Seamap Australia [Version 1.0] the development of a national benthic marine classification scheme for the Australian continental shelf

The Australian National Data Service (ANDS) High Values Collection (HVC) has funded the establishment of an Australian seabed habitat classification scheme and spatial database “Seamap Australia”. Seamap Australia collates all national benthic habitat mapping data into one location on the Australian Ocean Data Network (AODN) complete with metadata records; syntheses these datasets into one spatial data product using a newly proposed national benthic marine classification scheme for the Australian continental shelf; and enables visualisation and download capacity via a web interface [http://www.seamapaustralia.org] of the Seamap Australia synthesis layer, all original collated benthic habitat mapping datasets, and a sample selection of biological data overlays.

The ongoing benefits of the Seamap Australia classification scheme and spatial data product will facilitate national collaborations for benthic research, establish a common seabed mapping vocabulary and encourage a nationally consistent approach for Australian seabed mapping into the future. We anticipate that Seamap Australia will facilitate national scale cross-disciplinary studies of continental shelf habitats. It is our intent that, by collating all the available marine habitat mapping datasets into a single viewing interface (http://www.seamapaustralia.org) and promoting and extending availability of these through the AODN Portal, institutions will work collaboratively to address nationwide solutions. This High Value Collection (HVC #19) provides a resource for researchers to share their marine habitat data through the AODN into the future, so that as the resource grows, there will be continuous improvement in the knowledge of Australia’s marine estate.