Seamless Greyscale Topographic Map of Australia

Australia's seamless greyscale topographic map service covers the entire continent and external territories like Christmas Island. It combines Geoscience Australia data for smaller scales with OpenStreetMap data for larger scales. The service is produced for the National Map project and hosted by the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Use Cases

• Generate background maps for thematic overlays using the greyscale topographic layer.
• Analyze landforms and terrain across Australia by querying the service's topographic features.
• Create custom web mapping applications by integrating this basemap service via its MapServer endpoint.
• Compare national-scale data from Geoscience Australia with local-scale OpenStreetMap detail.

Strengths

• Covers the entire landmass of Australia and its external territories.
• Integrates data from two authoritative sources: Geoscience Australia and OpenStreetMap.
• Designed as a seamless service for the National Map project.

Limitations

• Specific row counts, column names, and data volume are unknown.
• The service contains layer scale dependencies which may complicate usage.
• The description lacks technical details on resolution, update frequency, or data schema.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia and OpenStreetMap.

Collection Method

Combined and served as a web mapping service (MapServer).

Freshness

Last updated metadata indicates 2026-04-04, but actual data currency is unknown.

Geography

Australia, including Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Christmas Island, Norfolk Island, and Lord Howe Island.