia's national weather, climate and water agency. Its expertise and services assist Australians in dealing with the harsh realities of their natural environment, including drought, floods, fires, storms, tsunami and tropical cyclones.

  The Bureau’s Improving Water Information Programme is building a comprehensive and reliable picture of Australia’s water resources to support policy and
  planning. It collates, manages and publishes water information as part of its water information role and responsibilities under the Water Act 2007. 

  Date 

  Wednesday, 15 February, 2017

  Agency/Working Group or Committee 

  Bureau of Meteorology

  Version 

  1.00

  Activity Diagram 

  water.png

  Benefit Realised 

  The Geofabric is suitable for a wide range of water information applications. Streams can be traced upstream or downstream to identify drainage networks, catchment areas, and other features of interest such as monitoring points and water storages.

  These features are used by natural resource managers and the Bureau for water accounting, assessment, modelling and forecasting. The Geofabric provides a standardised authoritative information source that works seamlessly across Australia. It enables efficient and repeatable spatial hydrological capability for streamflow analysis and creation of contributing catchment areas. Using the Geofabric also removes the need to process digital elevation model data.

• Australia Maritime Boundaries

  Summary 

  Geoscience Australia has the primary role in the delineation of Australia's domestic and international maritime limits and boundaries. An output of this activity is the development of the Australian Maritime Boundaries (AMB) data.

  Date 

  Wednesday, 7 June, 2017

  Agency/Working Group or Committee 

  Geoscience Australia

  Version 

  1.00

  Benefit Realised 

  Australian Maritime boundaries are a digital representation of Australias Limits and Boundaries established under the Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973 and associated proclamations. These datasets are created to assist in mapping and decision making across integrated government and non-government users in the Australian Marine Jurisdiction.

• Murray Darling Basin LiDAR

  Summary 

  MDBA’s primary purpose for the acquisition of this LiDAR is to assist in the modelling of environmental water flows and consequent inundation of floodplains. As the models generated from the LiDAR need to accurately model the flow of water, investment must be made in aligning vertical control to the geoid.

  Objectives

  Deliver high-resolution elevation products to the MDBA by establishing a working storage, processing and delivery system managed by Geoscience Australia. This system will build on existing investment in the National Elevation Data Framework and align to the Australian and New Zealand Foundation Spatial Data Framework, ensuring enduring discovery and access of

  foundation elevation data for government, industry, research and community. Improve the content of the national elevation dataset by integrating existing and new LiDAR data acquired over high-priority areas from the Basin.

  Date 

  Friday, 17 February, 2017

  Agency/Working Group or Committee 

  Geoscience Australia

  Version 

  1.00

  Associated Stakeholder or System 

  Murray Darling Basin Authority

  Benefit Realised 

  Three-dimensional maps that will be used to accurately model water flows and the pattern of floodplain inundation.

  The information will also be useful to local councils, engineers, Catchment Management Authorities and others with an interest in land and water management.

  Implement a high-performance elevation data model and build discoverable and accessible services for point cloud (LAS) and gridded elevation data that allow for efficient discovery and maximises accessibility of national elevation and bathymetry data within the high-performance computational infrastructure at the ANU NCI. Develop a workbench to derive National blended DEM from best available data.

• Australian Nautical Charts and Publications

  Summary 

  Deliver reliable and timely nautical charts, publications and services for the maritime community and meet the maritime geospatial information requirements of the Department of Defence.

  Date 

  Friday, 10 March, 2017

  Agency/Working Group or Committee 

  Australian Hydrographic Service

  Contact 

  Australian Hydrographer

  Associated Stakeholder or System 

  Department of Defence

  Benefit Realised 

  Spatial information is a core component of Australian nautical charts and publications.  The provision of reliable charts and navigation services to mariners is a fundamental enabler of safe maritime trade and an important contribution to the protection of the marine environment.  Maritime trade is an important contributor to the Australian economy.

• Bioregional Assessments

  Summary 

  The Bioregional Assessment Program was undertaken by the Australian government in order to better understand the potential impacts of coal seam gas and large coal mining developments on water resources and water-dependent assets, such as rivers, wetlands and groundwater systems.

  The assessments focus on selected areas across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. These states are the four signatory states under the National Partnership Agreement on Coal Seam Gas and Large Coal Mining Development. The assessments provide a risk analysis that identifies areas where potential impacts are likely to occur. Just as important, the assessments also identify areas where impacts are unlikely to occur. This allows governments, industry and the community to focus on these areas when making regulatory, water management and planning decisions.

  FSDF datasets used: National Topographic Data, National Surface Hydrology, National elevation (SRTM-derived 1 second DEM), Medium scale Imagery (Water Observations from Space), National Catchment Boundaries, Dynamic Land Cover Dataset

  Non FSDF Datasets used: National Surface Geology

  Date 

  Friday, 27 October, 2017

  Agency/Working Group or Committee 

  Bureau of Meteorology

  CSIRO

  Department of Environment and Energy

  Geoscience Australia

  Benefit Realised 

  Strengthening the science underpinning future decisions, the bioregional assessments provided a previously unavailable objective basis for government, communities and industry to consider when debating potential cumulative impacts of coal seam gas and coal mining developments and adaptive management strategies. Australia is the first country in the world to gather and consolidate such a wide range of detailed information to help inform cumulative impact assessments on a whole-of-region scale.

  The assessments will inform Commonwealth and state government decisions in approving and regulating coal seam gas and coal mining operations. For example, bioregional assessments are a source of information that the Independent Expert Scientific Committee on Coal Seam Gas and Large Coal Mining Development can use to formulate their advice to the Australian Government on decisions under the Commonwealth’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, and to state government regulators under relevant state legislation. Development proponents can use the information in writing environmental impact statements for coal seam gas and coal mining proposals.

  The bioregional assessments will also be used to identify data and knowledge gaps where further information is required before development applications proceed.

• Great Artesian Basin Atlas

  Summary 

  The Great Artesian Basin (GAB) is one of Australia's most significant hydrogeological entities covering more than 1.7 million square kilometres, underlying 22% of Australia and intersecting 4 state and territory boundaries. The GAB contains a vast volume of underground water and is the largest groundwater basin in Australia.

  Groundwater resources in the GAB are used to support the pastoral, agricultural and resource sectors as well as supplying water to inland communities. Traditionally, there has been limited accessible scientific information available to decision makers, where properly managing these groundwater resources for competing interests requires a good understanding of how the system works at a regional scale. The GAB Atlas provides valuable information in a geospatial format to assist water managers and communities in making more informed decisions towards sustainable management of this vast water resource.

  Associated Stakeholder or System:
  State government water managers

  Non FSDF datasets: National Surface Geology

  Date 

  Friday, 27 October, 2017

  Agency/Working Group or Committee 

  Geoscience Australia

  Benefit Realised 

  The GAB Atlas and associated datasets combine to form a valuable information resource base for water managers and communities to support informed management decisions for the GAB. The Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines used the GAB Atlas as a basis for developing their water management plans and policies, as well as to inform outsourced regional hydrogeological assessments. It provides previously inaccessible baseline information against which future changes can be assessed, and a reference point to evaluate the effectiveness of management activities. The GAB Atlas also makes valuable scientific data available to a much wider and non-scientific audience than before, and its geospatial format is an accessible way to communicate the GAB’s complex characteristics.