Australian Maritime Boundaries 2014a: Territorial Sea Baselines and Jurisdictional Limits

Geoscience Australia's Australian Maritime Boundaries (AMB) 2014a data provides a digital representation of Australia's maritime zones as established under the Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973. The dataset includes territorial baselines, outer limits of maritime zones, and boundaries from treaties with neighboring countries, covering latitudes from 7°S to 70°S and longitudes from 40°E to 175°E. This version, published in May 2014, incorporates technical amendments based on user feedback and is provided in ESRI Geodatabase format.

Use Cases

• Mapping Australia's territorial sea baselines and exclusive economic zone based on the legal limits described.
• Analyzing offshore petroleum and greenhouse gas storage areas under the OPGGSA 2006 based on the scheduled area representations.
• Visualizing treaty-defined maritime boundaries with neighboring countries for diplomatic or legal reference.
• Supporting coastal and marine spatial planning using the provided geospatial limits for state and Northern Territory adjacent waters.

Strengths

• Developed by the authoritative national agency Geoscience Australia in consultation with key government departments.
• Covers the entire Australian marine jurisdiction, including external territories, with a defined geographical extent.
• Provides coordinates in the GDA94 datum, which is functionally equivalent to the widely used WGS84 standard.

Limitations

• Data currency is May 2014; legal or coastal changes after this date are not reflected.
• The description notes that in any inconsistency, the legal limits under legislation prevail over the digital data.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics and data structure must be inspected after download.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Digital delineation of legal maritime limits and boundaries based on legislation and treaties.

Time Range

Currency May 2014.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-10 19:34:13.569770; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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