GfK releases new digital maps for Australia

GfK’s Australia Edition includes 20 updated digital maps that have been supplemented with numerous new details. The maps offer comprehensive coverage of Australia’s postal and administrative levels, from the country’s nine states/territories down to the approximately 357,000 granular mesh blocks. The new edition features a higher level of cartographic detail: GfK’s cartographers have completely overhauled Australia’s approximately 36,000-kilometer coastline and also digitized inner-city postcode boundaries with house-level accuracy.

“An up-to-date cartographic basis is a crucial component of regional market analyses for companies from all industries,” explains Klaus Dittmann, head of cartography at GfK’s Geomarketing solution area. “Our highly detailed maps for Australia allow users to more precisely assess risks and opportunities in their markets. Freely available census data in the form of mesh blocks can be easily imported to support more detailed analyses of market potential.”

Digital maps with precise regional boundaries are especially important in the reinsurance industry, which relies on granular boundary data to more accurately estimate accumulation risks from natural disasters such as storms, earthquakes and floods.

GfK’s maps for Australia also provide a reliable basis for carrying out numerous types of business applications in the retail, consumer goods and logistics sectors.

Administrative changes (compared to the 2016 edition)

• mesh blocks: 357,073 (46,324 dissolved, 55,952 new)
• statistical areas, level 1: 57,482 (6,293 dissolved, 9,000 new)
• statistical areas, level 2: 2,292 (145 dissolved, 237 new, 10 name changes)
• statistical areas, level 3: 340 (15 dissolved, 18 new, 3 name changes)
• statistical areas, level 4: 89 (5 dissolved, 2 new and 2 name changes)

Postcode changes (compared to the 2016 edition)

• 2-digit postcodes: 52 (1 dissolved)
• 4-digit postcodes 2,661 (3 dissolved, 12 new and 131 name changes)
• The postal boundaries are aligned with the granular mesh blocks and feature an even higher level of detail than in the previous map edition.

Availability

GfK's maps for Australia are available in all standard map formats, including *.shp (ESRI), *.tab (MapInfo), *.lay (RegioGraph) and Oracle Spatial. In addition to maps of postal and administrative levels, the country edition also includes topographic details such as streets, bodies of water and city points categorized by number of inhabitants. All maps are vector-based and consequently offer infinite zoom and flexible viewing options.

GfK is the official supplier of the CRESTA zones, which offer a uniform international standard for risk analyses in the reinsurance industry. GfK also offers the world's largest collection of administrative and postcode maps.