Geomorphology Smartline Geopackage

Brief description

The term "Smartline" refers to a GIS line map format which can allow rapid capture of diverse coastal data into a single consistently classified map, which in turn can be readily analysed for many purposes. This format has been used to create a detailed nationally-consistent coastal geomorphic map of Australia, which is currently being used for the National Coastal Vulnerability Assessment (NCVA) as part of the underpinning information for understanding the vulnerability to sea level rise and other climate change influenced hazards such as storm surge. The utility of the Smartline format results from application of a number of key principles. A hierarchical form- and fabric-based (rather than morpho-dynamic) geomorphic classification is used to classify coastal landforms in shore-parallel tidal zones relating to but not necessarily co-incident with the GIS line itself. Together with the use of broad but geomorphically-meaningful classes, this allows Smartline to readily import coastal data from a diversity of differently-classified prior sources into one consistent map. The resulting map can be as spatially detailed as the available data sources allow, and can be used in at least two key ways: Firstly, Smartline can work as a source of consistently classified information which has been distilled out of a diversity of data sources and presented in a simple format from which required information can be rapidly extracted using queries. Given the practical difficulty many coastal planners and managers face in accessing and using the vast amount of primary coastal data now available in Australia, Smartline can provide the means to assimilate and synthesise all this data into more usable forms.

Lineage

See the project report, The Australian Coastal Smartline Goemorphic and Stability Map Version 1, available from the Geoscience Australia website.

The dataset was revised in July 2016 with the addition of data from Victoria. An SQL query was used to select features to be updated and removed from the original dataset followed by loading the new data. Quality checks included using the new Victoria data and a spatial join to the revised data to ensure this data had been added, the converse of this method to run a spatial join to the revised national dataset, an attribute join between the Victorian and revised national dataset and finally, comparing the row count throughout the update process, e.g. the national dataset with the old Victorian data and the new Victorian data added had a row count that increased by the same number of the new Victorian dataset.

The dataset was then exported from the Oracle database to both ESRI File Geodatabase and OGC Geopackage data formats. The output datasets were compared to the source data and the other exported file format by way of consistent coordinate reference system, feature count, attribute sum and geometry (spatial selection).

Notes

Purpose
Coastline management