Australian Maritime Boundaries 2014a: Geospatial Limits and Jurisdictional Zones

May 2014 data from Geoscience Australia delineates Australia's domestic and international maritime limits and boundaries. The dataset is a digital representation of zones established under the Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973 and related legislation, covering waters from 7°S to 70°S latitude and 40°E to 175°E longitude. It includes territorial baselines, outer limits, and boundaries from treaties with neighboring countries.

Use Cases

• Map maritime jurisdictional zones based on the legal limits described in the Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973.
• Determine offshore petroleum and greenhouse gas storage areas based on the scheduled area limits referenced from the OPGGSA.
• Analyze coastal state powers and territory waters based on the representation of limits from the Coastal Waters Acts.
• Visualize international maritime boundaries based on treaty data included in the product.

Strengths

• Developed by the authoritative national agency Geoscience Australia in consultation with other Commonwealth departments.
• Covers a vast geographical extent, approximately between 7°S to 70°S latitude and 40°E to 175°E longitude.
• Includes technical amendments based on user feedback, such as harmonization in block SC51.

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.
• Data currency is May 2014, which may not reflect recent legal or geographical changes.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia, Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Official delineation and digital representation of legal maritime limits.

Time Range

Currency May 2014.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-16 20:15:59.634290; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Australian marine jurisdiction including mainland, offshore islands, and External Territories.