Australian Maritime Boundaries: Territorial Sea Limits and Offshore Zones, 2020

December 2020 data delineating Australia's maritime limits and boundaries, developed by Geoscience Australia. This digital representation includes territorial baselines, outer limits of maritime zones, and boundaries established by treaties with neighboring countries. Coverage includes waters adjacent to the mainland, offshore islands, and External Territories.

Use Cases

• Map territorial sea baselines and exclusive economic zones based on the legal definitions in the Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973.
• Determine offshore petroleum and greenhouse gas storage areas based on the limits referenced in the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006.
• Analyze maritime boundaries between Australia and neighboring countries based on treaty data included in the product.
• Define state and Northern Territory coastal waters for jurisdictional purposes based on the Coastal Waters Acts of 1980.

Strengths

• Data is the official digital representation of Australia's maritime limits produced by the national geoscience authority.
• Coverage includes the entire Australian marine jurisdiction, spanning latitudes from 7°S to 70°S and longitudes from 40°E to 175°E.
• Currency is specified as December 2020, providing a clear temporal reference.

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.
• The data includes a legal disclaimer that in case of inconsistency, the legislative text prevails over the 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 maritime limits and boundaries based on legislation and treaties.

Time Range

Currency: December 2020.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-17 00:10:05.111397; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Australia including all external territories, covering the Australian marine jurisdiction.