What is spatial data?
Spatial data is any type of information that has a locational attribute. This data can include information about the location, size, shape and configuration of objects. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and other specialised software are used to access, visualise, and analyse these datasets. Spatial data is available in a variety of formats from numerous publishers, including government, academic and corporate organisations. This section of the guide provides links to key sources of local, national and global spatial data.
Queensland datasets
- Brisbane City Council spatial data170 spatial datasets from Brisbane City Council
- QSpatialQSpatial, the Queensland Spatial Catalogue, gives the public access to view and download geospatial data and information. QSpatial includes data from 11 participating Queensland Government agencies and displays metadata about downloadable data, live data and web map services, as well as information about offline resources.
- Queensland Spatial CatalogueA Queensland Government initiative to a geospatial portal that allows public access to Queensland Government spatial data and information.
Australian datasets
- ANZLIC – The Spatial Information CouncilThe peak intergovernmental organisation providing leadership in the collection, management and use of spatial information in Australia and New Zealand.
- CSIRO - Data Access PortalThe CSIRO Data Access Portal provides access to research data, software and other digital assets published by CSIRO across a range of disciplines.
- National map (Australia)NationalMap is an online map-based tool to allow easy access to spatial data from Australian government agencies.
- OzCoasts: Australian Online Coastal InformationOzCoasts provides comprehensive information about Australia's coast, including its estuaries, coastal waterways and climate change impact. It is managed by the Seabed Mapping and Coastal Information section at Geoscience Australia.
- Terrestrial ecosystem research network (TERN)TERN enables storage, access, sharing and management of research data relevant to Australian ecosystem science and environmental management, including heatwave studies.
Data types
Look for these common file formats that work well with many GIS applications:
- Shapefiles (.shp)
- Keyhole Markup Language (.kml or .kmz)
- GeoTIFF (.tiff)
- GPS eXchange format (.gpx)
- Comma-separated values (.csv)