Overview¶
Delivery Organisation - Geoscape Australia¶
Geoscape is the digital Australia – a comprehensive representation of our built environment. It is consistently formatted spatial data that describes the addresses, land, buildings and transport networks across Australia’s complex cities, regional centres and rural communities.
Geoscape Australia is the trading name of PSMA Australia Limited, a self-funded public company owned by the governments of Australia. The organisation’s first major initiative was to support the 1996 Census through the provision of Australia’s first national digital basemap at street-level.
We were incorporated in 2001 and tasked with collating, transforming and delivering national spatial datasets. Our establishment reflected the desire of Australian governments to work together to establish national, location information infrastructure to advance the emerging information economy. Geoscape Australia is now a trusted source of essential national location data, with a diverse ecosystem of data partners.
The value of Geoscape data is in its richness. It enables a range of innovations and applications. To support broad use of the data, it is available through online subscription services in business-ready formats, as well as customised enterprise plans. Geoscape Australia has a network of solution partners that integrate Geoscape data into other products and services. The partner network includes traditional geospatial specialists and data engineers, as well as software developers, marketing service providers, systems integrators and consultancies.
Data Product Specification Title¶
Surface Cover Product Description
Data Scope¶
Surface Cover is a digital dataset of land cover categories across Australia. There will be a Release Report provided with each update which will detail the specific update areas and any issues contained within Surface Cover.
Reference Date¶
December 2022
Responsible Party¶
Language¶
English
Topic Category¶
Boundaries for Surface Cover and related characteristics within Australia.
Informal Description of the Data Product¶
Surface Cover is a national digital dataset representing land cover categories across each State and Territory in Australia.
Data quality and potential capture timelines will vary across Australia.
Geoscape welcomes your feedback on the Surface Cover Dataset. We also publish regular updates on the development of our products on the Geoscape website.
Distribution Format¶
This document is available in PDF format. For other formats and use of this document, contact Geoscape Support (support@geoscape.com.au).
Copyright and disclaimer¶
Please see https://geoscape.com.au/legal/data-copyright-and-disclaimer/
Privacy¶
Geoscape products and services should not contain any personal or business names or other sensitive 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.
Definitions, Acronyms and Abbreviations¶
Term |
Definition |
|---|---|
Building |
A structure generally permanent in nature which has been constructed to meet a specific objective (e.g. housing, storage, and workplace) and less permanent structures such as caravans and other portable housing may also be represented. All buildings are represented spatially both as polygons and points. |
CE90 |
Abbreviation for circular error at 90% confidence, which is the location error in the horizontal plane. It is the radial error distance centred at zero within which 90% of the data points fall. |
Contours |
A line connecting points of equal elevation/height used to display a 3D surface on a 2D map or image. |
Digital Elevation Model (DEM) (Bare earth model on a regular grid) |
The representation of continuous elevation values over a topographic surface by a regular array of sampled z-values, referenced to a common datum and expressed on a regular grid spacing or raster dataset. The DEM is a ground only representation and excludes vegetation such as trees and shrubs and human-constructed features such as sheds, houses and bridges. |
Note: Some organisations refer to a bare earth model in a regular grid as a DTM. In this context, refer to the alternate DTM definition in this document. |
|
Digital Surface Model (DSM) - Irregular Grid (Surface model irregular grid) |
A topographic model of the earth’s surface in digital format represented by mass points of variable density and may include break lines. The DSM represents surfaces including ground, vegetation, buildings and other constructed features. |
Digital Surface Model (DSM) - Regular Grid (Surface model on a regular grid) |
The representation of continuous elevation or height values over a topographic surface by a regular array of sampled z-values, referenced to a known datum and expressed on a regular grid spacing or raster dataset. The DSM represents surfaces including ground, vegetation, buildings and other constructed features. |
Digital Terrain Model (DTM) (Bare earth model on the irregular grid) |
A topographic model of the earth’s ground surface in digital format represented by mass points of variable density and may include break lines. The DTM representation of ground includes works such as levees, banks and roads, but excludes vegetation such as trees and shrubs and human-constructed features such as sheds, houses and bridges. |
Note: Some organisations refer to a bare earth model in a regular grid as a DTM. In this context, refer to the specific DEM definition in this document. |
|
Elevation |
This is a measure of vertical position relative to a known vertical datum. |
Height |
This is a measure of the relative vertical difference between two known points on the same vertical datum. |
LE90 |
Abbreviation for linear error at 90% confidence, which is the location error in the vertical plane. It is the absolute value error distance from zero within which 90% of the vertical data points fall. |
Minimum resolution |
The lowest detail/most coarse representation of a building outline acceptable to Geoscape. |
Raster Resolution |
This is a measure of image pixel/cell dimension, providing information on the level of detail of features it represents. The smaller the value the higher the level of detail represented. |
Resolution |
This is a measure of the geometric fidelity of each building represented. It is a combination of the minimum area of a polygon and minimum vertex separation. |
Rural |
Any area not defined as ‘Urban’ |
Sensor |
A device/machine that measures/records 1 or more physical properties. |
Visible |
Observable by someone with reasonable skill and expertise. |
Urban |
Areas with a population greater than 200, or with significant industrial/commercial activity in a visual assessment. |