Click here for description of Marine Bioregions (.pdf 67kb)

Click here for brochure detailing bioregions
in the GBRMPA Representative Areas Program (.pdf 2.25Mb)

MetaData for GBRMPA GIS datasets
[ Compliant with ANZLIC Guidelines, Table 1: Core Elements ]

Category

Detail/Comment

Dataset

Title

Reefbio_outlines

Custodian

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority

Jurisdiction

Queensland, Australia

Description

Abstract

Bounding polygons for reef bioregions. This shapefile is intended for use as a backdrop to reef bioregions to more clearly define their extents.

Search Words

Reefs, Great Barrier Reef, Reef Habitat, Reef Bioregions

Geographic Extent

Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area; East Coastal Queensland; Continental Shelf Area within 142E 10 24S and 151E 24 30S

Currency

Origin Date

Classification of bioregions began Jan 1999

Ending Date

Bioregions adjusted to implement advice from stakeholders and reef and non-reef experts March 2001. Bounding polygons for reef bioregions created November 2001.

Status

Progress

All positional boundary changes finalised

Projection

Unprojected Geographic coordinates

Datum

GDA94

Scale

nominal 1:250,000

Maintenance, Update Frequency

Bioregions are to be updated every 5 years as more information becomes available. Bounding polygons will be updated as required.

Stored Data Format

Digital ARC/INFO shapefile

Available Format Type

Digital ARC/INFO shapefile

Access Contraint

Completion of GBRMPA Digital Data Agreement.

Quality

Lineage

Reef bioregions: See Technical Report on the Classification Phase of the Representative Areas Program by Kerrigan, Breen et al, 1999 (in progress)

Bounding polygons: Thiessen polygons were constructed for all reefs, and then dissolved by bioregion. Reefs were buffered by 10 km, overlayed with the Thiessen coverage, and then dissolved by bioregion again.

Positional Accuracy

Generally +- 125 metres, as it relies partly on locational accuracy of other base GBRMPA datasets, namely REEFS, ISLANDS, COAST.

Attribute Accuracy

Attribute ‘bioregion’ came from nonreefbioregion in the non-reef coverage and reefbioregion in the reef coverage.

Field bioregion relates to the unique id field (bioregion) in the lookup table bioregion.lut. The values correspond to the reefbioregion and nonreefbioregion attributes of the separate datasets.

Final reef bioregion names are stored in the look up table in the field short_desc.

Field Label is the short version of the final short_desc field for the purpose of processing

Logical Consistency

WHA boundary coincides with COAST, parts of GBRMP ZONING, GBRMP and WHAGBR. Reef bioregions are logically consistent with the REEFS coverage.

Completeness

The bioregions of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area evolve as more accurate data becomes available.

Contact Information

Organisation

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority

Position

Geographic Information Systems Manager

Address

2 - 68 Flinders Street

Mail Address

P.O. Box 1379

Locality

Townsville

State

Queensland

Country

Australia

Postcode

Qld 4810

Telephone

(07) 4750 0700

Facsimile

(07) 4772 6093

Email

gis@gbrmpa.gov.au

Metadata

Metadata Date

26-11-2001

Additional Metadata

Technical Report on the Classification Phase of the

Representative Areas Program -  Kerrigan, Breen et al, 1999 (in progress).

The Representative Areas Program for Protecting Biodiversity In the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area – Day, Fernandes et al, 2001 (in press)