Overview

Data product specification title

Postcode Boundaries Product Description

Reference date

August 2021

Responsible party

Geoscape Australia Limited
Unit 6, 113 Canberra Avenue, GRIFFITH ACT 2603 Australia
T: +61 2 62609000 | E: support@geoscape.com.au
URL: www.geoscape.com.au | ABN: 23 089 912 710

Language

English

Topic Category

Boundaries to facilitate the delivery of physical mail to customers.

Distribution Format

PDF

Glossary

Geoscape maintains a glossary of common terms with their definitions and also includes acronyms and abbreviations that are commonly used in relation to Geoscape products and services. The glossary is available at the Geoscape website at geoscape.com.au/documentation/glossary-and-terms/

Informal description of the data product

The Postcode Boundaries dataset is the definitive set of postcodes developed by Australia Post and Geoscape Australia. It includes two data layers, postcode boundaries (polygon data) and postcode centroids (point data).

Postcodes are allocated to geographic areas to facilitate the efficient processing and delivery of mail to customers. The current four-digit numeric postcode system was introduced in 1967 in association with the first mechanised mail processing centre inAustralia. The Postcode Boundaries in most cases are an aggregation of Geoscape’s Localities product boundaries for each postcode. The postcodes of 3000 and 3004 are created from the single gazetted suburb of Melbourne.

The government land administration agencies in each State and Territory are responsible for gazetting locality names and boundary positions. Postcodes are commonly allocated to localities officially gazetted by land agencies. In the majority of circumstances, a postcode covers an area comprising of more than one locality. The decision as to whether a new postcode or an existing postcode is to be allocated to a locality is based on operational efficiency. Issues that underpin the decision are critically analysed; these include the configuration of the Australia Post network, transportation connections and delivery arrangements.

Privacy

Geoscape products and services should not contain any personal names or other personal information. Geoscape undertakes reasonable data cleansing steps as part of its production processes to ensure that is the case. If you think that personal information may have inadvertently been included in Geoscape products or services, please contact support@geoscape.com.au.