Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction Map, 2020 Continental Shelf Boundaries

One of 27 constituent maps in the 'Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction Map Series' (GeoCat 71789). The map depicts Australia's continental shelf as proclaimed in the 2012 proclamation under the Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973, updated in April 2021 to conform with Geoscience Australia's 2020 maritime boundaries data. Background imagery combines bathymetric data from Geoscience Australia (2009) and Smith and Sandwell (1997) with NASA's Blue Marble land imagery.

Use Cases

• Visualizing national maritime claims based on the proclaimed continental shelf limits.
• Analyzing jurisdictional boundaries for marine resource management based on the described legal framework.
• Creating composite maps for regional studies using the provided bathymetric and topographic background layers.

Strengths

• Part of a defined 27-map series (GeoCat 71789), providing structured context.
• Based on authoritative legal proclamations (2012) and official data from Geoscience Australia (2020).
• Integrates multiple background data sources (GA 2009, Smith and Sandwell 1997, NASA Blue Marble).

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Spatial coverage excludes Cocos Island, subantarctic territories, and the Australian Antarctic Territory.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Derived from 'Australian Maritime Boundaries 2020' data and legal proclamations.

Time Range

Reflects boundaries as of the 2020 dataset, updated in April 2021.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-20 03:26:53.330508; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Maritime jurisdiction around the Australian continent.