Definition
The Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) is a classification of Australia into a hierarchy of statistical areas. It is a social geography, developed to reflect the location of people and communities. It is used for the publication and analysis of official statistics and other data. The ASGS is updated every 5 years to account for growth and change in Australia’s population, economy and infrastructure.
For the 2021 release, the ASGS will be re-named to the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Edition 3. Until this point, the ASGS has been named according to the Census of Population and Housing year it referred to. This has led to confusion as the ASGS has historically been published across several years. For example, the Urban Centres and Localities publication for ASGS Edition 2 (2016) was published in 2017.
ASGS Edition 3 will be used for the 2021 Census of Population and Housing, and will be progressively introduced into other ABS data collections from 2022. ASGS Edition 3 is an update of ASGS Edition 2 (2016).
Comments
The ASGS is split into two parts, the ABS and Non ABS Structures.
The ABS Structures are geographies that the ABS designs specifically for the release and analysis of statistics. This means that the statistical areas are designed to meet the requirements of statistical collections as well as geographic concepts relevant to those statistics. This helps to ensure the confidentiality, accuracy and relevance of ABS data.
The ABS Structures include several different geographies that approximate urban areas, and these may differ from official or commonly accepted definitions. A brief description of these geographies can be found in this section, and further detail is available in relevant sections of this publication.
The Non ABS Structures generally represent administrative regions which are not defined or maintained by the ABS, but for which the ABS is committed to directly providing a range of statistics. All Non ABS Structures are approximated using ASGS regions. Because of this, they are only cartographic representations of legally (or otherwise) designated boundaries, for example ASGS State and Territory boundaries and Local Government Areas, and should not be used for legal purposes.
Before using an ASGS geography, the purpose, design criteria, and update frequency should be carefully considered.
References
https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/1270.0.55.001
https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/standards/australian-statistical-geography-standard-asgs-edition-3/latest-release
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| Metadata that references this Glossary Item | 2 |