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International Seabed Geomorphology Mapping Working Group's Seabed Geomorphology Classifier (ISGM-SGC)

<div>The International Seabed Geomorphology Mapping Working Group's Seabed Geomorphology Classifier (ISGM-SGC) is used to support the implementation of the ISGM marine and coastal mapping approach. Part 1 of this approach (Dove et al., 2020) is used to map and define the seabed shape using bathymetry and derivative data; Part 2 (Nanson et al., 2023; in press) classifies these shapes with their geomorphic interpretation.</div><div><br></div><div>ISGM-SGC implements the Part 2 geomorphic classification framework (including physiography) by classifying and attributing the geomorphology of mapped seabed features using a standardised nomenclature structure. Seabed geomorphology maps provide critical baseline information for a wide range of Ocean Economy stakeholders. To bring greater consistency and value to diverse mapping efforts, it is essential to standardise the terminology used to classify seabed features. To address this need, geoscience agencies from the United Kingdom (British Geological Survey), Norway (Geological Survey of Norway), Ireland (Geological Survey Ireland and University College Cork), and Australia (Geoscience Australia) formed the International Seabed Geomorphology Mapping Working Group (ISGM) and collaborated to develop a standardised, two-part approach to seabed geomorphology mapping. </div><div><br></div><div>ISGM-SGC was developed as an Esri ArcGIS Pro Python tool using Python 3+. ISGM-SGC assigns five levels of geomorphology classification attributes for selected seabed features. The tool is composed of a series of drop-down lists and several free text entries. Depending on the user choices at the drop-down lists of higher classification levels, options at the drop-down list of lower classification levels are updated accordingly. In addition, 16 additional attributes can be assigned to describe the geomorphic interpretation of selected features. </div><div><br></div><div>The system and data format requirements of ISGM-SGC are described in the tutorials and user guide that accompany the tool, which also include sampled data and step-by-step examples of their application. ISGM-SGC is designed to operate as a standalone GIS tool for the consistent application of the Part 2 classification framework, while also integrating with broader seabed geomorphology mapping workflows, including those supported by complementary tools developed for Part 1 morphology mapping (Arosio et al., 2024; Huang et al., 2023). Further details of this tool, including its description, graphic illustrations and example applications, are also available in its metadata. </div><div><br></div><div>Arosio, R., Gafeira, J., De Clippele, L.H., Wheeler, A.J., Huvenne, V.A., Sacchetti, F., Conti, L.A. and Lim, A., 2024. CoMMa: A GIS geomorphometry toolbox to map and measure confined landforms. Geomorphology, 458, p.109227.</div><div><br></div><div>Dove, D., Nanson, R., Bjarnadóttir, L., Guinan, J., Gafeira, J., Post, A., Dolan, M.; Stewart, H.; Arosio, R, Scott, G. (October, 2020). A two-part seabed geomorphology classification scheme (v.2); Part 1: morphology features glossary. Zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4075248</div><div><br></div><div>Huang, Z., Nanson, R., McNeil, M., Wenderlich, M., Gafeira, J., Post, A. and Nichol, S., 2023. Rule-based semi-automated tools for mapping seabed morphology from bathymetry data. Frontiers in Marine Science, 10, p.1236788</div><div><br></div><div>Nanson, R., Arosio, R., Gafeira, J., McNeil, M., Dove, D., Bjarnadóttir, L., Dolan, M., Guinan, J., Post, A., Webb, J., & Nichol, S. (2023). A two-part seabed geomorphology classification scheme; Part 2: Geomorphology classification framework and glossary (Version 1.0) (1.0). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7804019</div><div><br></div><div>Nanson, R., Arosio, R., Gafeira, J., McNeil, M., Dove, D., Bjarnadóttir, L.R., Dolan, M.F.J., Post, A., Nichol, S., Huang, Z., Guinan, J., Bialik, O.M., Webb, J., Wells, J. and Carroll, A.G. (in press). Coastal to deep-marine geomorphic classification: a standardised framework and review of terms to support globally consistent mapping. Earth-Science Reviews.</div>

Simple

Identification info

Date (Creation)
2026-02-13T11:00:00
Date (Publication)
2026-02-23T00:15:11.036Z
Citation identifier
Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/150905

Identifier

Code
10.26186/150905
Codespace

doi.org

Description

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

Cited responsible party
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Publisher

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

Voice
Author

Huang, Z.

Internal Contact
Author

Nanson, R.

Internal Contact
Author

McNeil, M.

External Contact
Author

Wells, J.

Internal Contact
Author

ISGM

External Contact
Purpose

ISGM-SGC aims to help the geomorphic interpretation and classification of seabed features by assigning geomorphology attributes and additional descriptive attributes.

Status
Completed
Point of contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Resource provider

Place and Communities Division

External Contact
Point of contact

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

Voice
Point of contact

Huang, Z.

Internal Contact
Spatial representation type
Topic category
  • Geoscientific information

Extent

N
S
E
W


Maintenance and update frequency
As needed

Resource format

Title

Product data repository: Various Formats

Protocol

FILE:DATA-DIRECTORY

Name of the resource

Data Store directory containing the digital product files

Description

Data Store directory containing one or more files, possibly in a variety of formats, accessible to Geoscience Australia staff only for internal purposes

Keywords
  • ArcGIS Pro

Keywords
  • Seabed Geomorphology

Keywords
  • Two-part Seabed Geomorphology Mapping Scheme

Project
  • Resourcing Australia’s Prosperity

  • Seabed

  • Marine

theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf
  • Marine geoscience

  • Geomorphology and earth surface processes

Keywords
  • Published_External

Resource constraints

Title

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

Alternate title

CC-BY

Edition

4.0

Website

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Access constraints
License
Use constraints
License
Other constraints

© Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) 2026

Resource constraints

Title

Australian Government Security Classification System

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/pspf-annual-release

Classification
Unclassified
Classification system

Australian Government Security Classification System

Associated resource

Association Type
Informed
Title

Geoscience Australia's Semi-automated Morphological Mapping Tools (GA-SaMMT) for Seabed Characterisation

Citation identifier
146832

Citation identifier
3f1ac2d6-83ce-4260-9423-53b5c88dc574

Website

http://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/146832

Link to eCat metadata record landing page

Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8

Distribution Information

OnLine resource

Download the tool (zip) [17.8 MB]

Download the tool (zip) [17.8 MB]

Distribution Information

Distributor contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Distributor

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

Voice

Resource lineage

Statement

<div>This is the version 1 of ISGM-SGC and was developed in Geoscience Australia in collaboration with the International Seabed Geomorphology Mapping Working Group. The tool was developed as an ArcGIS Pro Python tool for classifying seabed geomorphology (Nanson et al., 2023) and is aligned to updated decision trees presented in Nanson et al. (in press). </div><div><br></div><div>The latest development and future updates on the ISGM-SGC can be accessed from https://github.com/GeoscienceAustralia/ISGM-SGC.</div>

Metadata constraints

Title

Australian Government Security Classification System

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/pspf-annual-release

Classification
Unclassified

Metadata

Metadata identifier
urn:uuid/972b1eb7-ed25-4069-833e-c592dfc37875

Title

GeoNetwork UUID

Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8
Contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Point of contact

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

Voice
Point of contact

Huang, Z.

Internal Contact

Type of resource

Resource scope
Software

Alternative metadata reference

Title

Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with uuid

Citation identifier
eCatId/150905

Metadata linkage

https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/api/records/972b1eb7-ed25-4069-833e-c592dfc37875

Date info (Creation)
2026-02-26T22:55:20.694Z
Date info (Creation)
2026-02-23T00:20:39.134Z
Date info (Creation)
2026-02-13T04:19:42.321Z
Date info (Revision)
2026-02-26T22:55:40.251Z

Metadata standard

Title

AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-3

Title

Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014

Edition

Version 2.0, September 2018

Citation identifier
https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551

 
 

Spatial extent

N
S
E
W


Keywords

Marine Resourcing Australia’s Prosperity Seabed
theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf
Geomorphology and earth surface processes Marine geoscience

Provided by

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Read here the full details and access to the data.

Associated resources

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