Australian Maritime Boundaries and Jurisdictional Zones 2014

Geoscience Australia's Australian Maritime Boundaries (AMB) 2014a is a digital representation of national maritime limits. It includes territorial baselines, outer limits of maritime zones, and boundaries from treaties with neighboring countries. The dataset covers the full Australian marine jurisdiction, updated with technical amendments based on user feedback.

Use Cases

• Delineating territorial sea baselines and exclusive economic zones using polygon boundaries for jurisdictional mapping.
• Determining state and Northern Territory scheduled areas under the Offshore Petroleum Act using the provided limits.
• Analyzing treaty-defined maritime boundaries between Australia and neighboring countries for international law studies.
• Mapping the graticular blocks in area SC51 for offshore resource exploration planning.

Strengths

• Provides a complete digital representation of Australia's maritime zones as established under the Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973.
• Coverage spans the full Australian marine jurisdiction from 7°S to 70°S latitude and 40°E to 175°E longitude.
• Data coordinates are supplied in the GDA94 datum, functionally equivalent to WGS84 for broad compatibility.

Limitations

• The data reflects coastline location based on source material available at the time of production (May 2014), which may be outdated.
• In the event of inconsistency, the legal limits under legislation prevail over this digital representation.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia, developed in consultation with the Attorney-General's Department, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the Australian Hydrographic Office.

Collection Method

Delineation of limits and boundaries based on the Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973, associated proclamations, and international treaties.

Time Range

Currency date is May 2014.

Freshness

Currency is May 2014, with technical amendments applied later based on user feedback.

Geography

Australian marine jurisdiction, including waters adjacent to the mainland, offshore islands, and External Territories.