Australian International Maritime Treaty Boundaries 2014

Geoscience Australia developed this digital representation of Australia's international maritime boundaries determined by treaties with neighboring countries. The dataset covers the entire Australian marine jurisdiction, including waters adjacent to the mainland, offshore islands, and External Territories, with a geographical extent from approximately 8°S to 70°S latitude and 39°E to 174°E longitude. It was published in May 2014 following consultation with Commonwealth Government agencies.

Use Cases

• Analyze the spatial extent of treaty boundaries for maritime jurisdiction disputes using the polygon features.
• Calculate distances or overlaps between Australian and neighboring countries' exclusive economic zones using the geospatial coordinates.
• Integrate treaty boundary lines with other marine spatial planning datasets for environmental impact assessments.
• Validate maritime claims or legal documents against the officially delineated treaty boundaries in the GDA94 datum.

Strengths

• Provides authoritative boundaries developed by Geoscience Australia in consultation with key government departments.
• Covers the full Australian marine jurisdiction, including external territories, across a vast longitudinal and latitudinal range.
• Includes technical amendments based on user feedback, such as harmonization in block SC51.

Limitations

• Data currency is May 2014, making it potentially outdated for recent treaty changes or disputes.
• The underlying file format is an ESRI Geodatabase, which requires specific GIS software to use effectively.
• No information is provided on the number of individual boundary features or the resolution of the spatial data.

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 and representation of international maritime boundary treaties.

Time Range

Currency date is May 2014.

Freshness

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Geography

Australian marine jurisdiction, including mainland, offshore islands, and External Territories, approximately 8°S to 70°S and 39°E to 174°E.