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Glossary and Terms


Term, Acronym or AbbreviationDefinition
ABSAustralian Bureau of Statistics
ACTAustralian Capital Territory
AddressA structured label for any place that could deliver or receive a good or service.
Address ContributorSupplier of address information to G‑NAF.
Address Level GeocodeAn address in G‑NAF that has a parcel level geocode (i.e. a geocode reliability code of 2).  Also referred to as a “parcel level” address.
AECAustralian Electoral Commission
AGILAustralian Government Indigenous Location
Alias Address (or Alternate Address)Another label for a Principal Address which may differ because of a variation in some or all address components (i.e. numbers, levels, street name, locality name). An Alias Address will share the same location as the Principal Address. Association with Principal Address may be provided by an Address Contributor or determined programmatically.
AMASAddress Matching Approval System – A certification program developed by Australia Post to improve the accuracy of postal addresses.
The software prepares addresses for barcode creation, ensures quality addressing, and enables mailers to qualify for postal discounts for Pre-Sort letter lodgements.
ANSIAmerican National Standards Institute
ANZLICAustralian New Zealand Land Information Council
AOIArea of Interest
APAustralia Post
AS/ANZ 4819Australia and New Zealand Standard for Rural and Urban Addressing
AS/NZS 4590Australian Standard for Interchange of Client Information
ASDDAustralian Spatial Data Directory superseded by FIND
ASDIAustralian Spatial Data Infrastructure
ASGSAustralian Statistical Geography Standard
AUTAuthority Table
AVAddress Verification
AVSAddress Verification Service
AWSAmazon Web Services
Band MeansThe average of the spectral data in relation to a pixel.
Base64An encoding method that converts binary data into ASCII text and vice versa and is one of the methods used by MIME
Batch Workflow ServiceA web service that can be used to process a comma separated file stored on an SFTP or FTP server using PSMA Cloud workflows
Buffer ZoneThe inclusive area difference between Land Use 2 metre coverage and Urban and Remote coverage.
BuildingA structure generally permanent in nature which has been constructed to meet a specific objective (e.g. housing, storage, and workplace) and less permanent structures such as caravans and other portable housing may also be represented. All buildings are represented spatially both as polygons and points.
Building NameA building or property name that is associated with an address. The name is typically free text and is not unique to any address.
Building PointThe automated calculation of the Building Polygon centroid.
Building PolygonA Building Polygon is a digital representation of the roof outline of a building classified from remotely sensed information that identifies every structure greater than 9m2 and falls with an area defined by PSMA for the capture of buildings.
ClassDescription of a set of objects that share the same attributes, operations, methods, relationships, and semantics [UML].
Note: A class does not always have an associated geometry (e.g. the metadata class).
Confidence LevelG‑NAF is currently built from three national address datasets.  The confidence level of an address indicates the level of usage of each address by the contributor address datasets.
ContourA line connecting points of equal elevation/height, used to display a 3D surface on a 2D map or image.
Contributor DataAddress datasets held and maintained by organisations external to PSMA that is being made available for the purpose of building and maintaining G‑NAF.
CEBCommonwealth Electoral Boundaries
CGNACommittee for Geographical Names in Australasia. Is now known as the Permanent Committee on Place Names (PCPN).
CORSContinuous Operating Reference Station
CSVComma Separated Value – A file format used to store tabular data
DatumA datum is a mathematical surface on which a mapping and coordinate system is based. The definition includes:
the spheroid used,
an origin, and
fixed point(s).
DEMDigital Elevation Model
Digital Elevation Model (DEM)The representation of continuous elevation values over a topographic surface by a regular array of sampled z-values, referenced to a common datum and expressed on a regular grid spacing or raster data set. The DEM is a ground-only representation and excludes vegetation such as trees and shrubs and human constructed features such as sheds, houses and bridges.
(Bare earth model on regular grid)Note: Some organisations refer to a bare earth model on an irregular grid as a DTM. In this context, refer the alternate DTM definition in this document.
Digital Terrain Model (DTM) – (Bare earth model on irregular grid)A topographic model of the earth’s ground surface in digital format represented by mass points of variable density and may include break lines. The DTM representation of ground includes works such as levees, banks and roads, but excludes vegetation such as trees and shrubs and human constructed features such as sheds, houses and bridges.
Note: Some organisations refer to a bare earth model on a regular grid as a DTM. In this context, refer to the specific DEM definition in this document.
DMPOracle binary format dump file
DPIDDelivery Point Identifier – An Australia Post identifier of an address commonly used in barcoding mail to reduce postage rates
DSMDigital Surface Model
DTMDigital Terrain Model
ElevationThis is a measure of height relative to a known vertical datum.
EndpointThe location for accessing a web service using a specific protocol and data format
ESRIEnvironmental Systems Research Institute
EventCharacteristic of a feature measured within an object without modifying the associated geometry.
FAQFrequently Asked Question
FeatureAbstraction of real-world phenomena.
Feature AttributeCharacteristic of a feature (e.g. name of an area).
FINDAustralian Government spatial data catalogue
FMEFeature Manipulation Engine
FOIFeature of Interest
FSDFFoundation Spatial Data Framework
FTPFile Transfer Protocol
GAGeoscience Australia (Australian Government)
Gap GeocodeA geocode created programmatically based on address ranging in the absence of a geocode being allocated to a specific property. This geocode may not necessarily lie within a property polygon.
Gazetted LocalityThe officially recognised boundary of a suburb (in cities and larger towns) or locality (outside cities and larger towns) name. The naming authority within each jurisdiction has its own legislation and guidelines for recording place names in their registers or gazetteers. The PCPN coordinates place naming activities across Australia and New Zealand.
GCPGround Control Point
GCCSAGreater Capital City Statistical Area
GDA94Geocentric Datum of Australia 1994
GDA2020The Geocentric Datum of Australia 2020 (GDA2020) is Australia’s new national datum which replaces GDA94. GDA2020 is of higher-accuracy than GDA94, aligns more closely with GPS and GNSS positioning services and supports nationally consistent datasets, free of the known distortions of GDA94
GeocodeA point feature for an address spatially defined by a coordinate. In G‑NAF an address may have multiple geocodes representing various real world features (e.g. parcel, property, building centroid, street centroid, locality centroid etc.) associated with a physical address. The geographic coordinates are expressed as latitude/longitude in decimal degrees.
Geocode Level TypeThe geocode level type indicates which geocodes have been assigned to an address. Every address within G‑NAF must have a locality level geocode. Addresses may also have a street level geocode and a parcel level geocode. 
Geocode PriorityG‑NAF is able to assign multiple geocodes to an address. The geocode priority is a priority order established by PSMA to enable a default geocode to be assigned to each address which represents the geocode of the highest precision currently assigned to an address.
Geocode ReliabilityRefers to the geocode precision and is linked to how the geocode was generated.
Geoscience AustraliaAustralian government agency for national geological survey information
GML(OpenGIS) Geography Markup Language – An XML grammar written in XML Schema for the description of application schemas as well as the transport and storage of geographical information.
For more information, visit www.opengeospatial.org
G-NAFGeocoded National Address File – An index of physical Australian addresses, each with a geographic coordinate
G-NAF LiveAddress data only available through API services for finding the most up-to-date geocoded addresses from each state and territory government of Australia.
G‑NAF Merge CriteriaThose components of an address string used by the G‑NAF process to uniquely identify an address.
GPSGlobal Positioning System
GUIGraphical User Interface
HeightThis is a measure of relative vertical difference between two known points on the same vertical datum. 
IAREIndigenous Area
ICSMIntergovernmental Committee on Surveying and Mapping
ICTInformation and Communications Technology
IDBIntegrated Database
ILInbound Logistics
ILOCIndigenous Locality
IMInformation Management
IPIntellectual Property
IREGIndigenous Region
ITInformation Technology
ITILIT Infrastructure Library
JurisdictionReference based on the physical territory that an entity’s authority covers. In this instance jurisdiction refers to the Local, State, Territory and Federal Government authorities.
KMLKeyhole Markup Language
LayerAn OGC map layer
LocalityA named geographical area defining a community or area of interest, which may be rural or urban in character. Usually known as a Suburb in an urban area. The localities used in G‑NAF are the gazetted localities as provided by the respective jurisdictions.
Locality AliasAnother recognised name for a gazetted locality name. Could be misspellings, historic authoritative names or unauthoritative names.
LGALocal Government Area
LIDARLight Detection and Ranging, is a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (variable distances) to the Earth
LULCLand Use Land Cover data refers to data that is a result of classifying raw satellite data into LULC categories based on the return value of the satellite image.
LYNXPSMA online data delivery system
MapPictorial representation of geographic data
MBMesh Block
Mesh BlockMesh Blocks are the smallest geographic region in the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS), and the smallest geographical unit for which Census data is available.
MGAA Map Grid of Australia (MGA) is a metric rectangular grid system (i.e. east and north). It is a Cartesian coordinate system based on the Universal Transverse Mercator projection and the Geocentric Datum of Australia 1994. The unit of measure is the metre.
Minimum ResolutionThe lowest detail/most coarse representation of a Building Outline acceptable to PSMA.
NamespaceXML Namespaces provide a method to avoid element name conflict in XML
NAMFNational Address Management Framework – A nationally consistent, standards-based approach to address management.
A set of guidelines from which organisations can implement NAMF-compliant data management systems
National Jurisdiction Imagery MosaicRaster-based datasets
NBNNational Broadband Network
NCSNAMF Notification and Compliance Service
NSWNew South Wales
NTNorthern Territory
NWSNAMF Web Service – A Web Service that supports the use of address information within the National Address Management Framework
ObjectEntity with a well-defined boundary and identity that encapsulates state and behaviour [UML Semantics].
Note: An object is an instance of a class.
Off NadirRefers to remote sensing. Any point not directly beneath a scanner’s detectors, but rather off at an angle.
OGCOpen Geospatial Consortium – a non-profit, international, voluntary consensus standards organisation that leads the development of standards for geospatial and location based services.
For more information, visit www.opengeospatial.org
OLOutbound Logistics
Open dataData freely available to everyone to use and republish as they wish, without restrictions from copyright, patents or other mechanisms of control.
OTOther Territories
Other TerritoriesRefers to external Territories of Australia included within the PSMA datasets: Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Norfolk Island and Jervis Bay.
PackageGrouping of a set of classes, relationships, and even other packages with a view to organising the model into more abstract structures.
PAFPostal Address File – a list of Australian addresses used for postal purposes, only available through the AMAS program; used to support the efficient processing of mail through Australia Post’s operational network
ParseThe process of separating individual components within a string of text into separate parts, for example, breaking up an address line into parts such as Thoroughfare Number, Name, Type, Locality, State and Postcode (among others)
Parsed AddressAn address that is presented as a set of discrete fields in a NAMF compliant structure
Parsing ServiceA web service that takes an unstructuredAddress and splits it into its constituent structured fields. This web service implements the NAMF Web Services Specifications validateAddress interface.
PCPNPermanent Committee on Place Names, a standing committee within the ICSM.
PIDPersistent Identifier
PostcodesPostcodes are allocated to geographic areas to facilitate the efficient processing and delivery of mail.
Primary AddressA Primary Address is a principal address that contains all the components of an address except flat number information. Where flat number information exists for an address then this forms part of a Secondary Address and a linkage made to the Primary Address. Alternatively a Primary Address can be linked to one or more Secondary Addresses by PSMA where identified by an address contributor (e.g. involves private road in complex development, public housing estates etc.)
Primary PostcodesPrimary postcodes are unique integers based on the postcodes used to differentiate between gazetted localities within a jurisdiction that share the same name. They may not necessarily be coincident with the postcode for any area.
Principal AddressAccepted label for an Address which may have zero, one or more than one associated Alias Address.
PSMAPSMA Australia Limited, formerly known as Public Sector Mapping Agencies, is an unlisted public company wholly owned by the State, Territory and Australian Governments.
PSMA combines reliable spatial data from Australian state governments with leading-edge technology to create national spatial information datasets, presenting the data in meaningful and useful ways for a wide range of industry, government and community uses that deliver economic, environmental and social benefits to Australia
PSMA Online Data Delivery SystemA suite of applications to store, quality assure and distribute PSMA’s datasets.
PSVPipe Separated Values file
QAQuality Assurance
QLDQueensland
QualityData is of the highest quality reflective at the time and fields provided. Key factors are timeliness, consistency and completeness.
RARemoteness Area
Raster DataThe raster data model uses a grid to cover the space and the value of each cell (pixel) in the grid to correspond to the characteristic of the geographic feature at the cell location. The cell is the smallest unit in the grid. A grid is a matrix of cells. Raster data could come from many sources such as aerial photographs, satellite imagery, digital pictures or scanned maps.
Raster ResolutionThis is a measure of an image’s pixel/cell dimensions, providing information on the level of detail of features it represents. The smaller the value the higher level of detail represented.
Reference DataEach address entering G‑NAF is tested to ensure it can be matched against the geospatial region to which it relates: state, locality and street. The datasets used for this geospatial verification are:
National Road Centreline Dataset (PSMA Transport & Topography)
Gazetted Locality Boundaries for Australia (PSMA Administrative Boundaries).
These two datasets are commonly referred to as the Reference Data.
Release ReportThis is the report provided with each release of a product and will outline key issues and production changes applied during the assembly. Included will be statistics and change volumes.
ResolutionThis is a measure of the geometric fidelity of each building represented. It is a combination of the minimum area of a polygon and minimum vertex separation.
RulesRules are at times applied to contributor addresses as part of the G‑NAF processing where errors are identified in the addresses such as the incorrect spelling of street names, incorrect street types or incorrect localities. The application of these rules generates alias street localities or localities depending on the rule applied.
SASouth Australia
SAStatistical Area (SA1, SA2, SA3 and SA4)
SDLCSoftware Development Life Cycle
SEBState/Territory Electoral Boundaries
Secondary AddressA Secondary Address is any address with flat number information or more literally any address where flat_number_prefix, flat_number or flat_number_suffix is not null.  Alternatively, a Secondary Address can be linked to a Primary Address by PSMA where identified by an address contributor (e.g. involves private road in complex development, public housing estates etc.).
SEIFASocio-Economic Indexes for Areas
SensorA device or machine that measures or records one or more physical properties.
sFTPSecure File Transfer Protocol
SHPESRI Shapefile
SLDStyled Layer Descriptor – an OGC language that is used to define how geographical data will be portrayed on a map
Spatial ResolutionThe spatial resolution varies for the Geoscape Dataset depending on the Theme and/or Layer used and whether the area has been classified as “Urban”, “Rural Balance” and ‘Remote Communities”.
SQLStructured Query Language
SOSSection of State
SOSRSection of State Range
SRS            Spatial Reference System – a projected or geographic coordinate reference system
Street (or Road)An in-use name for a street name that exists within PSMA’s National Road Centreline Dataset (i.e. reference dataset) within PSMA’s Transport & Topography product.
Street AliasIn-use name for a Street name not existing within PSMA’s Road centreline dataset (i.e. reference dataset).
Street LocalityA Street or Road within a particular Locality e.g. Smith St Melbourne VIC 3000. A street is unique to a locality. If it crosses a locality boundary, that segment receives a different street_locality_pid and treated as another street.
Street Locality AliasA Street or Road within a particular Locality that is an alternative name for a Street Locality Address.
SUASignificant Urban Area
SupplierEntities that supply data to PSMA
Supply ChainPSMA supply chain for products and services
SVNSubversion
T&TTransport and Topography (a PSMA data product) 
TABMapInfo Professional Table File
TASTasmania
TINTriangulated Irregular Network
TOGAFThe Open Group Architecture Framework
UCLUrban Centre Locality
UML            Unified Modelling Language
Unique IdentifierAn unrepeatable number assigned to a spatial feature.
Unparsed addressAn address that is presented as a string containing the address details
UtilityThe functionality offered of a product or service to meet a particular need (what it does or fit for purpose)
UUIDUniversal Unique Identifier
VARValue Added Reseller
Vector DataA vector data model is a coordinate-based data model that represents geographic features as points, lines, and polygons. Each point feature is represented as a single coordinate pair, while line and polygon features are represented as ordered lists of vertices. Attributes are associated with each vector feature, as opposed to a raster data model, which associates attributes with grid cells.
VICVictoria
VisibleObservable by someone with reasonable skill and expertise.
VNIRVisible and near-infrared
WAWestern Australia
WFSWeb Feature Service – an OGC defined interface for requesting geographical features across the web using platform independent calls
WFSWeb Feature Service
WGS84World Geodetic System 1984
WMSWeb Map Service – an OGC defined interface for requesting map images across the web using platform independent calls
WMTSWeb Map Tile Service
WoEWhole of Economy
WoGWhole of Government
WorkflowA workflow is made up of one or more functions
WPSWeb Processing Service
WSDLWeb Services Description Language
WV2WorldView-2 – a commercial Earth observation satellite owned by DigitalGlobe.
WV3WorldView-3 – a commercial Earth observation satellite owned by DigitalGlobe.
XMLExtensible Markup Language

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