Gold Coast Broadwater Seagrass Mapping from 2005 Aerial Photography

Seagrass meadows within the Gold Coast Broadwater were mapped using high-resolution 2005 orthorectified color aerial photography at a scale of 1:10,000. Polygons were drawn over potential seagrass meadows at a 1:5000 scale using desktop GIS software, with spatial accuracy estimated at approximately ±1 to ±2 meters. The dataset is provided by the Australian Ocean Data Network and was last updated in July 2026.

Use Cases

• Monitor seagrass habitat extent and change over time based on the 2005 aerial photography.
• Assess coastal ecosystem health and biodiversity using the mapped seagrass meadow polygons.
• Model sediment dynamics and water quality influences on seagrass based on spatial distribution data.
• Support marine spatial planning and conservation efforts using the georeferenced seagrass maps.

Strengths

• High-resolution source imagery with a pixel size of 0.15 meters.
• Spatial accuracy is quantified as approximately ±1 meter for well-defined boundaries and ±2 meters for poorly defined ones.
• Mapping was performed at a detailed scale of 1:5000.

Limitations

• Data is from a single time period (2005), limiting temporal analysis.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network, using photography from Gold Coast City Council.

Collection Method

Seagrass meadows were mapped from 2005 orthorectified aerial photography using desktop GIS (MapInfo Professional 8.0).

Time Range

2005

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-22 02:59:46.617403; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Gold Coast Broadwater, Australia