User:Innesw/sandbox/Australian Statistical Geography

The Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) is a hierarchical scheme of geographic statistical areas in Australia. The ASGS includes geographic structures created and maintained by the | Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), as well as structures defined by other bodies but which the ABS may use for reporting statistical information.

The ABS structures within the ASGS include a Main Structure, which is a nested hierarchy of geographic areas ranging from very small units to the whole of Australia.

There are other ABS structures that are schemes with specific uses. They are built from units of the Main Structure, or smaller units in the same structure. Examples include the Indigenous Structure, a structure for urban areas, and the Remoteness Structure.

For all the ABS structures, all geographic units at a given level of the structure cover the whole of Australia without gaps or overlaps (ie: they are 'complete').

There are non-ABS structures included in the ASGS. These structures have geographical units whose boundaries are defined by bodies such as state governments, and that may or may not be geographically complete. Examples include electoral divisions, Postal Areas, and Suburbs and Localities. In some cases the boundaries of these units are approximated in the ASGS so they match boundaries in the Main Structure.

The current version of the ASGS is Version 3 of 2021.

ABS Structures
These structures within the ASGS are defined by the ABS.

Non-ABS Structures
These structures are defined by bodies other than the ABS, though the ABS commits to providing a range of statistics for them. Where the legal or other boundaries of the geographical units within these structures don't exactly match mesh blocks boundaries, the ABS uses mesh block boundaries to approximate them, therefore the ASGS units should only be used for statistical purposes.

Editions
The ASGS was introduced by the ABS in 2011 as a replacement for the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC).

New editions essentially coincide with the 5-yearly ABS censuses, though boundary changes made to Non-ABS structures may be updated as often as annually.

The significant changes for Edition 2 (2016) included:
 * addition of a boundary and code for the whole of Australia, and the inclusion of Norfolk Island
 * Non-ABS structures are now approximated by mesh blocks

The significant changes for Edition 3 (2021) included:
 * introduction of Destination Zones to the Non-ABS structures
 * removal of Natural Resource Management Regions
 * electoral divisions, both commonwealth and state, are now built from mesh blocks
 * the previous State Suburbs (SSCs) are now called Suburbs and Localities (SALs)