Administrative Boundaries

Sub-Theme

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.

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:

  1. ABS Structures, those regions which are defined and maintained by the ABS.
  2. 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

Standards and Specifications

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

Creative Commons Attribution 2.5

Access and Licensing Details

<p>Products and services relating to this dataset are distributed by PSMA and are available through commercial resellers under a PSMA licence.</p> <p>Information and digital boundaries of the ASGS may be obtained from the ABS website. Boundaries are also available to download from data.gov.au</p> <p>All data and other material produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) constitutes Commonwealth copyright administered by the ABS. Most customised data reports also carry a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Australia licence. Where no indication of licensing is provided within the product, full copyright terms will apply.</p> <p>For further information refer to:&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/d3310114.nsf/Home/Attributing+ABS+Material">Attributing ABS Material</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/web pages/Citing ABS Sources#Introduction">Guide to citing</a>&nbsp;</p>

Quality

The regions defined in the ABS Structures will not change until the next Census.

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.

Current Status

Australian Bureau of Statistic (ABS) maintains the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS).

The  Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) for pre-2011 census information is available but is no longer maintained.

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

Key Users

Federal, State and Territory Government Departments, industry and research communities

Version

1.00

Details