The Australian Government this week launched what it calls the ‘National Map Open Data’ initiative, which aims to give users access to a single platform for Government geospatial datasets, including those from the Bureau of Meteorology, Australian Bureau of Statistics and data.gov.au.
The geospatial data is presented in-browser as a map – based on Cesium, and using Bing imagery as the base map – which enables users to see the available data before they extract it. Currently available datasets cover information on land, water, infrastructure, broadband access, boundaries and population, with more to come.
The National Map is based on Open Data principles, providing an open framework of geospatial data services that can be used by any compatible software for use in any number of innovative ways by commercial and community users alike.
The launch came before last weekend’s GovHack 2014 event, an annual competition that brings budding developers together with data custodians and mentors to create mashups, data visualisations, and apps based on government open data.
The Map was developed by the Department of Communications in collaboration with NICTA and Geoscience Australia.
The National Map is available online now.
