In Focus: 2016 Australian Statistical Boundaries

The Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) defines the boundaries, and respective relationships, of regions in Australia which the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and many other organisations use to collect, analyse and publish geographically classified statistics. 

To name a few examples, such statistics include Census-derived demographic and dwelling data, future population projections, labour force data and building approval rates.  

ASGS Volume 1 - Main Structure and Greater Capital City Statistical Areas, July 2016 has just been released by the ABS. It deals with the ASGS core structures, such as Mesh Blocks and Statistical Area Levels 1 to 4, and the Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (GCCSA).

The 2016 ASGS boundaries will be used for the publication of the 2016 Census of Population and Housing data and progressively introduced into other ABS data collections.

This is the second edition of the ASGS and it updates the 2011 edition for growth and change in Australia's population, economy and infrastructure. It also incorporates the Territory of Norfolk Island for the first time. Volumes 2 to 5 of statistical geography will be released progressively over 2016 through to 2018.

All boundaries from Volume 1 of 2016 ASGS have been published on MapDeck and complement the previously released 2011 data.

2016 Mesh Blocks on Statistical Area Level 2 boundaries

Correspondence files, describing the relationship between the 2011 and 2016 versions of the boundary data, will be added shortly to coincide with the upcoming upgrade of the Thematic Mapper app. These reference files can be used to recalculate 2011 Census statistics to present them on 2016 version of boundaries. Stay tuned for the updates.