Australian Topographic Map Series at 1:250,000 Scale

Geoscience Australia Data provides the AUSTopo 1:250,000 digital map series, comprising 516 maps covering the entire continent. Each standard map sheet depicts an area of approximately 1.5 degrees longitude by 1 degree latitude, showing natural and constructed features including road and rail infrastructure, vegetation, hydrography, and 50-meter contours.

Use Cases

• Extract road and rail infrastructure vectors from PDF maps for national transportation network analysis.
• Analyze hydrography and 50-meter contour data for watershed modeling and terrain analysis.
• Digitize vegetation and administrative boundary features for land-use classification studies.
• Combine multiple standard map sheets to create seamless topographic coverage for regional planning.

Strengths

• Covers the entire continent of Australia with 516 individual map sheets.
• Provides the largest scale (1:250,000) topographic coverage published for the entire continent.
• Contains multiple feature layers including infrastructure, vegetation, hydrography, and contours.

Limitations

• Data is provided in static PDF format, requiring manual or automated feature extraction for GIS use.
• Map sheets may contain information from surrounding sheets, potentially complicating precise tile-based analysis.
• Approximately 50 maps in the series cover non-standard areas, which may require special handling for mosaicking.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Published digital topographic map series.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated March 2026.

Geography

Australia