2902.0 - Census Update (Newsletter), Nov 2001  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 26/11/2001   
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New Digital Boundaries - coming soon

With increasing use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for statistical analysis, digital boundaries have become a very important component of the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC). In line with the new Commonwealth Spatial Data Access and Pricing Policy, the ABS has significantly reduced the price of digital boundaries. From the end of January 2002, all ASGC spatial units (except Urban Centres and Localities) will be available on a single CD-ROM, at a cost of $95.

By dramatically reducing the price of digital boundaries, the ABS is making this fundamental dataset of the Australian Spatial Data Infrastructure more widely accessible. The ABS encourages and supports the use of the ASGC by other organisations to improve the comparability and usefulness of statistics generally.

Boundaries will be in MapInfo interchange format (mid/mif) and will include code and name attributes for every polygon. Urban Centres and Localities will follow later in 2002, after population counts are available from the 2001 Census.

Following the release of ASGC 2001 boundaries, Census specific boundaries, such as postal areas and suburbs, will also be available on CD-ROM for $95. A new edition of ASGC Historic Boundaries, covering editions from 1996 to 2000, will also be released at the end of April 2002 and will be available at the same price.

Enquiries about Digital Boundaries should be forwarded to the Assistant Director, Area Classification, telephone (02) 62525888, fax (02) 6252 8666 or email geography@abs.gov.au.