NSW Seamless Geology Version 2.1
The NSW Seamless Geology Project is a five-year initiative of the Geological Survey of New South Wales which commenced in late 2013 and aims to provide a statewide compilation of the best available digital geological mapping data in an internally consistent format. The overarching aims of the NSW Seamless Geology Project were to: (i) compile the different original scales, formats and rock unit naming conventions into a consistent, statewide format; (ii) edge-match the geology across existing map sheets; and (iii) interpret the basement geology under cover. The resulting geodatabase comprises a series of layers which include: (i) solid basement geology; (ii) cover rocks (defined as undeformed and unmetamorphosed); (iii) Mesozoic igneous rocks; and (iv) Cenozoic sedimentary and igneous rocks.
Due to the size of the project, the work was divided into UTM zones, starting in the east with Zone 56, then moving west to Zone 54, and finishing with Zone 55. The western half of Zone 55 was completed in 2018, after which the results were merged with the previously completed Zones to produce version 1 of the NSW Seamless Geology dataset. Completion of this stage saw the end of phase 1 of the Seamless Geology Project, but it is intended that the Seamless Geology dataset will be continually updated and refined as new digital geological mapping data becomes available.
Version 2 is the 2nd major update to the NSW Seamless Geology and was released in May 2020. This release includes: final data from the East Riverina Mapping Project; updates to the geology of several areas in the Lachlan Orogen; approximately 11,000 new structure points in the Lachlan Orogen and Curnamona Province; detailed revision of the Cenozoic Igneous Province; detailed mapping of the Newcastle Coal Measures; and extensive upgrades to the RockUnit polygon attribute table. The geology of Lord Howe Island is also included for the first time. A single layer version of the Seamless Geology dataset has been created to give a view of the New South Wales surface geology only by removing all the data from overlapped feature classes of the full NSW Seamless Geology dataset and merging the remaining data into a single feature class. As well as giving a view of the surface geology that is faster to display than the full NSW Seamless Geology dataset, the single layer NSW Seamless Geology dataset is also useful for performing statewide queries that would otherwise have to be performed multiple times on the full multi-layered New South Wales Seamless Geology dataset.
Version 2.1 is the 3rd major update to the NSW Seamless Geology and was released in May 2021. This release includes: the NSW Metamorphic dataset; an upgrade of the geology of the Cenozoic Murray Basin (southwest New South Wales); an upgrade of the geology of the Sydney Basin and Mesozoic intrusions of the Illawarra region; changes to the boundaries of several depo-centres of the Darling Basin; over 50,000 trendlines and dykes were added to the Curnamona Province data in the Broken Hill area; the geology of Kinchega National Park, near Menindee, has been reinterpreted and updated using ADS imagery and radiometric data; and updates were made to the stratigraphy and nomenclature of the Fifield Suite (Lachlan Orogen). This release also features many new additions to the RockUnit attribute table, including an "Ultramafic" field, and new or updated magmatic fertility attributes (Lachlan Orogen only).
NOTE: A substantial amount of overlay, erase and intersect geoprocessing of the original multi-layered Seamless Geology was undertaken to produce the single layer surface NSW Seamless Geology dataset. Due to small tolerance differences between different layers in the Seamless Geology dataset, this has, in some places, created small “sliver” polygons between boundaries common to more than one layer of the original multi-layered NSW Seamless Geology. This is a known issue with the current single layer Seamless Geology dataset and while some attempt has been made to resolve these issues, a number of small “sliver” polygons remain. Users are cautioned to be aware of this problem when using this dataset at high zoom levels (ie. under 1:1,000 scale) and to refer to the full Seamless Geology dataset for clarification.
Simple
- Date (Creation)
- 2020-05-21
- Date (Publication)
- 2020-07-01
- Edition
-
2.1
- Edition date
- 2017-07-01T00:00:00
Dr Gary Colquhoun
516 High Street
,Maitland
,New South Wales
,2320
,+61 2 4931 6700
https://www.resourcesandgeoscience.nsw.gov.au/
- Presentation form
- Digital map
- Other citation details
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COLQUHOUN G.P., HUGHES K.S., DEYSSING L., BALLARD J.C., PHILLIPS G., TROEDSON A.L., FOLKES C.B. & FITZHERBERT J.A. 2018. New South Wales Seamless Geology dataset, version 1 [Digital Dataset]. Geological Survey of New South Wales, NSW Department of Planning and Environment, Maitland.
- Purpose
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This data is part of the New South Wales Seamless Geology database, version 2.0, which is a statewide compilation of the best available digital geological mapping data in an internally consistent GIS format.
- Credit
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Dataset Authors:
Colquhoun, G.P.
Hughes, K.S.
Deyssing, L.
Ballard, J.C.
Phillips G.
Troedson, A.L.
Folkes C.B.
Fitzherbert J.A.
- Status
- On going
Geological Survey of NSW
-Dr Gary Colquhoun
(Senior Geoscientist / GIS Analyst - Geospatial Group
)516 High Street
,Maitland
,New South Wales
,2320
,+61 2 4931 6700
https://www.resourcesandgeoscience.nsw.gov.au/
- Maintenance and update frequency
- Irregular
- Update scope
- Dataset
- Maintenance note
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Scheduled updates to this dataset are planned as new data becomes available.
- Theme
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GEOSCIENCES-Geology
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- Keywords
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Downloadable Data
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- Access constraints
- License
- Use constraints
- Copyright
- Other constraints
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Disclaimer
While the material has been created with all due care, the Department of Regional NSW does not warrant or represent that the material is free from errors or omission, or that it is exhaustive. Because the material is designed to promote the free exchange of information only, the Department cannot and does not make any claim as to the accuracy, authenticity, currency, completeness, reliability or suitability of any material, especially material supplied by third parties or linked to third party sites. The material is provided on the basis that you are responsible for assessing the relevance of its content. The Department will not accept liability for any loss, damage, cost or expense that you may incur as a result of the use of or reliance upon the material on this product or any linked sites. Please also note the material may change without notice and you should use the current material from the Mining, Exploration and Geoscience website ( https://www.resourcesandgeoscience.nsw.gov.au/) and not rely on material previously printed or stored by you. Copyright Statement © State of New South Wales and Department of Regional NSW 2020 (unless otherwise indicated). This product contains information, data, documents, pages and images (“the material”) prepared by the NSW Government Department of Regional NSW (the Department). The New South Wales Government, operating through the Department, supports and encourages the dissemination and exchange of publicly funded information and endorses the use of the Australian Governments Open Access and Licensing Framework (AusGOAL). Subject to the exceptions listed below, the material available on this product is owned by the Department and is protected by Crown Copyright. It is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). The legal code for the licence is available at Creative Commons - see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode Please give attribution in this form: © State of New South Wales and Department of Regional NSW 2020 We also request that you observe and retain any copyright or related notices that may accompany this material as part of the attribution. The Creative Commons licence does not apply to: • the Government Coat of Arms, New South Wales Government logo, Department logo, or any other government-owned trademarks, logos and brands • trade marks • intellectual property (including copyright) owned by third parties including photographs, illustrations, artwork and maps • personal information • other materials specifically not provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence.
- Spatial representation type
- Vector
- Denominator
- 100000
- Metadata language
- English
- Character set
- UTF8
- Topic category
-
- Geoscientific information
- Environment description
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Version 6.2 (Build 9200) ; Esri ArcGIS 10.4.0.5524
- Description
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The dataset covers the land areas of New South Wales, Australia (including Lord Howe Island). A 10 km buffer into Queensland and Victoria is also included.
- Extent type code
- No
- Reference system identifier
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EPSG
/4283
/8.3.4(3.0.1)
- Topology level
- Geometry only
- Geometric object type
- Composite
- Geometric object count
- 485
- Distribution format
-
-
ArcGIS
(10.4
) -
MapInfo
(11.0
)
-
Geological Survey of NSW
-Dr Gary Colquhoun
(Senior Geoscientist / GIS Analyst - Geospatial Group
)516 High Street
,Maitland
,New South Wales
,2320
,+61 2 4931 6700
https://www.resourcesandgeoscience.nsw.gov.au/
- OnLine resource
-
Project Homepage
(
WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link
)The Geological Survey of NSW Project page for the NSW Seamless Geology.
- OnLine resource
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Download page: NSW Seamless Geology Data Package
(
WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link
)This product represents a seamless GIS compilation of the best available vector geology data for New South Wales. The data has been organised into a series of layers, or time slices, representing the major lithotectonic units of NSW. All layers have a consistent data structure and attribute schema from the GSNSW’s Statewide Geology Geodatabase (version 2). Base data (roads, railways, rivers, localities), outcrop location, and soil data are also provided.
- OnLine resource
-
MinView
(
WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link
)
- OnLine resource
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Download page: NSW Seamless Geology Data Package Single Layer
(
WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link
)This a single layer version of the Seamless Geology, where the various time slices have been flattened into a single layer, effectively giving the surface geology only. Base data (roads, railways, rivers, localities), outcrop location, and soil data are also provided.
- Hierarchy level
- Dataset
Absolute external positional accuracy
- Name of measure
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GSNSW testing and editing
Conformance result
- Explanation
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Geological data has mainly been sourced from existing 1:100 000 scale and 1:250 000 scale published geological maps. The accuracy of polygon boundaries is dependent on the original scale of mapping, and the date of mapping. More recent (GPS-era) 1:100 000 geology should be accurate to within 100m, whereas older 1:100 000 scale mapping should be accurate to within 500m. Geology compiled at 1:250 000 scale should be accurate to within 1000m. It should be noted that due to the absence of accurate base maps in this part of NSW at the time of compilation of these early 1:250,000 maps, many of the 1:250,000 geological from the 1960's to early 1970's were compiled on inaccurate base maps. As a result, errors of up to 1.2 km in location can occur. Attempts were made to correct this problem on many 1st edition 1:250,000 sheets (see lineage statement). All features were rubbersheeted to a re-georeferenced map (based on SPOT 5 satellite imagery) during December 2014 to March 2015 using thousands of control points. However, some inaccuracy of features may remain in this older 1:250,000 map in Zone 55 East and Zone 54.
- Pass
- Yes
gmd:DQ_NonQuantitativeAttributeCorrectness
- Name of measure
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GSNSW testing and editing
Conformance result
- Explanation
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Attribute data is the best available at the time of publication. All geological lines and points have a comprehensive set of attributes detailing the feature's origin, characteristics and accuracy. All geological units (polygons) are fully attributed with geological unit name, hierarchy, age, and lithological composition. Polygon attributes are based a table of NSW stratigraphic units (GSL_stratigraphy) which is administered and updated by the GSNSW.
- Pass
- Yes
Topological consistency
- Name of measure
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GSNSW testing and editing
Conformance result
- Explanation
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This dataset was compiled as an ESRI Geodatabase using ESRI's polygon and line topology verification, ensuring all geological unit (polygon) boundaries are overlain by corresponding geological contacts (lines). The data structure conforms to the Geoscience Australia standard for a digital geological map database. Systematic checks have been made of both unit and line topology throughout the entire data set. Topological checks have also been undertaken to ensure consistency between layers (ie. that boundaries present in two or more layers are coincident). NB. A substantial amount of overlay, erase and intersect geoprocessing of the original multi-layered Seamless Geology was undertaken to produce the single layer Seamless Geology dataset. Due to small tolerance differences between different layers in the Seamless Geology dataset, this has, in some places, created small “sliver” polygons between boundaries common to more than one layer of the original multi-layered Seamless Geology. This is a known issue with the current single layer Seamless Geology dataset and while some attempt has been made to resolve these issues, a number of small “sliver” polygons remain. Users are cautioned to be aware of this problem when using this dataset at high zoom levels (ie. under 1:1,000 scale) and to refer to the full Seamless Geology dataset for clarification.
- Pass
- Yes
Completeness omission
- Name of measure
-
GSNSW testing and editing
Conformance result
- Explanation
-
Geological data has mainly been sourced from existing 1:100 000 scale and 1:250 000 scale published geological maps. The accuracy of polygon boundaries is dependent on the original scale of mapping, and the date of mapping. More recent (GPS-era) 1:100 000 geology should be accurate to within 100m, whereas older 1:100 000 scale mapping should be accurate to within 500m. Geology compiled at 1:250 000 scale should be accurate to within 1000m. It should be noted that due to the absence of accurate base maps in this part of NSW at the time of compilation of these early 1:250,000 maps, many of the 1:250,000 geological from the 1960's to early 1970's were compiled on inaccurate base maps. As a result, errors of up to 1.2 km in location can occur. Attempts were made to correct this problem on many 1st edition 1:250,000 sheets (see lineage statement). All features were rubbersheeted to a re-georeferenced map (based on SPOT 5 satellite imagery) during December 2014 to March 2015 using thousands of control points. However, some inaccuracy of features may remain in this older 1:250,000 map in Zone 55 East and Zone 54.
- Pass
- Yes
- Statement
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The NSW Seamless Geology Project team has compiled the best available geological data for the state into an internally consistent geodatabase. As part of the compilation process, contributing datasets were organised into a series of layers, or time slices, that represent the major lithotectonic subdivisions of the state’s geology. The data was then stitched/smoothed along existing map and dataset boundaries to create a seamless dynamic model of the geology of NSW.
What's new in Version 2 (May 2020)?
• The geology of the Talmo area, southwest of Yass, was revised and updated
• East Riverina mapping project -The release includes updated linework for the Lachlan Orogen, Western Devonian Basins and Cenozoic Sedimentary provinces from the East Riverina Mapping Project. The project ran from 2014 to 2019, and covered the entirety of the Ardlethan, Narrandera, Coolamon, Lockhart, Wagga Wagga 1:100 000 map sheets, the NSW portions of the Holbrook, Wymah, Albury 1:100 000 map sheets, and parts of the Barmedman, Temora, Junee, Tarcutta and Walbundrie 1:100 000 map sheets.
• Detailed fault attributes have been added to the western Lachlan Orogen, following earlier work on the eastern part of the orogen (see version 1.1 above).
• The mapping of the southern part of Yass 100K and northern part of Brindabella 100K was extensively revised and updated based on previously unpublished thesis and student mapping and unpublished data collected during mapping of the Yass 100K Geology map.
• Approximately 11,000 new structure points were added to the Curnamona Province and Lachlan Orogen layers. These were extracted from a WFS of Geoscience Australia’s structure point data in July 2018 and filtered to obtain unique points that weren’t previously included in the Seamless Geology structural point data.
• The RockUnit polygon attribute table has been further revised and updated. Over 30,000 attribution changes were made to the master look-up table, correcting spelling mistakes, colour code issues. 4 new columns have been added to the attribute table to capture the best available isotopic dating for the unit (Iso_Age_best_Ma, Iso_Age_Best_Error, Iso_Age_best_method, Iso_Age_best_comments). These have been populated for all layers on a provisional basis, pending the release of a more thorough attribution of isotopic and biostratigraphic age data in future versions of the NSW Seamless Geology.
• Lord Howe Island – The geology of Lord Howe Island has been included in the NSW Seamless Geology for the first time. • Cenozoic Igneous Province Upgrade – A revision of the Cenozoic Igneous Province (CIP) was undertaken to incorporate a significant body of literature which names, describes, and provides age constraints for these rocks in New South Wales.
• Newcastle Coal Measures – using detailed unpublished maps, the Newcastle Coal Measures have now been divided down to formation and member level.
• 923 structure points were added to the Lachlan Orogen structure point from the Turon River-Palmers Oakey area, west of Capertee. Data courtesy of Chris Fergusson (University of Wollongong).
Changes in Version 2
New changes incorporated in version 2 of the Eastern Lachlan Orogen GIS include the following: A new structure layer, consisting of named folds and faults, has been added. This has been compiled from published map sheets with little modification by Dawson and Glen. New mapping added for the Yass and Taralga 1:1000 00 sheets from the Goulburn mappers The Tumut 1:100 000, Cootamundra 1:100 000 and Cootamundra 1:1250 000 sheets have been edge matched by M. W. Dawson & R. A. Glen. The Goulburn and Bathurst 1:250 000 sheets have been edge-matched by M. W. Dawson in general and by C. Quinn in detail (see below). On Goulburn, the Mundoonen Sandstone has been taken out of Yalmy Group and placed into new Margules Group by the mappers on the Goulburn 1:250 000 sheet. The Poidevins Sandstone is also placed in this new group. Southwest corner of Wagga 1:250 000 sheet interpreted by M. W. Dawson, in part after the Discovery 2000 project in this area (Albury Geocience Database 1997, Geological Survey of New South Wales, published on CD-ROM). Northern Lachlan Orogen — Basement geology north of Dubbo and Narromine 1:250 000 sheets, beneath the Surat and Gunnedah basins, is based on interpretation of regional geophysics carried out by Vladimir David and R .A .Glen in 2003 and by M. W. Dawson and R. A. Glen in 2006. Canberra-Goulburn 1:250 000 join. 1. Some problems still remain with Adaminaby Group versus Campbells Group, but large areas have now been reassigned to Adaminaby Group by C. Quinn (as part of pmd CRC Tasmanides project). The Frogmore Fault Zone was extended onto the Canberra sheet. However, some problems remain with matching Adaminaby Group and Campbells Group. 2. Matching the join between the western part of the Michelago 1:100 000 sheet and the Canberra 1:100 000 sheet was assisted by data from Henderson (1987). Limited changes only have been made to the geology as shown on Michelago 1:100 000 sheet (Richardson and Barron 1977), restricted mainly to relabelling Colinton Volcanics to Deakin Volcanics in the NW corner of the map sheet. The Royalla and Lanyon faults were used as boundaries for that separation, and as boundaries between the Canberra Yass Shelf and the Ngunawal Basin. 3. Edge mismatch of the Yalmy Group between Cooma and Michelago 1:100 000 sheets northeast of Cooma was fixed by C. Quinn and M. Dawson, using in part data from honours thesis of J. Needham, (Newcastle University). Bathurst-Goulburn 1:250 000 join 1. The Blayney and Crookwell 1:100 000 sheets have been edge matched, with Campbells Group and Box Ridge Volcanics continued across the join. 2. The four-way join of the Oberon-Blayney-Crookwell-Taralga 1:100 000 sheets has been modified, with large areas incorporated into Campbells Group. Macquarie Arc rocks being included into Campbells Group because of its quartz-rich composition. Campbells-Adaminaby Group problem still exists west of the Copperhania Fault Bathurst 1:250 000 Sheet 1. Oberon area. This sheet has undergone significant reinterpretation by C. Quinn (as part of pmd CRC Tasmanides project) which also includes some new mapping of Meffre (2003), but with revision of some of his lithologies. Some Triangle Formation is now included in the Box Ridge Volcanics. Arc rocks are separated from Campbells Group by a NE-trending shear zone 2. Some outcrop in SW corner of Oberon is now included in the Pipers Flat Formation. Some Adaminaby Group is now included in Campbells Group (C. Quinn, as part of pmd CRC Tasmanides project). 3. There has been a change to the distribution of units east of the Sofala Volcanics by S. Meffre & R Scott (CODES, University of Tasmania) (Meffre et al. in press Australian Journal of Earth Sciences). TABBERABBERAN CYCLE 1. Extrapolation of Early Devonian Bindook Complex to NE, under the western part of Sydney Basin and inferred extent of source caldera complex (Glen 2005). 2. Geology adjacent to and under the western part of the Sydney Basin was added, based on the Glen Alice and Olinda 1:50 000 coalfield geology maps plus interpretation of regional geophysical data (Glen & Dawson 2006). 3. Hatchery Creek Conglomerate placed into the Tabberabberan Cycle rather than the Kanimblan Cycle. KANIMBLAN CYCLE 1. extrapolation of Comerong Volcanics and Merrimbula Group under western part of Sydney Basin (Glen 2005) 2. Budawang Synclinorium edge-matched between Goulburn and Wollongong 1:250 000 sheets by Dawson and Glen and extended NE under cover of the Sydney Basin by Glen. 3. Carboniferous granites have been taken out of the Kanimblan Cycle and placed in the Hunter Bowen Supercycle as discussed below CHANGES TO THE MACQUARIE ARC 1. These were obtained as part of a CODES (University of Tasmania)-Geological Survey of NSW- Industry ARC-funded project on the Macquarie Arc. 2. Recognition of the Fairbridge Formation north of Molong and subdivision based on mapping by S. Meffre. (Crawford et al. in press Australian Journal of Earth Sciences). 3. Recognition of the Millthorpe Volcanics near Blayney based on paper by Crawford et al. (in press Australian Journal of Earth Sciences) and Squire & Crawford (in press Australian Journal of Earth Sciences). 4. Recognition of the Cheesemans type lithology NE of Wellington (Bodangora area) (Percival & Glen in press Australian Journal of Earth Sciences ) 5. Re-establishment of name Cargo Volcanics in the Cargo Block in place of, and as equivalent of, the Fairbridge Volcanics (Percival & Glen in press Australian Journal of Earth Sciences ) 6. Forest Reefs Area. Change in map pattern in the Forest Reefs Volcanics based on mapping by R. Squire (R. Squire Ph.D. thesis, University of Tasmania; Squire & Crawford in press Australian Journal of Earth Sciences; Squire & McPhie in press Australian Journal of Earth Sciences) 7. Renaming of Cheesemans Creek Volcanics in Cargo Block to Malachis Hill Formation. Ian Percival (Percival & Glen in press Australian Journal of Earth Sciences) 8. Reinterpretation of Sourges Shale and Kabadah Formation (Percival & Glen in press Australian Journal of Earth Sciences; Barron et al. in press Australian Journal of Earth Sciences) 9. Assigning the Nash Hill Volcanics to the Llandovery by A. J. Crawford. (Crawford et al. in press Australian Journal of Earth Sciences). 10. Addition of Bushmans Volcanics - mapped distribution from Krynen et al 1990 ,attribution with Nash Hill Volcanics by A. J. Crawford (Crawford et al. in press Australian Journal of Earth Sciences). 11. Mistake in the extent of Mingelo Volcanics from first edition was fixed from aeromagnetic interpretation (R. A. Glen ) 12. The Kiandra Volcanic Belt includes the tholeiitic the Gooandra Volcanics and the Jagungal Volcanics as constituents. It may have been preferable to place these units into the Igneous Ocean Crust Terrane rather than the Macquarie Arc. (R. A. Glen ) References HENDERSON G. A. M.1987. Late Silurian Geology of the Michelago-Cooma area (1:100 000 scale map). Bureau of Mineral Resources, Canberra. RICHARDSON S. J. & BARRON L. M.1977. Michelago 1:100 000 Geological Sheet 8726. In: Editor. Book Michelago 1:100 000 Geological Sheet 8726, pages, Geological Survey of NSW, Sydney
- File identifier
- 3dfbc096-ab1f-4b34-92a1-5e347bfaecb8 XML
- Metadata language
- English
- Character set
- UTF8
- Hierarchy level
- Dataset
- Hierarchy level name
-
dataset
- Date stamp
- 2021-09-29T13:56:33
- Metadata standard name
-
ISO 19139 Geographic Information - Metadata - Implementation Specification ISO 19139 Geographic Information - Metadata - Implementation Specification
- Metadata standard version
-
2007
Dr Gary Colquhoun
516 High Street
,Maitland
,New South Wales
,2320
,+61 2 4931 6700
https://www.resourcesandgeoscience.nsw.gov.au/