Please note this dataset is an archived version of the Administrative Boundaries (AB). For the latest version of the AB please go to this url: https://data.gov.au/dataset/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 contains boundaries in seven themes: Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) boundaries, electoral boundaries, state and territory boundaries, local government areas, suburbs/localities, wards and town points.
Updated versions of Administrative Boundaries are published on a quarterly basis.
As at November 2019, users have the option to download datasets with feature coordinates referencing the new Geocentric Datum of Australia 2020 (GDA2020) in addition to datasets on the GDA94 datum.
For GDA2020 datasets, the name of the zip folder and the root folder (once extracted) include a reference to GDA2020. For GDA94 datasets, the zip and root folder names do not contain the datum name (i.e. they remain the same as previous releases).
For example, the zip and root folder for Administrative Boundaries downloaded in GDA2020 for August 2020 looks like this:
• AUG20_AdminBounds_ESRIShapefileorDBFfile_GDA2020; or
• AUG20_AdminBounds_MapInfoTABFormat_GDA2020
The zip and root folder for Administrative Boundaries in GDA94 for August 2020 looks like this:
• AUG20_AdminBounds_ESRIShapefileorDBFfile; or
• AUG20_AdminBounds_MapInfoTABFormat
Irrespective of the datum chosen, files within the respective folder use exactly the same naming structures.
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 provided below before downloading and using the product.
Note on the August 2016 release
The ‘2016 ABS Mesh Blocks and Statistical Areas AUGUST 2016’ all have an AREA_SQM value of ‘-9999’. This has been caused by an unexpected variation in the supplied ABS data error. The correct values have been included in the next data release (NOV 2016).
