Australian Maritime Boundaries 2014a: Geodatabase of Legal Limits and Zones

Geoscience Australia's digital representation of Australia's maritime limits and boundaries as established under the Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973. The data includes territorial baselines, outer limits of maritime zones, and boundaries from treaties with neighboring countries, covering waters from 7°S to 70°S and 40°E to 175°E. This 2014 version incorporates technical amendments based on user feedback and is published in consultation with other Commonwealth agencies.

Use Cases

• Delineating offshore petroleum and greenhouse gas storage areas based on the limits referenced in the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006.
• Mapping Australia's territorial sea baseline and exclusive economic zone based on the digital limits from the Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973.
• Analyzing maritime boundaries with neighboring countries based on treaty data included in the product.
• Determining state and Northern Territory coastal waters for legal and administrative purposes based on the represented limits.

Strengths

• Data is published by the authoritative national agency Geoscience Australia in consultation with other government departments.
• Coverage includes the entire Australian marine jurisdiction, spanning approximately 63 degrees of latitude and 135 degrees of longitude.
• The dataset reflects technical amendments made based on direct user feedback, such as harmonization in block SC51.

Limitations

• The data is a representation; in case of inconsistency, the limits under the actual legislation prevail.
• Data currency is May 2014, which may not reflect recent legal or geographical changes.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia, developed in consultation with the Attorney-General's Department, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the Australian Hydrographic Office.

Collection Method

Digital delineation of legal maritime limits and boundaries.

Time Range

Currency May 2014.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-23 01:48:29.455282; freshness should be verified as the underlying data is from 2014.

Geography

Australian marine jurisdiction, including mainland, offshore islands, and External Territories, approximately 7°S to 70°S and 40°E to 175°E.