Data

Composite Gazetteer of Australia

Geoscience Australia
Carter, L.
Viewed: [[ro.stat.viewed]] Cited: [[ro.stat.cited]] Accessed: [[ro.stat.accessed]]
ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2FANDS&rft_id=https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/api/records/f91a52b3-26f6-4f2c-bb8e-520f40864d5b&rft.title=Composite Gazetteer of Australia&rft.identifier=https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/150710&rft.publisher=Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)&rft.description=The Composite Gazetteer of Australia (CGA) is the national repository of Australia’s approved place names, drawing together data from each state, territory, and relevant Commonwealth authorities. It is the place names point database that is used by the CGA web application, https://placenames.fsdf.org.au, to deliver jurisdictional place name information as one collection. The CGA is collaborative effort - every Australian state and mainland territory provides data from its official register of geographic names, administered by its naming authority (e.g. VICNAMES in Victoria, the NSW Geographical Names Board, etc). In addition, the Australian Hydrographic Office (AHO) contributes offshore undersea feature names, and the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) provides Antarctic place names. All data provided for the CGA is managed by respective naming authorities. Over decades, it has evolved through collaborative governance and technical innovation. The effort is coordinated under the Intergovernmental Committee on Surveying and Mapping (ICSM), through its Australia and New Zealand Place Names Working Group (ANZPNWG), formerly Permanent Committee on Place Names (PCPN) or its predecessor, Committee for Geographical Names in Australasia (CGNA). The database is also available to search and direct download from the web application, currently https://placenames.fsdf.org.au.The spatial accuracy of the place names points varies between jurisdictions and cannot be relied upon for navigation, precise positioning, or safety-of-life applications. Any quality issues with individual data points should be referred to the relevant naming authority.Maintenance and Update Frequency: asNeededStatement: This data is linked to (a copy of) the database, held in cloud storage, that is updated directly by jurisdictions and available from the Composite Gazetteer of Australia web application, https://placenames.fsdf.org.au. It replaces any previous version of the Gazetteer of Australia. The CGA’s data integration and delivery is a cloud-based platform, which was originally developed for national elevation data (the ELVIS portal). This platform supports direct data ingestion via web services and files, on-the-fly processing, and user-friendly web mapping for visualisation. It also includes an upload and quality assurance module, allowing data contribution directly through the portal with built-in validation checks. No manual intervention by the platform operator, Geoscience Australia, is needed when a jurisdiction uploads new data (or potentially, connects a feed), the system validates it and integrates it into the CGA automatically, typically within a day. Several jurisdictions have shifted to providing machine-readable feeds for integration. For example, Victoria offers Vicmap as a Service (VaaS), which exposes Victoria’s foundational spatial data (including place names) as standard web services and APIs for real-time access. Through VaaS, the Victorian place names database is seamlessly integrated into the national system via near real-time web feature services. Similar web service endpoints or automated data drops are being used or explored by other states as well, moving away from manual file exchanges. This approach, sometimes referred as 'live' links to jurisdictional databases, ensures that the CGA reflects the latest official names e.g. new suburb names or changed feature names, soon after they are approved in each state.Each jurisdiction or naming authority controls the frequency and method of its data updates. Naming authorities can provide new or updated names on their schedule (some do weekly or monthly pushes, others quarterly) through an aggregation portal. This flexibility respects different internal workflows while ensuring that the composite is continually up-to-date for all of Australia and visible in a national context.  The spatial accuracy of the place names points varies between jurisdictions and cannot be relied upon for navigation, precise positioning, or safety-of-life applications. Any quality issues with individual data points should be referred to the relevant naming authority.&rft.creator=Carter, L. &rft.date=2025&rft.coverage=westlimit=112.92; southlimit=-54.75; eastlimit=159.11; northlimit=-9.2402; projection=GDA94 / geographic 2D (EPSG: 4283)&rft.coverage=westlimit=112.92; southlimit=-54.75; eastlimit=159.11; northlimit=-9.2402; projection=GDA94 / geographic 2D (EPSG: 4283)&rft_rights=© Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) 2025&rft_rights=Australian Government Security Classification System https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/pspf-annual-release&rft_subject=geoscientificInformation&rft_subject=gazetteer&rft_subject=place names&rft_subject=Australia&rft_subject=Composite Gazetteer of Australia&rft_subject=CGA&rft_subject=ANZPNWG&rft_subject=Other earth sciences not elsewhere classified&rft_subject=Published_External&rft.type=dataset&rft.language=English Access the data
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© Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) 2025

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

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Full description

The Composite Gazetteer of Australia (CGA) is the national repository of Australia’s approved place names, drawing together data from each state, territory, and relevant Commonwealth authorities. It is the place names point database that is used by the CGA web application, https://placenames.fsdf.org.au, to deliver jurisdictional place name information as one collection. The CGA is collaborative effort - every Australian state and mainland territory provides data from its official register of geographic names, administered by its naming authority (e.g. VICNAMES in Victoria, the NSW Geographical Names Board, etc). In addition, the Australian Hydrographic Office (AHO) contributes offshore undersea feature names, and the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) provides Antarctic place names. All data provided for the CGA is managed by respective naming authorities.
 
Over decades, it has evolved through collaborative governance and technical innovation. The effort is coordinated under the Intergovernmental Committee on Surveying and Mapping (ICSM), through its Australia and New Zealand Place Names Working Group (ANZPNWG), formerly Permanent Committee on Place Names (PCPN) or its predecessor, Committee for Geographical Names in Australasia (CGNA).
 
The database is also available to search and direct download from the web application, currently https://placenames.fsdf.org.au.

The spatial accuracy of the place names points varies between jurisdictions and cannot be relied upon for navigation, precise positioning, or safety-of-life applications. Any quality issues with individual data points should be referred to the relevant naming authority.

Lineage

Maintenance and Update Frequency: asNeeded
Statement:

This data is linked to (a copy of) the database, held in cloud storage, that is updated directly by jurisdictions and available from the Composite Gazetteer of Australia web application, https://placenames.fsdf.org.au. It replaces any previous version of the Gazetteer of Australia.
 
The CGA’s data integration and delivery is a cloud-based platform, which was originally developed for national elevation data (the ELVIS portal). This platform supports direct data ingestion via web services and files, on-the-fly processing, and user-friendly web mapping for visualisation. It also includes an upload and quality assurance module, allowing data contribution directly through the portal with built-in validation checks. No manual intervention by the platform operator, Geoscience Australia, is needed when a jurisdiction uploads new data (or potentially, connects a feed), the system validates it and integrates it into the CGA automatically, typically within a day.
 
Several jurisdictions have shifted to providing machine-readable feeds for integration. For example, Victoria offers Vicmap as a Service (VaaS), which exposes Victoria’s foundational spatial data (including place names) as standard web services and APIs for real-time access. Through VaaS, the Victorian place names database is seamlessly integrated into the national system via near real-time web feature services. Similar web service endpoints or automated data drops are being used or explored by other states as well, moving away from manual file exchanges. This approach, sometimes referred as 'live' links to jurisdictional databases, ensures that the CGA reflects the latest official names e.g. new suburb names or changed feature names, soon after they are approved in each state.

Each jurisdiction or naming authority controls the frequency and method of its data updates. Naming authorities can provide new or updated names on their schedule (some do weekly or monthly pushes, others quarterly) through an aggregation portal. This flexibility respects different internal workflows while ensuring that the composite is continually up-to-date for all of Australia and visible in a national context.
 
The spatial accuracy of the place names points varies between jurisdictions and cannot be relied upon for navigation, precise positioning, or safety-of-life applications. Any quality issues with individual data points should be referred to the relevant naming authority.


Notes

Purpose
To deliver an extra layer of product for the Composite Gazetteer of Australia in conjunction with the Composite Gazetteer of Australia web site, https://placenames.fsdf.org.auThis has been a request in client feedback in the past.

Created: 16 10 2025

Issued: 25 11 2025

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159.11,-9.2402 159.11,-54.75 112.92,-54.75 112.92,-9.2402 159.11,-9.2402

136.015,-31.9951

text: westlimit=112.92; southlimit=-54.75; eastlimit=159.11; northlimit=-9.2402; projection=GDA94 / geographic 2D (EPSG: 4283)

Subjects
ANZPNWG | Australia | CGA | Composite Gazetteer of Australia | Other earth sciences not elsewhere classified | Published_External | gazetteer | geoscientificInformation | place names |

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Other Information
Link to Composite Gazetteer of Australia web site

url : https://placenames.fsdf.org.au/

Composite Gazetteer of Australia Mapserver

url : http://services.ga.gov.au/gis/rest/services/Composite_Gazetteer_of_Australia/MapServer

Composite Gazetteer of Australia WMS

url : http://services.ga.gov.au/gis/services/Composite_Gazetteer_of_Australia/MapServer/WMSServer

Composite Gazetteer of Australia WFS

url : http://services.ga.gov.au/gis/services/Composite_Gazetteer_of_Australia/MapServer/WFSServer

Composite Gazetteer of Australia MapServer

url : https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/service/ga/150763

Composite Gazetteer of Australia WFS

url : https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/service/ga/150766

Composite Gazetteer of Australia WMS

url : https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/service/ga/150765

Identifiers