Seamap Australia UNVALIDATED National Benthic Habitat Layer
The Seamap Australia National Benthic Habitat Layer (NBHL) is a compilation of benthic habitat datasets obtained from various sectors including research, government, industry and community sources, across Australia. Disparate datasets are integrated into a single national-scale benthic habitat database, and classified uniformly under a national classification scheme implemented as a controlled vocabulary ( https://vocabs.ardc.edu.au/viewById/129).
For acceptance into the 'formal' (validated_ Seamap Australia NBHL (see https://metadata.imas.utas.edu.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/4739e4b0-4dba-4ec5-b658-02c09f27ab9a), source habitat datasets must meet a set of Acceptance Criteria (documented in https://seamapaustralia.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/SeamapAustraliaDataAcceptanceGuidelines.pdf).
Broadly speaking, for inclusion in the Seamap Australia NBHL, datasets must:
(1) be well-described by metadata or associated documentation;
(2) employ a single, consistent classification scheme which avoids non-deterministic or ambiguous terms;
(3) bequality-controlled by the provider prior to contribution;
(4) beacquired using an established and community-endorsed form of data collection (eg satellite, aerial or acoustic remote sensing); and
(5) have documented evidence of ground-truthing validation at the time of data collection (e.g. drop camera, towed video, benthic grabs).
This record describes habitat datasets that meet Acceptance Criteria 1-4, but *have not* been validated/ground-truthed and are therefore ineligible for inclusion in the formal Seamap Australia NBHL. They have been synthesised and uniformly classified using an identical methodology to the NBHL, but represent an intermediate collection of habitat datasets that would benefit from field ground-truthing in order to validate the habitat classifications.
The Seamap Australia synthesis of unvalidated habitat datasets can be viewed, analysed and downloaded from the Seamap Australia data portal ( https://seamapaustralia.org/map). This dataset should be considered a “live” asset and will continue to develop as more unvalidated habitat datasets are collected or made available.
The most current (2024) version of the data is available from the following endpoints:
WMS: https://geoserver.imas.utas.edu.au/geoserver/seamap/wms
WFS: https://geoserver.imas.utas.edu.au/geoserver/seamap/wfs
Layer name: SeamapAus_NBHL_unvalidated
Various download options are supplied in the “Online resources” section of this record.
Simple
Identification info
- Date (Publication)
- 2023-03-17
- Date (Revision)
- 2024-11-16
Principal investigator
Collaborator
Collaborator
Collaborator
- Credit
- The Seamap Australia unvalidated data product not have been possible without the contribution of source datasets from the following providers [see downloaded data product for specific ownership details]: • Allen Coral Atlas [reef extent layer] • Department of Environment, Parks and Water Security (DEPWS), NT Government • Geoscience Australia (GA) • Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania • National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Marine Biodiversity Hub • NSW Department of Planning and Environment
- Status
- On going
Point of contact
- Spatial representation type
- Vector
- Topic category
-
- Boundaries
- Biota
- Oceans
Extent

Temporal extent
- Time period
- 2016-01-01 2022-12-31
- NASA/GCMD Keywords, Version 8.5
- Keywords (Theme)
-
- Benthic seafloor habitat
Resource constraints
- Use limitation
- DATA NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION PURPOSES.
Resource constraints
- Classification
- Unclassified
Resource constraints
- Linkage
-
http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png
License Graphic
- Title
- Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
- Website
-
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
License Text
- Other constraints
- Cite data as: Lucieer V, Walsh P, Monk J, Flukes E (2024). Seamap Australia unvalidated National Benthic Habitat Layer. Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania (UTAS).
- Other constraints
- The data described in this record are the intellectual property of the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania. See downloaded data product for specific ownership of source datasets.
Associated resource
- Association Type
- Cross reference
- Initiative Type
- Collection
- Title
- Seamap Australia (validated) National Benthic Habitat Layer
Identifier
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
- Supplemental Information
- Butler, C., Lucieer, V., Flukes, E., Walsh, P., and Johnson, C (2017) Seamap Australia: A review of marine benthic habitat classification schemes and development of a national benthic classification model. Final Report to the Australian National Data Service (ANDS) High Values Collection #19. University of Tasmania. ISBN: 978-1-925646-62-7 Lucieer, V., Barrett, N., Butler, C. et al. A seafloor habitat map for the Australian continental shelf. Sci Data 6, 120 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-019-0126-2
Content Information
- Content type
- Physical measurement
- Name
- Benthic seafloor habitat
- Name
- NAT_HAB_CL
Identifier
Distribution Information
- Distribution format
-
- ESRI Shapefile
- OnLine resource
- README - instructions for data download [.txt]
- OnLine resource
- INFO - Seamap Australia column descriptions [.docx]
- OnLine resource
- DATA ACCESS OPTION 1 [recommended] - Shapefile format (unsubsetted) [direct download ~270MB]
- OnLine resource
-
DATA ACCESS OPTION 3 - subsettable Shapefile format via OGW WFS service
[NOTE: MAY BE SLOW TO DOWNLOAD WHOLE LAYER - use access Option 1 above for unsubsetted Shapefile]
- OnLine resource
- REPORT - Seamap Australia final report [inc. full methodologies] [pdf direct download]
- OnLine resource
-
seamap:SeamapAus_NBHL_unvalidated
MAP - Seamap Australia unvalidated national habitat layer
Resource lineage
- Statement
- A full report outlining the methods utilised to create the Seamap Australia (validated) spatial data layer is available online at http://seamapaustralia.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Seamap-Australia-Report_18_12_11.pdf The Seamap Australia unvalidated habitat layer described by this record employs an identical methodology, with the only difference being that source habitat datasets lack field validation/ground-truthing.
- Hierarchy level
- Dataset
Process step
- Description
- This parent record contains links to all the component data records which have been used to synthesise the national Seamap Australia unvalidated national habitat layer. Note that a small degree of spatial simplification was conducted for source datasets of very high spatial resolution (e.g. multibeam surveys). To access all full-resolution component datasets, refer to the list of source data records attached to this parent record.
- Hierarchy level
- Dataset
Platform
Identifier
- Code
- research vessel
- Hierarchy level
- Dataset
Platform
Identifier
- Code
- research aeroplane
- Hierarchy level
- Dataset
Platform
Identifier
- Code
- human
Metadata
- Metadata identifier
- urn:uuid/6cdc0af0-d914-43fa-aba2-ddb5cdb64658
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
Point of contact
Type of resource
- Resource scope
- Dataset
- Metadata linkage
-
https://metadata.imas.utas.edu.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/6cdc0af0-d914-43fa-aba2-ddb5cdb64658
Point of truth URL of this metadata record
- Date info (Creation)
- 2021-06-16T23:33:04
- Date info (Revision)
- 2024-11-24T23:48:25
Metadata standard
- Title
- ISO 19115-3:2018
Overviews

Spatial extent

Provided by
