TechnicalGIS

Australia GIS data sources

Region
Australia and New Zealand
ISO 3166
AU · AUS
Sources
36
Themes
16
Last verified

Where to download GIS data for Australia: 36 sources across 16 themes, led by Geoscience Australia and Bureau of Meteorology. 15 offer vector downloads such as Shapefile, GeoPackage or GeoJSON, 7 cover elevation including LiDAR. 27 are under an open licence. Every link was last checked on 18 Oct 2026.

Country atlases

National and OpenStreetMap sources for Australia

Boundaries & admin 2

Administrative boundary data for every country

Elevation / DEM 1

Free DEM, LiDAR and elevation data for every country

  • Elvis – Elevation and Depth (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    ICSM / Geoscience Australia

    Commonwealth, state and territory elevation and bathymetry data in one place.

    • Elevation / DEM
    • Hydrology
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0
    Formats
    GeoTIFF, LAZ, ASCII grid
    Link
    elevation.fsdf.org.au

    Verified

Imagery 1

Satellite and aerial imagery for every country

  • Digital Earth Australia (DEA Knowledge Hub) (opens in a new tab)

    API Cost: Free

    Geoscience Australia

    Analysis-ready Landsat and Sentinel-2 archives and derived products (water, land cover, coastlines) via Open Data Cube and AWS.

    • Imagery
    • Land cover
    • Hydrology
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0
    Formats
    COG, STAC
    Link
    knowledge.dea.ga.gov.au

    Verified

Land cover 2

Land cover datasets for every country

  • DEA Land Cover (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    Geoscience Australia

    Annual 30 m land cover from 1988 onwards using the FAO LCCS taxonomy.

    • Land cover
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0
    Formats
    COG, GeoTIFF
    Link
    knowledge.dea.ga.gov.au

    Verified

  • National Vegetation Information System (NVIS) (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water

    Major vegetation groups and subgroups, present and pre-1750, at 100 m.

    • Land cover
    • Environment
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0
    Formats
    GeoTIFF, File geodatabase
    Link
    dcceew.gov.au

    Verified

Census & statistics 2

Census and statistics data for every country

  • AURIN (opens in a new tab)

    Portal Cost: Free

    Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network

    • Census & statistics
    • Transport
    Licence
    Varies by dataset
    Link
    aurin.org.au

    Verified

  • Census DataPacks (ABS) (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    Australian Bureau of Statistics

    2021 Census tables for every ASGS geography, ready to join to the digital boundary files.

    • Census & statistics
    • Population
    Licence
    See publisher terms
    Formats
    CSV
    Link
    abs.gov.au

    Verified

Addresses & cadastre 8

Address and cadastral data for every country

  • G-NAF (Geocoded National Address File) (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    Geoscape Australia

    • Addresses & cadastre
    Licence
    See publisher terms
    Formats
    CSV
    Link
    data.gov.au

    Verified

  • NSW Spatial Collaboration Portal (opens in a new tab)

    Portal Cost: Free

    NSW Spatial Services · New South Wales

    NSW foundation spatial data (cadastre, imagery, addresses, topography) as services and downloads.

    • Addresses & cadastre
    • Imagery
    • Boundaries & admin
    • Transport
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0
    Formats
    WMS, API, Shapefile
    Link
    portal.spatial.nsw.gov.au

    Verified

  • Vicmap catalogue (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    Department of Transport and Planning (Victoria) · Victoria

    Victoria’s foundation datasets (property, address, transport, elevation, hydro), ordered free via DataShare.

    • Addresses & cadastre
    • Transport
    • Elevation / DEM
    • Hydrology
    • Boundaries & admin
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0
    Formats
    Shapefile, File geodatabase, WFS
    Link
    land.vic.gov.au

    Not verified (site blocks automated checks) · 18 Oct 2026 (no response)

  • QSpatial (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    Queensland Government · Queensland

    Queensland’s spatial catalogue with free downloads including the digital cadastral database.

    • Addresses & cadastre
    • Boundaries & admin
    • Environment
    • Elevation / DEM
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0
    Formats
    Shapefile, File geodatabase, GeoTIFF
    Link
    qldspatial.information.qld.gov.au

    Verified

  • DataWA / SLIP (opens in a new tab)

    Portal Cost: Free with registration

    Landgate (Western Australia) · Western Australia

    Western Australian government spatial data; some datasets require a free SLIP account.

    • Addresses & cadastre
    • Environment
    • Boundaries & admin
    Licence
    Varies (mostly CC BY 4.0)
    Formats
    Shapefile, GeoJSON, WMS
    Link
    data.wa.gov.au

    Verified

  • Data.SA (opens in a new tab)

    Portal Cost: Free

    Government of South Australia · South Australia

    South Australian open data including cadastre, suburbs, roads and environmental layers.

    • Addresses & cadastre
    • Boundaries & admin
    • Environment
    • Transport
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0
    Formats
    Shapefile, GeoJSON, CSV
    Link
    data.sa.gov.au

    Verified

  • theLIST (opens in a new tab)

    Web viewer Cost: Mixed

    Land Tasmania · Tasmania

    Tasmania’s Land Information System; open data downloads via the LISTdata portal.

    • Addresses & cadastre
    • Imagery
    • Elevation / DEM
    • Boundaries & admin
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0
    Formats
    WMS, Shapefile
    Link
    thelist.tas.gov.au

    Verified

  • ACTmapi (opens in a new tab)

    Web viewer Cost: Free

    ACT Government · Australian Capital Territory

    ACT spatial viewer; underlying data is published on the ACT open data portal.

    • Addresses & cadastre
    • Imagery
    • Environment
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0
    Formats
    WMS
    Link
    actmapi.act.gov.au

    Not verified (site blocks automated checks) · 18 Oct 2026 (no response)

Transport 1

Road, rail and transport data for every country

Hydrology 2

River, lake and hydrology data for every country

Climate & weather 2

Climate and weather data for every country

  • Climate Data Online (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    Bureau of Meteorology

    Daily and monthly rainfall and temperature for thousands of stations.

    • Climate & weather
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0
    Formats
    CSV
    Link
    bom.gov.au

    Verified

  • Australian gridded climate data (AGCD) (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    Bureau of Meteorology

    5 km gridded rainfall and temperature maps; grids downloadable from each map page.

    • Climate & weather
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0
    Formats
    NetCDF, ASCII grid
    Link
    bom.gov.au

    Verified

Natural hazards 2

Natural hazard data for every country

  • Australian Flood Risk Information Portal (opens in a new tab)

    Web viewer Cost: Free

    Geoscience Australia

    Catalogue of local flood studies and flood extent mapping from councils and states.

    • Natural hazards
    • Hydrology
    Licence
    Varies by study
    Formats
    WMS
    Link
    digitalatlas.maps.arcgis.com

    Verified

  • DEA Hotspots (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    Geoscience Australia

    Near-real-time satellite bushfire hotspot detections with WFS/GeoJSON access.

    • Natural hazards
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0
    Formats
    GeoJSON, WMS
    Link
    knowledge.dea.ga.gov.au

    Verified

Geology 3

Geology data for every country

Agriculture & soils 2

Agriculture and soil data for every country

Marine & coastal 2

Marine, coastal and bathymetry data for every country

  • AusSeabed (opens in a new tab)

    Portal Cost: Free

    Geoscience Australia and partners

    National seabed mapping programme with a data hub for multibeam bathymetry and backscatter.

    • Marine & coastal
    • Elevation / DEM
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0
    Formats
    GeoTIFF, BAG
    Link
    ausseabed.gov.au

    Not verified (site blocks automated checks) · 18 Oct 2026 (no response)

  • Australian Ocean Data Network portal (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS)

    Ocean observations, sea surface temperature and satellite products with spatial subsetting.

    • Marine & coastal
    • Climate & weather
    Licence
    Varies (mostly CC BY 4.0)
    Formats
    NetCDF, CSV
    Link
    portal.aodn.org.au

    Verified

Environment 4

Environmental and protected area data for every country

  • Collaborative Australian Protected Areas Database (CAPAD) (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water

    Terrestrial and marine protected areas, updated every two years.

    • Environment
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0
    Formats
    Shapefile, File geodatabase
    Link
    dcceew.gov.au

    Verified

  • TERN Data Discovery Portal (opens in a new tab)

    Portal Cost: Free

    Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network

    Ecosystem, vegetation, soil and remote sensing datasets from TERN facilities.

    • Environment
    • Land cover
    • Climate & weather
    Licence
    Varies (mostly CC BY 4.0)
    Formats
    GeoTIFF, NetCDF, CSV
    Link
    portal.tern.org.au

    Verified

  • SEED – Sharing and Enabling Environmental Data (opens in a new tab)

    Portal Cost: Free

    NSW Government · New South Wales

    NSW environmental data including vegetation, soils, land use and flood studies.

    • Environment
    • Land cover
    • Natural hazards
    Licence
    Varies (mostly CC BY 4.0)
    Formats
    Shapefile, GeoTIFF, WMS
    Link
    seed.nsw.gov.au

    Verified

  • NR Maps (opens in a new tab)

    Web viewer Cost: Free

    Northern Territory Government · Northern Territory

    Natural resource maps of the Northern Territory with data download.

    • Environment
    • Geology
    • Hydrology
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0
    Formats
    Shapefile, WMS
    Link
    nrmaps.nt.gov.au

    Verified

Open data portal 2

Open geospatial data portals for every country

  • data.gov.au (opens in a new tab)

    Portal Cost: Free

    Australian Government

    • Open data portal
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0
    Link
    data.gov.au

    Verified

  • Digital Atlas of Australia (opens in a new tab)

    Portal Cost: Free

    Geoscience Australia

    National authoritative layers (foundation spatial data) in one ArcGIS-based atlas with service endpoints.

    • Open data portal
    • Boundaries & admin
    • Transport
    • Environment
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0
    Formats
    WMS, API, GeoJSON
    Link
    digital.atlas.gov.au

    Verified

Global datasets that cover Australia

Worldwide and continental layers that include Australia, useful where national data is missing, restricted or inconsistent across borders.

Boundaries & admin
Elevation / DEM
Imagery
Land cover
Buildings
Population
Census & statistics
Addresses & cadastre
Transport
Hydrology
Climate & weather
Natural hazards
Geology
Agriculture & soils
Marine & coastal
Environment
Open data portal

Browse all 127 global datasets

Tutorials that use this kind of data

From our original guide

Screenshot of ELVIS, the Elevation and Depth Foundation Spatial Data portal.
Screenshot of ELVIS, the Elevation and Depth Foundation Spatial Data portal.

Neighbouring countries