The ACT Planning and Land Authority produces, updates and maintains many types of land information, from the smallest detail of a kerb and gutter in an engineering survey drawing to the extent of the ACT border. Spatial data is one type of information produced.

Digital spatial data

The Spatial Data Management System (SDMS) is the major geographic information system used for planning and land management in the ACT Government. As well as providing a centralised land information collection point for the Government, SDMS data is available under license to private enterprise and to the Commonwealth Government.

The system

SDMS is linked to a textual database used for land administration. Queries can be performed using the combined data in both systems, through a block key held against every block of land in both databases. The results of these queries can be displayed either graphically or textually. SDMS data shown on a screen for an inquiry user is never more than 24 hours old.

SDMS data sets

The core data sets in the SDMS include:

• street addresses of all urban blocks;
• State, district, division (suburb), electoral and city names and boundaries;
• all urban block boundaries and identifiers;
• all rural block boundaries and identifiers;
• all unit title boundaries and unique identifiers;
• all road boundaries and unique identifiers for road segments;
• unique identifiers for remaining land/water areas within the ACT;
• all road names, kerbs and centre lines;
• topologically structured road centre lines;
• survey control mark location and information;
• spot heights on a 40 metre grid over the ACT;
• names of features of interest;
• footprints of major buildings;
• contours over ACT's urban areas;
• The Territory Plan showing land use policies and overlays;
• topographic detail;
• raster images, including digital orthophotomap of urban capable areas of the ACT (1998 photography) and scanned aerial photography at 1:10,000; and
• cartographic generalisations.

The Authority has also purchased a licence to the Sinclair Knight Merz Pty Ltd AUSIMAGE digital photography (2004 photography) over urban and planned urban areas of the ACT for government use. Non-government users can access this data by contacting Sinclair Knight Merz.

Licence fees

If you want to use ACTMAP data, you will need to sign a standard licensing agreement. The agreement covers the uses to which such data may be put. Users are granted a licence to use the data, but the data always remains the property of the ACT Government. Where SDMS data is to be used for commercialisation and production of a value-added goods or services, the data is subject to a standard Value-Added Reseller agreement.

The basic unit for the supply of digital spatial data in the ACT is the cadastral (land) parcel, and equates to a block of land. There is a minimum charge to cover the cost of extracting the data and supplying it to the client. This is consistent with the ANZLIC national policy on pricing for digital data transfer.

Small project areas will attract at a minimum rate for up to 1000 contiguous urban blocks. The data supplied for the minimum rate for will urban and rural blocks, administrative boundaries (excluding postcode boundaries), road centre lines, footprints, feature names, water features and B class units. Data can also be obtained for single blocks and the sections they belong to (up to 5 blocks, one section and the kerb data). These (5 blocks) requests will be processed and available on floppy disk or emailed the same day provided that the order is received before 11am.

Costs are highlighted in the SDMS license costs.

Data updates

We can supply SDMS data elements that have changed (deleted, added, amended) within a certain time frame, for example, since the last data supply. Alternatively, data can be supplied as a replacement set, where the new data replaces the whole of the previously supplied data. Orders for full quarterly or yearly updates must be received within 12 months of the original delivery or last update. Replacement data requested after this 12 months will be charged at the full rate.