The integrated spatial database of geological, geophysical, geochemical and cultural data. Provides users with means of integrating and analysing data for mineral exploration and research. The area covered by GIS encompasses Broken Hill and Euriowie Blocks and comprises six 1:100 000 mapsheets; the Corona, Fowlers Gap, Broken Hill, Taltingan, Redan and Thackaringa.

The Cocos (Keeling) Islands Geographic Information System (CocosGIS) is a collection of spatial data, viewing and analysis tools dealing with the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. The data include orthophotography, topographic, cultural and environmental features both of the islands and the ocean immediately surrounding them.

The integrated spatial database of geological, geophysical, geochemical and cultural data. Provides users with means of integrating and analysing data for mineral exploration and research. The area covered by GIS encompasses Broken Hill and Euriowie Blocks and comprises six 1:100 000 mapsheets; the Corona, Fowlers Gap, Broken Hill, Taltingan, Redan and Thackaringa.

The Northern Australian Project online GIS, which has been chiefly designed to highlight the results of geochronological research within the project area, was first published in 2003 and updated in July 2004. GIS data reference layers include 1: 250,000, 1: 1 million, and 1: 2,500,000 geological data, regional geophysical images and a topographic map image. The geochronology and fluid inclusion points have been linked live to Geoscience Australia's OZROCKS, OZCHRON and PETROG Oracle databases. Forms display data to the user from these databases using customised query statements. Queries directed to geological layers display information derived from static ArcInfo shapefiles. The North Australia Project geochronology research has chiefly targeted the Arunta Block, Davenport Geosyncline, and the Granites-Tanami Block provinces within the project area. This map has been produced as a GeoPDF, which is an extension to the standard PDF file format viewed using Adobe Acrobat Reader. Layers can be turned off and on to customise the view of the data, similar to using Geographic Information System tools. In addition, GeoPDF maps are georeferenced to be compatible with other coordinated geographic data. Coordinate locations and distances can be retrieved automatically. A plug-in to view GeoPDF using Adobe Acrobat Reader is available as a free download ( http://terragotech.com/solutions/map2pdf_reader.php ).

The South Australia Geoscientific Geographic Information System is a state wide integration of geological, geophysical, geochemical and cultural data. It provides the Geological Survey, Minerals & Energy Division, PIRSA, with its primary mechanism for distributing regional geoscientific information for exploration and research, via digital media. Datasets in this package are projected in Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) Map Grid of Australia (MGA) coordinates relative to GDA94. The datasets are split into the three grid zones 52, 53 and 54, which span South Australia.

The Cocos (Keeling) Islands Geographic Information System (CocosGIS) is a collection of spatial data, viewing and analysis tools dealing with the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. The data include orthophotography, topographic, cultural and environmental features both of the islands and the ocean immediately surrounding them. Compilation of data and its organisation into a GIS together with documentation was undertaken by the Australian Geological Survey Organisation (AGSO) at the request of the Territories Office, Department of Transport and Regional Services (DOTRS). The data are presented in both ESRI ArcView and ArcExplorer projects. The ArcView projects require a licensed copy of ArcView. ArcExplorer is a free viewer and is distributed with the Cocos GIS CD-ROM. Data are stored as ESRI shapefiles and therefore readily useable with most modern GIS applications. Data were received from a variety of custodians and in many cases had no accompanying documentation. Lack of documentation made it increasingly difficult for AGSO with interpretation, translation and documentation of data. AGSO has attempted to include metadata for all datasets to ANZLIC core metadata standards, but the value of this is limited by the poor initial documentation. In addition to limited documentation, many datasets had inconsistent spatial accuracy. The CocosGIS comprises four main CD-ROMs with additional CD-ROMs containing full-colour orthophotography. A hard-copy user guide is distributed with the main CD-ROM set.

Australia has a three-tiered hierarchal model of government. A single Federal government, eight State/Territory governments and approximately seven hundred municipal councils make up the three tiers. Each of these tiers, and the separate jurisdictions within the tiers, can have their own standards and arrangements for managing information useful for Emergency Management (EM). Other information resources are held by private organisations. The business drivers for a co-ordinated national approach to `data collection, research and analysis?? was identified by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) review and documented in their report `Natural Disasters in Australia ? Reforming mitigation, relief, and recovery arrangements? in 2001 (released in August 2002). Representatives of all tiers of governments were signatories to this report. Later in 2001 the events in New York on September 11 reinforced the business drivers for access to data that transcends jurisdictional boundaries, as did the 2003 bushfires in Canberra. Against this backdrop there are several projects that are addressing the infrastructure and data requirements at the state/territory level. The `LIST? in Tasmania. `VicMap? in Victoria, the `EICU? project in NSW, the `SIS? project in Queensland, the `SLIP? project in Western Australia and the ESA CAD system in the ACT are examples of spatial information Infrastructure initiatives that partially support EM at the jurisdictional level. At the national level the Australian & New Zealand Land Information Council (ANZLIC) proposed a national Distributed Spatial Data Library in 2003. Previous attempts to create centralised repositories have failed but maturing web services and the ability to produce hard-copy maps on-demand have moved this concept to a practical reality. Underpinning the distributed library is the development of a community `All Hazards? Data Taxonomy/Model for the EM community. The majority of the state jurisdictions provided input to the taxonomy, while additional expertises in the modelling and socio-economic domains were provided by Geoscience Australia (GA). The data identified by the taxonomy is sourced from varied and complex sources and formatted into a simplified, coherent form suitable for Emergency Management. The benefits of sharing data through a standardised framework are being progressively demonstrated to organisations through the ability to provide early warning of threats to their assets and services, while ensuring they maintain control of their data. There are still many hurdles to overcome before an infrastructure to support a Distributed Spatial Data Library can be realised. These hurdles can be broadly categorised as technological and cultural. The technological hurdles are no longer a significant barrier as bandwidth steadily increases, and major GIS systems support web service based data integration. It is arguably the cultural hurdles that are the most difficult. The process of consultation and review used in creating the `All Hazards? taxonomy has created a realisation among the jurisdictions of the benefits of closer ties and co-operation in data sharing and delivery arrangements. There is still some distance to travel but the implementation of an Australian Distributed Spatial Data Library for Emergency Management is moving closer to reality.

In this study, a methodology is developed to assess the vulnerability of individuals within households to risk from natural hazards. The methodology introduces a technique for measuring certain attributes of individuals living within a household that contribute to their vulnerability to a natural hazard impact. The methodology has four main steps; 1) indicator selection 2) a risk perception questionnaire 3) decision tree analysis 4) synthetic estimation. Step four involves an application to an area in Perth, Western Australia. The study found that, through the application of this new methodology, eleven unique combinations of specific attributes contribute to the vulnerability of an individual within a household. The attributes, referred to as vulnerability indicators, of most importance relate to various levels of; injury sustained, residence damage, house insurance, income and type of house ownership. This finding suggests that individual and household finances, when combined with other specific indicators, play a significant role in determining an individual's vulnerability to a natural hazard impact. The combinations of indicators can be mapped in order to provide a useful tool for representing aspects of social vulnerability to natural hazard impacts.

Road network extracted from Digital Chart of the World (DCW) Transport dataset (dataset derived from the Digital Chart of the World). Generic information on DCW data sets The primary source for DCW is the US Defense Mapping Agency (DMA) Operational Navigation Chart (ONC) series produced by the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The ONCs have a scale of 1:1,000,000, where 1 inch equals approximately 16 miles.The charts were designed to meet the needs of pilots and air crews in medium and low altitude en route navigation and to support military operational planning, intelligence briefings, and other needs. Therefore, the selection of ground features is based on the requirement for rapid visual recognition of significant details seen from a low perspective angle. The DCW database was originally published in 1992. Data currency varies from place to place depending on the currency of the ONC charts. Chart currency ranges from the mid 1960s to the early 1990s. Compilation dates for every ONC chart are included in the database. For more information on the Digital Chart of the world please browse the DCW website where you can download these data in VPF format. GA has converted these VPF format files to common GIS formats Arcview and Mapinfo. Available datasets include drainage, roads and railway networks, political areas and boundaries and population centres. Available for free download.

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