The AusSeabed and Positioning Australia programs are in the running for the 2026 Spirit of Service Awards.
The Spirit of Service Awards recognise excellence within the Australian and ACT public sectors, and specifically acknowledge programs that deliver meaningful change for the Australian community.
The two programs that have made the finals for the 2026 Spirit of Service Awards are AusSeabed and Positioning Australia.
AusSeabed is Australia’s national seabed mapping coordination and stewardship initiative, led by Geoscience Australia with CSIRO, plus the Australian Hydrographic Office, Australian Antarctic Division and the Australian Institute of Marine Science.
The program brings together more than 300 government, research and industry organisations, to align how seabed data is collected, quality assured, published and reused.
The collaborative, open access approach results in trusted seabed data that supports evidence-based decisions for environmental management, maritime safety, offshore energy, climate adaptation and national security.
You can read more about AusSeabed in our recent interview with Pip Bricher, the Director of National Seabed Mapping at Geoscience Australia.
Positioning Australia is a national initiative delivering accurate, reliable positioning services across Australia and its maritime regions.
The program provides enabling services for a wide variety of sectors, from centimetre-precision farming through to higher-accuracy aircraft navigation.
Geoscience Australia is delivering this capability as critical national infrastructure, accessible nationwide. Collaboration with state and territory governments, industry, Toitū Te Whenua – Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) and other international partners is ensuring consistent, scalable services across Australia.
You can read more about Positioning Australia in our interview with Martine Woolf, Branch Head National Positioning Information at Geoscience Australia.
In addition to the formal awards process, members of the public and the geospatial community can get involved by voting for their favourite finalist in the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation People’s Choice Award.
All of the finalists will present their initiatives to the judging panel at the Spirit of Service Awards pitch event on 22 September, with the recipients to be announced at the Awards gala on 5 November at the National Arboretum in Canberra.
