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STATISTICAL SPATIAL FRAMEWORK OVERVIEW
Geocoding The foundation of the Statistical Spatial Framework for Australia is the National Address Management Framework (NAMF). NAMF provides a common and consistent approach to establish a location (or geocode) from the address of each person, household or business in a dataset. This location should ideally be obtained from a physical address and not a mailing address. NAMF has been endorsed by all Australian government jurisdictions and utilises the Geocoded National Address File (G-NAF ®) as the source of address locations for service delivery. This dataset is also available under open data terms at www.data.gov.au. Data management Each person, household or business record in a dataset should have associated with it geo-reference information that is based on the geocoded address. To gain the maximum benefit from the geocoded address, the geo-reference information should ideally consist of the address geocode (i.e. a latitude and longitude) and the associated Mesh Block identifier, as defined in the Australian Statistical Geography Standard. Common geographic boundaries The Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) is the common boundary set for analysis, display and reporting of socio-economic information within the Statistical Spatial Framework for Australia. Use of the ASGS will ensure that socio-economic information is available for a consistent, hierarchical set of geographies. In addition, the core ASGS boundary hierarchies have been designed to include approximately equal population numbers within each area, enabling meaningful comparisons of the population and associated human activity between areas. The ASGS boundaries were also designed by the ABS to support flexible reporting. The boundaries range in size from small geographic areas, such as a suburbs and groups of a few urban blocks, through to larger areas, such as a natural resource management areas and regions or cities. Metadata interoperability The spatial and statistical communities operate different metadata capabilities. Approaches to ensure that these two metadata environments can work together effectively are being investigated. Existing metadata standards being investigated include: Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange (SDMX), Data Documentation Initiative (DDI), and the international geospatial metadata standard ISO19115. It is important that any dataset that incorporates geo-referencing contains the relevant statistical and spatial metadata to be accessible, understood and useful across the statistical and spatial data-user communities. Guidance material Organisations need to be aware of a range of legislative and operational issues when dealing with information about people and businesses; with the most significant issue being the privacy and confidentiality requirements for managing personal and commercial information. The ABS has in place a number of policies, guidelines and procedures that it is currently reviewing to make them available as reference material for organisations that are seeking to use the Framework to add a location element to their data. The ABS also welcomes input from other organisations that have experience in undertaking similar location focussed tasks. This SSF Guidance Material will provide best practice approaches to address many of the issues associated with location enabling socio-economic data. Benefits of the Statistical Spatial Framework for Australia By standardising the process of integrating a range of socio-economic information within a location context, the Framework will empower people and organisations to:
The Framework will also benefit the considerable efforts currently being made to bring a range of data together to better understand local-area level causes, impacts and responses to national and global concerns, such as natural disasters, climate change and sustainable development. The Framework will enhance Australia’s environmental, social and economic intelligence in the twenty-first century.
More information For SSF Guidance Material, see SSF Guidance Material. For a single page summary of the SSF, please visit the SSF on a page. |