Australian Marine Seismic Survey Navigation Tracks in KML and Shapefile Formats

Geoscience Australia maintains a collection of navigation data for marine seismic surveys conducted in Australian waters. The dataset includes original navigation files, digitized survey track maps, and cleansed data in the UKOOA P190 SNIP format. This updated collection, hosted by the Australian Ocean Data Network, is an ongoing effort with a significant usability improvement noted as of April 2026.

Use Cases

• Visualizing seismic survey track lines and coverage areas in applications like Google Earth or ArcGIS using the provided KML files.
• Integrating cleansed navigation coordinates (P190 SNIP format) with other marine geophysical datasets for regional analysis.
• Assessing the spatial distribution and history of seismic exploration activity across Australia's maritime zones using the shapefile data.
• Validating and improving legacy survey navigation by comparing original files with the updated, cleansed collection.

Strengths

• Data follows the industry-standard UKOOA P190 SNIP navigation format.
• Available in two widely supported geospatial formats: KML and ESRI Shapefile.
• Represents a significant improvement over legacy data, though the cleansing process is ongoing.

Limitations

• The navigation data is not final and may contain errors, as explicitly stated by the provider.
• The exact number of surveys, rows of data, and temporal coverage are unspecified.
• Data accuracy, completeness, and currency are not warranted by the provider.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia, via the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Collection Method

Collection and cleansing of original navigation files, 2003 SNIP navigation files, and digitized survey track maps.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated in April 2026, with an ongoing data update process.

Geography

Australian waters.