Please note this dataset is the most recent version of the Administrative Boundaries (AB). For previous versions of the AB please go to this url: https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/previous-versions-of-the-geoscape-administrative-boundaries
Geoscape Administrative Boundaries is Australia’s most comprehensive national collection of boundaries, including government, statistical and electoral boundaries. It is built and maintained by Geoscape Australia using authoritative government data. Further information about contributors to Administrative Boundaries is available here.
This dataset comprises seven Geoscape products:
Updated versions of Administrative Boundaries are published on a quarterly basis.
Users have the option to download datasets with feature coordinates referencing either GDA94 or GDA2020 datums.
IMPORTANT NOTE: correction of issues with the 22 November 2022 release
Notable changes in the Administrative Boundaries release
The November 2022 release includes: updates to the State Electoral Boundaries for Victoria to include the Electoral Boundaries Redivision 2021 which came into effect on 1 November 2022; small changes to the way Persistent Identifiers (PIDs) are represented to Wards and Local Government Areas; the ABS Boundaries inclusion and flattening of 2021 Significant Urban Areas (SUA), Urban Centres and Localities (UCL), Section of State (SOS), and Section of the State Range (SOSR) boundary files to improve accessibility and addition of population and dwelling counts to 2021 Mesh Blocks.
Please note that the Local Government Area ‘lga_name’ attribute field length will be increased to 75 in the May 2023 release. Geoscape is planning to remove the 2011 ABS data layers from the ABS Boundaries product in a future release.
The August 2022 release included: updates to Local Government areas for the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales; updates to Localities for the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Western Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland; and updates to Wards for Victoria, Western Australia, Northern Territory and South Australia.
The May 2022 release included: updates to Local Government Areas for South Australia, Western Australia and Northern Territory; and updates to Localities for South Australia, Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia.
From August 2021, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Boundaries has been updated to include the 2021 Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS). Further information on the August 2021 changes to Geoscape datasets is available here.
Further information on Administrative Boundaries, including FAQs on the data, is available here or through Geoscape Australia’s network of partners. They provide a range of commercial products based on Administrative Boundaries, including software solutions, consultancy and support.
Note: On 1 October 2020, PSMA Australia Limited began trading as Geoscape Australia.
##License Information
The Australian Government has negotiated the release of Administrative Boundaries to the whole economy under an open CCBY 4.0 licence.
Users must only use the data in ways that are consistent with the Australian Privacy Principles issued under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
Users must also note the following attribution requirements:
Preferred attribution for the Licensed Material:
Administrative Boundaries © Geoscape Australia licensed by the Commonwealth of Australia under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0).
Preferred attribution for Adapted Material:
Incorporates or developed using Administrative Boundaries © Geoscape Australia licensed by the Commonwealth of Australia under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (CC BY 4.0).
##What to Expect When You Download Administrative Boundaries
Administrative Boundaries is large dataset (around 1.5GB unpacked), made up of seven themes each containing multiple layers.
Users are advised to read the technical documentation including the product change notices and the individual product descriptions before downloading and using the product.