Frequently Asked Questions

• What is AusSeabed?

  AusSeabed is a national seabed mapping coordination program. The program aims to serve the Australian community that relies on seabed data by coordinating collection efforts in Australian waters and improving data access. The AusSeabed program is a national collaborative initiative led by Geoscience Australia, but operated by Commonwealth, State and Territory entities, universities and industry. It is open to all interested parties.

• How do I get involved?

  Go to Join our Community to sign up to our newsletter distribution list, request being added to our mailing list and see what’s coming up. If you are unable to sign up to the newsletter distribution list manually, please email us.

  If you would like to speak with a member of the AusSeabed team regarding an opportunity for collaboration, please email us.

• How can I obtain seabed data?

  AusSeabed data is hosted on the AusSeabed Marine Data Portal and can be downloaded through the “clip, zip and ship” function in the top right hand corner. Clear instructions for downloading data off the Portal can be found in the AusSeabed Marine Data Portal User Guide. We also have a demonstration video available on the Data page.

  If you would like to enquire about a specific data product, please email us.

• When is new data being uploaded to the AusSeabed Marine Data Portal?

  We have made a Data Publication Schedule publicly accessible on the AusSeabed website. The Publication Schedule is updated weekly. Once surveys are published on the AusSeabed Marine Data Portal, they will be removed from the table after a fortnight. Currently, the schedule is a collaboration between Geoscience Australia and CSIRO, but it is intended to expand in future with more AusSeabed data collaborators.

  If you would like to enquire about a specific data product, please email us.

• How do I reference data from the AusSeabed Marine Data Portal?

  In order to reference AusSeabed data, we keep a PID (persistent ID) reference in the About section of each data layer in the AusSeabed Marine Data Portal. This reference is linked to the Geoscience Australia online catalog (ecat) which contains citation details.

  If you are unable to locate the PID for a specific layer, please email us.

• I am getting an error when trying to download data off the AusSeabed Marine Data Portal.

  If you are receiving an error when trying to download data, please email us so that we can inform our technical team in order to get it fixed. In the meantime, you can try downloading the data directly from Geoscience Australia online catalog (ecat) through the search function. If you need assistance with this process, please email us.

• How do I access the Survey Coordination Tool?

  Navigate to https://coordination.ausseabed.gov.au/login and click ‘Sign in or Sign up to the SCT’. If you are not already a user, you will have an option to register through the ‘Sign up’ link.

  New users:

  1. Enter your email and password
  2. The system will send a verification code to the specified email address
  3. The first time you log in, you will be asked to enter a requested organisation. This is a free text field and helps AusSeabed verify your login.

  If you are receiving an error within the process, please email us.

• What is the Survey Coordination Tool?

  The Survey Coordination Tool was developed by FrontierSI on behalf of AusSeabed and captures three record types: a survey plan, a survey request and a priority area profile. The survey plan records the survey’s intended area of interest, its specifications and intended deliverable. The survey request records the information required for submission to the Hydroscheme Industry Partnership Program (HIPP) review panel. The priority area profile enables an organisation to highlight the areas of our marine jurisdiction that are of high, medium and low priority for surveying.

  If you have any questions or feedback on the Survey Coordination Tool, please email us.

• Where can I find presentations and publications from AusSeabed?

  Publications and Presentations can be found here.

  Prior meeting outcomes from the Steering Committee and Executive Board can be found here.

  AusSeabed Guidelines can be found here.

  We endeavour to update the website with the latest materials as soon as they are ready. If you have any specific requests, please email us.

• Were any of the 2020 ‘Bringing the seabed to you’ webinars recorded?

  Yes, all of them! You can access the webinar recordings, presentation PDFs, participant statistics and Q&A’s on the Publications and Presentations page.

  Something missing? Please email us.