Australian Maritime Boundaries 2014a: Territorial Limits and Offshore Zones

Australia's maritime jurisdiction, including external territories, is represented in this geospatial dataset. Geoscience Australia developed the data, which delineates territorial baselines, international treaty boundaries, and offshore petroleum zones under the Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973. The data has a currency of May 2014 and covers a geographical extent from 7°S to 70°S latitude and 40°E to 175°E longitude.

Use Cases

• Mapping territorial sea baselines and exclusive economic zones based on the legal limits described.
• Analyzing offshore petroleum and greenhouse gas storage scheduled areas based on the represented OPGGSA limits.
• Visualizing international maritime boundaries determined by treaties with neighboring countries.
• Supporting coastal and marine spatial planning based on the digital representation of state and territory coastal waters.

Strengths

• Data is published by the authoritative national agency, Geoscience Australia, in consultation with other Commonwealth departments.
• Coverage includes the entire Australian marine jurisdiction, from the mainland to offshore islands and external territories.
• Coordinates are supplied 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 the event of an inconsistency, the limits under legislation prevail over the digital data.
• Row count and detailed column-level documentation are absent, requiring inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Digital representation of legal limits and boundaries established under Australian legislation.

Time Range

Currency May 2014.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-30 13:06:15.862924; however, the underlying data currency is May 2014.

Geography

Australian marine jurisdiction, including external territories, approximately 7°S to 70°S, 40°E to 175°E.