Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction Map Series: Northern Region

Geoscience Australia provides a map depicting Australia's maritime jurisdiction north of approximately 25°S. The map is part of a 28-map series and includes approved continental shelf limits, treaties, and maritime zones around the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Christmas Island, and the northern continent. Background imagery combines bathymetric data from Geoscience Australia and W.H.F. Smith and D.T. Sandwell, with land imagery from NASA's Blue Marble.

Use Cases

• Analyze maritime boundaries and exclusive economic zones based on depicted jurisdiction zones.
• Study the extent of the continental shelf for resource exploration based on the approved limits.
• Visualize bathymetric features for oceanographic research using the combined background grid.
• Reference treaty boundaries for international law and diplomatic purposes.

Strengths

• Part of a standardized series of 28 constituent maps, suggesting systematic coverage.
• Integrates authoritative data sources including Geoscience Australia bathymetry and NASA land imagery.
• Depicts legally significant features like the continental shelf approved by the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in April 2008.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data is provided as a static PDF map sized for a 42-inch plotter, limiting direct machine analysis.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for quantitative modeling.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Derived from bathymetric and topographic grids; compiled for legal and cartographic purposes.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-14 03:07:01.483403; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Australia's maritime jurisdiction north of approximately 25°S, including areas around Cocos (Keeling) Islands, west of Christmas Island, and the northern continental coast.