National Trees¶
Disclaimer
Overview¶
National Trees is a raster dataset representing tree coverage and heights, derived from remotely sensed imagery.
Geoscape Australia welcomes your feedback on the National Trees Dataset. We also publish regular product development updates on our website (www.geoscape.com.au).
Release Summary¶
This product was released to customers on 30 September 2026 with data extracted on 5 September 2026.
This release is a full national data population for Version 1.8 of the National Trees product, described by the National Trees Product Description v1.8.
Any issues that have been identified for this release are described in the Issues section.
This release includes updates for the areas listed in the table below.
Locations of updated areas by State¶
State |
Location |
Urban Area (km2) |
|---|---|---|
ACT |
Australian Captial Territory |
498 |
NSW |
Bathurst Regional Council |
60 |
NSW |
Blacktown City Council |
158 |
NSW |
Blue Mountains City Council |
14 |
NSW |
Camden Council |
122 |
NSW |
Campbelltown City Council |
161 |
NSW |
Cumberland Council |
12 |
NSW |
Fairfield City Council |
87 |
NSW |
Hawkesbury City Council |
312 |
NSW |
Ku-ring-gai Council |
11 |
NSW |
Liverpool City Council |
218 |
NSW |
Murray River Council |
18 |
NSW |
Northern Beaches Council |
63 |
NSW |
Penrith City Council |
250 |
NSW |
Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council |
76 |
NSW |
Sutherland Shire Council |
40 |
NSW |
The Council of the Shire of Hornsby |
129 |
NSW |
The Hills Shire Council |
197 |
NSW |
Wagga Wagga City Council |
104 |
NSW |
Wollondilly Shire Council |
32 |
NSW |
Yass Valley Council |
2 |
NT |
Alice Springs Municipality |
46 |
QLD |
Fraser Coast Regional |
57 |
QLD |
Gladstone Regional |
50 |
QLD |
Gympie Regional |
33 |
QLD |
Livingstone Shire |
32 |
SA |
Adelaide Hills Council |
4 |
SA |
Alexandrina Council |
23 |
SA |
City of Adelaide |
15 |
SA |
City of Burnside |
25 |
SA |
City of Charles Sturt |
55 |
SA |
City of Holdfast Bay |
14 |
SA |
City of Marion |
56 |
SA |
City of Mitcham |
55 |
SA |
City of Mount Gambier |
30 |
SA |
City of Onkaparinga |
132 |
SA |
City of Playford |
97 |
SA |
City of Port Adelaide Enfield |
92 |
SA |
City of Prospect |
8 |
SA |
City of Salisbury |
104 |
SA |
City of Tea Tree Gully |
66 |
SA |
City of Unley |
14 |
SA |
City of Victor Harbor |
26 |
SA |
City of West Torrens |
37 |
SA |
Light Regional Council |
32 |
SA |
The Barossa Council |
5 |
SA |
The City of Norwood Payneham and St Peters |
15 |
SA |
The Corporation of the City of Whyalla |
22 |
SA |
The Corporation of the Town of Walkerville |
4 |
SA |
The DC of Grant |
5 |
SA |
Town of Gawler |
40 |
SA |
UIA Whyalla |
1 |
VIC |
Ballarat City |
145 |
VIC |
Campaspe Shire |
25 |
VIC |
Greater Bendigo City |
178 |
VIC |
Greater Shepparton City |
57 |
VIC |
Latrobe City |
70 |
Total |
4234 |
^ Location names are derived from intersection with the most recent Local Government Area dataset.
Spatial files of the updated areas are available upon request via support@geoscape.com.au.
Change Notifications¶
Update to RASTER_INDEX and CAPTURE_INDEX schema¶
For the December Release we will be standardising the schema by renaming the existing id text field to area_id to better reflect its purpose as a domain-specific identifier, while the id field is being repurposed as a standard ascending integer (id/objectid) to align with common GIS and database conventions. This change ensures compatibility with downstream tools and workflows that expect a unique, numeric primary key, simplifies joins and indexing, and reduces ambiguity between internal record identifiers and externally meaningful area codes.
Versioning Update (Starting June 2026)¶
Beginning June 2026, all data products will transition to a standardised versioning format: MAJOR-MINOR-EXTRACT (e.g., 004-000-001). This approach provides a clear and consistent structure, making it easier for users to identify product versions and understand update levels at a glance. The change is intended to improve transparency, reduce ambiguity, and support more efficient integration and usage of our data products.
Implementation of New Zip File Naming and Packaging Standards (Starting August 2026)¶
As part of ongoing improvements to product consistency and packaging standards, updates to zip file naming conventions and internal packaging structure will be implemented, starting in August 2026.
Zip File Naming
Two standard naming patterns will be used, depending on whether an extract contains spatial information:
Spatial Tables:
{PRODUCT-NAME}_{RELEASE YYYYMM}_{REGION}_{CRS}_{FORMAT}_{VERSION MAJOR-MINOR-EXTRACT}.zip
Aspatial (Insights) Tables:
{PRODUCT-NAME}_{RELEASE YYYYMM}_{REGION}_NODATUM_{FORMAT}_{VERSION MAJOR-MINOR-EXTRACT}.zip
Packaging Structure
All zip files will follow a simplified, flat directory layout:
No nested folders
The primary data file will be located at the top level of the zip.
Note: The product package will no longer include supporting content.txt files.
These changes ensure consistent packaging across all products, reduce complexity, and support improved automation and user experience.
Issues¶
New Issues¶
No new issues to note.
Resolved Issues¶
No new resolved issues to note.
Known Issues¶
The progress and status of known, ongoing issues are summarised below. For specific and further details on each issue, please refer to the Release Report identified in the ‘Release identified’ column.
Ongoing product issues¶
Release Identified |
Theme - Issue Name |
Issue Brief Description |
Progress/Resolution |
Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Dec-16 |
Building - Tree heights near buildings and other trees |
Terrain elevation values used in the calculation of tree heights have been found in some cases to be affected by the surrounding tall features such as buildings and other trees. |
No update at this time. |
Open |
Mar-22 |
Trees over-capture |
On Buildings, it has been observed that there are some situations where significant portions of some roofs have been captured as tree features. This is different from actual tree overhang and may be due some combination of building proximity to actual tree features, dark roof colour and/or shadow across roofs. In Dense, Shadowed and Water Areas, the spectral signature of these areas can incorrectly result in features being extracted as trees during remote sensing. Height calculation can help to exclude the majority of these during production, but where heights are determined to be greater than 2 metres they may persist. |
We are working with our partner to limit these occurrences, as well as improving our processes to identify and correct the situations where they are present. |
Open |
Future Considerations¶
This section outlines enhancements or changes under consideration, but not planned into a specific release. For further details on future initiatives, please contact Geoscape Support.
Annex A – Release Counts¶
National Trees Theme - Summary¶
Total coverage of National Trees by state¶
State |
Total Area (km2) |
|---|---|
QLD |
3105 |
VIC |
1270 |
ACTNSW |
3607 |
TAS |
290 |
NT |
145 |
SA |
335 |
WA |
811 |
National |
9564 |