1216.0.55.004 - Information Paper: Converting Data to the Australian Statistical Geography Standard, 2012  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 28/02/2012  First Issue
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PREFACE

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has recently developed a new geography to replace the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) that has been used for the collection and dissemination of geographically classified statistics since its introduction in 1984. The Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) was released in December 2010, and the first statistics based on the ASGS were released in August 2011.

The 2011 Census of Population and Housing will be the first Census to feature data released on the ASGS, and Census data will become available later in 2012.

The ABS has in place a number of strategies to assist clients in making the transition from the ASGC to the ASGS. For instance, data from the 2011 Census will be released in time series for 2001, 2006 and 2011 on both Statistical Local Areas (ASGC) and Statistical Areas Level 2 (ASGS) to enable users to maintain continuity. Other collections will release parallel datasets for a short time to allow statistical benchmarking.

A summary of the ASGS implementation schedule for other ABS publications is available on the web site: https://www.abs.gov.au/geography

Strategies for converting existing data onto the ASGS are detailed in this paper. Allocation tables, coding indexes and geographic correspondence tables will all be made available free of charge through the ABS website, whilst address coding of unit record data to the ASGS is also possible if address information is held with the data.

Specific information relating to the current versions of the ASGC and ASGS respectively can be found in the following ABS publications: Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) July 2011 (cat. no. 1216.0), Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS): Volume 1 - Main Structure and Greater Capital City Statistical Areas, July 2011 (cat. no. 1270.0.55.001), Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Volume 2 - Indigenous Structure, July 2011 (cat. no. 1270.0.55.002) and Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Volume 3 - Non ABS Structures, July 2011 (cat. no. 1270.0.55.003). These publications are available from the ABS website.

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