ABS Developments in Spatial Data

Jacky Hodges

Tasmanian Regional Director

Growing Demand

• All areas of the community are expecting information in a spatial context

– Google Maps has made ‘spatial information a commodity’

• Spatial technology also now a commodity

– Available on desktop, mobile devices etc

• Broad understanding of the value of spatially enabling information

Building Spatial Infrastructures

• Spatial Infrastructures- high on government agendas

– APS200 Location Project- Aus Govt

– Victorian Government Spatial Information Strategy

– NSW- SIX

– WA- Landgate

– Tasmania- Land Information System Tasmania (LIST)

Why does the ABS care about spatial data?

• Australia’s national statistical agency;

• ABS is already playing a role in spatially enabling information

– PSMA Australia Ltd may not have been established without ABS Census mapping requirements

• ABS bringing social, economic and environment data together in new ways.

Geospatial capability has existed for many years, and is now being applied more widely.

Some examples.

• Population Census

• New geography standard - ASGS

• Land Account

ABS History

But can the ABS be effective through ‘traditional’ spatial activities?

Benefits of a spatial infrastructure well understood

• Used for many purposes, including providing context for

other information

ABS investigating a Statistical Spatial Framework

• Providing the statistical equivalent of topography, roads,

rivers and administrative boundaries

• Providing a statistical context ‘layer’

• Enabling access to authoritative spatially enabled statistics

• Adding value to other agencies’ data through a statistical

context

A Statistical Spatial Framework

A statistical framework will provide another series of layers on top of the existing (or developing) topographic based spatial infrastructure

Benefits of a Framework

• Existing demand

• Meeting a broader user community

• Provide a location-based method of discovering and accessing ABS data

Integrating statistical

data with ASGS

ABS Pilot Land Account for the

Great Barrier Reef region

What is a Land Account?

Measures the change in the Land and its attributes resulting from the impact of human and natural activity

Measures the links between

• The economic activities undertaken on the Land

• Expenditures undertaken to protect the environment and manage natural resources

• The Land assets in both physical and monetary terms

A National Land Account could be used to inform debate on:

• Population settlement

• Sustainable production of goods and services

• Understanding the costs and benefits of different land management systems

• Understanding the productive capacity of land

• Measuring the health of the environment

• Understanding the economic, environmental and social costs and benefits of economic activities occurring on the land

• Measuring the potential social and economic impact of a disaster

Great Barrier Reef: 3,005 Statistical Area 1 regions

It all starts here

Data sources……………….

• Cadlite-PSMA

• Climate data-BoM

• Dynamic Land Cover Mapping – GA & ABARES

• NCAS forest extent – DCCEE

• Catchment scale Land Use – ABARES

• Transport and Topography – DERM & SEWPAC

Our main data source • Data from the Valuer General

– Lot and plan number (or equivalent)

– CAD PID

– Property ID

– Property location (address: street, locality , shire, LGA )

– Property value [land value, capital value]($)

– 3 digit land use code

– Property size (ha)

– Owner’s name

– ABN (if applicable)

– Foreign ownership code (if applicable)

– Native title

– Land Zone identifier

– Copy of meta data to identify any additional data requirement

Integrating ABS data

• Population Census

• Agricultural Census

• Land Management Practices in the GBR region

• Water Use on Australian Farms

• Water Account, Australia

• Business Register

Issues

• Location information for multi-state businesses

• Data for different periods rather than a point of time

• Consistency across State Information i.e land use categories

• Need cooperation of all Valuer’s General to produce “National Account”

Outputs

• Statistical Tables at NRM level in line with the SEEA framework

• An interactive Google Earth® image that shows SA1 level information for:

– Boundary information, population and business

– Rateable land value and land use

– Dynamic land cover

– Fire, temperature and rainfall

• An ESRI® geodatabase file and a MAPINFO file that can be used in GIS

• Supporting text delimited file

SA1 demonstration

2.0 metre storm tide

2.5 metre storm tide

3.0 metre storm tide

CAIRNS CBD 02/02/2011

Estimated impact of 1.0 m sea rise by 2100

Airport

Town centre

abs.gov.au

Contacts

• Jacky Hodges jacky.hodges@abs.gov.au

• Mark Lound mark.lound@abs.gov.au

• Ben Searle ben.searle@abs.gov.au

• Alister Nairn alister.nairn@abs.gov.au

Mesh Blocks: Bellerive

Statistical Area 1 (SA1): Bellerive

Statistical Area 2 (SA2) : Bellerive-Rosny

Statistical Areas 3 (SA3) and 4 (SA4): Hobart