PRODUCT BRIEF
2007 CONCORDANCES PRODUCT BRIEF
Introduction
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has developed several concordance products that enable users to convert data for one type of geographic area to another. For full details of these geographic areas please refer to Statistical Geography Volume 1 Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) (cat. no. 1216.0).
There are two types of concordances that the ABS produces, a population based concordance and an area based concordance. This publication contains area based concordances only.
The area based concordance expresses the percentage of the "From" area contained within the "To" area. The population weighted concordance expresses the percentage of the "From" area's population contained within the "To" area. Population weighted concordances ABS Postal Area Concordances, August 2006 (cat. no. 2905.0.55.001) are available from the ABS website.
The Area Based concordance
The area based concordance is based on the area of the "From" area contained in the "To" Area. This is calculated by a simple GIS method.
In the area based concordance there may be situations where the boundaries do not align perfectly and a very small percentage of one area is contained in another. In these cases if the percentage calculated is below 0.001 percent then the figure is set to zero (0), similarly if the percentage is greater than 99.999 percent the value is set to 1.0.
File Format
The file naming convention is :
Character and Meaning
1 "C" for Concordance
2 "A" for Area Based Concordance
3-6 Year of To Area
7-9 Type of To Area eg, "SLA" **
10 "_"
11-14 Year of From Area
15-17 Type of From Area eg, "SLA" **
** in some cases the Area type is two characters, eg "MB", adjust character count appropriately
For Example
CA2006SLA_2006MB.txt is the text file containing the information concording 2006 Mesh blocks to 2006 SLAs based on the area concordance principal.
The "From Area" and "To Area" naming convention is "Mathematically based"
"To Area" = "From Area" multiplied by ratio
105051100 = 123456565 * 0.505
105051200 = 123456565 * 0.595
Concordance files are comma-delimited text files.
Field Name*** Type
To area Code Character
To area Name Character
From Area Code Character
From Area Name Character
Ratio Number
Percentage Number
*** Field Names will vary from file to file but are consistent in nature. The field name is constructed from the area type and date. For example the code field from the 2007 SLA file will have the name "SLA_2007_Code", whereas a Collection District Area Name field from the 2006 Postal Area file will have the name "CD_2006_Name". It is important to note the placement/ positioning convention as it is similar to the file naming convention.
Percentage - figure expressed as a percentage ranges from 100 to 0
Ratio - figures expresses as part of 1 - actual figures can be up to 10 decimal places and are expressed in mathematical terms - 4.77810788750317e-04 which is 0.000477810788750317
Foe example:
"SLA_2007_Code","SLA_2007_Name","CD_2006_Code","CD_2006_Name","Ratio","Percent"
105051100,Botany Bay (C),1421807,1421807, 1, 100
105051100,Botany Bay (C),1421806,1421806, 1, 100
105051100,Botany Bay (C),1421805,1421805, 1, 100
105051100,Botany Bay (C),1421804,1421804, 1, 100
105051100,Botany Bay (C),1421809,1421809, 1, 100
Or
"SLA_2007_Code","SLA_2007_Name","CD_2006_Code","CD_2006_Name","Ratio","Percent"
105051100,Botany Bay (C),1421909,1421909, .999886150596782, 99.9886150596782
105051100,Botany Bay (C),1421808,1421808, .999993652481281, 99.9993652481281
105051100,Botany Bay (C),1421907,1421907, .999972553418185, 99.9972553418185
105051100,Botany Bay (C),1421904,1421904, .999994750369691, 99.9994750369691
105051100,Botany Bay (C),1421903,1421903, .999986839499272, 99.9986839499272
The "From Area" and "To Area" naming convention is "Mathematically based"
"To Area" = "From Area" multiplied by ratio
105051100 = 105055200* 0. 97.95
105051100 = 105055200* 0.0001
105051200 = 105106550 * 0.0004
For enquires please contact the ABS Geography Section, see details below.
ABS Geography Section
Email: geography@abs.gov.au
September 2007
Print Page
Print All