1270.0.55.005 - Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS): Volume 5 - Remoteness Structure, July 2011
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 31/01/2013 First Issue
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PURPOSE
For more information regarding the Mesh Blocks, SA1s and S/Ts, please refer to Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS): Volume 1 - Main Structure and Greater Capital City Statistical Areas, July 2011 (cat. no. 1270.0.55.001). DELIMITATION OF RAs AND NAMING OF RAs The delimitation criteria for RAs are based on the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA+) developed in 2000 by the then Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care (DHAC) and the National Key Centre for Social Applications of GIS (GISCA). GISCA is now incorporated into the Australian Population and Migration Research Centre (APMRC). ARIA+ measures the remoteness of a point based on the physical road distance to the nearest Urban Centre in each of five size classes. For more information on ARIA+ see the University of Adelaide website at <http://www.adelaide.edu.au/apmrc/research/projects/category/about_aria.html>. The University of Adelaide provides the ABS with ARIA+ as a one kilometre grid covering all of Australia. Each grid point is allocated a value that is determined using the methodology found in the link above. The ABS utilises the ARIA+ grid to create RAs. The ASGS SA1 boundaries are overlayed onto the ARIA+ grid and an average score is calculated based upon the grid points that are contained within each SA1. The resulting average score determines which remoteness category is allocated to each SA1. Table 1 details each RA category including RA names and the SA1 average ARIA+ value ranges.
Further criteria are used by the ABS to refine RAs. These criteria are applied to remove anomalies that the index may produce and are consistent with the methodology that was applied in the delimitation of the 2006 Remoteness Structure. These criteria are listed below:
Note that the above rules do not apply to coastal SA1s where neighbouring SA1s are classed as a different remoteness category as they are not considered to be completely surrounded. The Urban Centre and Locality referenced in the above criteria are defined according to the ABS publication Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Volume 4 - Significant Urban Areas, Urban Centres and Localities, Section of State, July 2011 (cat. no. 1270.0.55.004) released in October 2012. Within each S/T, each RA represents an aggregation of non-contiguous geographical areas which share common characteristics of remoteness. While statistical data classed to this structure may be available by S/T, characteristics of remoteness are determined in the context of Australia as a whole, consequently not all RA categories are represented in each S/T as illustrated in Table 2. SUMMARY TABLE Table 2 summaries the number of RA categories for each S/T. Not all RA categories are represented in each S/T.
COMPARABILITY WITH EARLIER ASGC DEFINITIONS OF REMOTENESS There has been no substantial change in the methodology used to define the RAs and therefore in most cases it is possible to make a valid comparison of the same RAs across several Censuses. In doing such a comparison it is important to realise:
RA CODING STRUCTURE A RA is identifiable by a 2 digit hierarchical code. This compromises a S/T identifier code and a RA identifier code. A RA identifier is only unique if it is preceded by the S/T identifier. For example, the RA coding structure for New South Wales (NSW) is illustrated below in Table 3.
RELATED MATERIAL The following related material is available for the 2011 Remoteness Structure at <https://www.abs.gov.au/geography>
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