Australian National Topographic Base Map Without Labels

A seamless topographic colour mapping service for the whole of Australia, including its outer islands and external territories. The map is compiled from multiple sources including Geoscience Australia, the Australian Antarctic Division, and OpenStreetMap, with data for specific islands sourced from NATMAP datasets at 1:30,000 and 1:25,000 scales. Vegetation data for the continent is aggregated from the Australian Collaborative Land Use and Management Program.

Use Cases

• Create custom thematic maps based on the underlying topographic features like hydrography and relief.
• Perform spatial analysis for land management based on the aggregated ACLUMP vegetation layer.
• Develop base layers for web mapping applications using the seamless, multi-scale topographic data.

Strengths

• Covers the entire Australian landmass including remote islands and Antarctic territory.
• Integrates data from multiple authoritative sources including Geoscience Australia and OpenStreetMap.
• Includes specific high-resolution (1:25,000 scale) mapping for Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

Limitations

• Topographic information was last checked in 2008 and supplemented in 2009, with limited field checking, so some data may not be accurate.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia, Australian Antarctic Division, OpenStreetMap, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Natural Earth.

Collection Method

Compiled from multiple topographic mapping datasets, satellite imagery, and field checks.

Time Range

Primary topographic data checked in 2008; SRTM data acquired in February 2000.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-05 00:04:04.126913; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Australia, including Norfolk, Lord Howe, Macquarie, Cocos (Keeling), Christmas, Heard and McDonald Islands, and the Australian Antarctic Territory.