DIG – Discover Information Geographically

Discover Information Geographically (DIG) is a tool which provides information regarding whether the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts holds data on a particular topic of interest or for an area of interest. Entries currently cover data and publications, but will be extended to incorporate map services and printed maps.1

Description

All DIG entries are related to a geographical location, and most of the data referred to is suitable for use in a GIS (Geographic Information System). Data is collected at a national (rather than regional) scale, and covers both the continent and international waters.

Only data which is maintained by the Department, or may be supplied to third parties, is available. Supply of any of the data sets will involve the acceptance of a licence.

DIG is updated as soon as new, updated or replacement data sets become available for general use. In some instances, several versions of a data set may be available, because the previous versions are of use for comparison purposes.

How to use DIG

A search is conducted using keywords, categories or by defining a geographical area. A brief overview of each entry matching the criteria is displayed with links to the full entry and a simple map displaying the approximate geographic location of the data.

Alternatively, use the BROWSE tab to browse all our metadata entries, which are organised in topic folders.

The referenced data may not be available on this web site; however, relevant contact details are included with every entry. Where data sets are available for download, licence details are included.2

Content includes:3

• Data
  • Live data and maps
  • Downloadable data
  • Departmental data
  • Archived data
• Documents
  • Map files
  • Static map images
• Resources
  • Applications
  • Geographic services
  • Geographic activities
  • Clearing houses

Categories4

• Agriculture
• Base maps
• Biota
• Boundaries
• Cadastre
• Climatology
• Economy
• Elevation
• Environment
• Geoscience
• Health
• Inland Waters
• Location
• Military
• Oceans
• Society
• Structures
• Transportation
• Utilities

Function

• Metadata
  • Data discovery
• User interface
  • Personal use
  • Visual presentation

Why use this tool?

• To discover whether the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts holds data sets of interest

Who will use this tool?

• Data users
  • Expert
• ALA infrastructure

How will the tool be used?

• Online search
• Browser
• User input required
• Can it run as a batch job?

Where in the data chain could this tool be used?

• ALA central
• User’s machine

When could this tool be used?

• While data is stored with ALA
• At the time of a user request

Availability

• DIG: http://www.environment.gov.au/erin/dig/
• Search: http://www.environment.gov.au/metadataexplorer/explorer.jsp
• Restrictions: The referenced data may not be available on this website, however, relevant contact details are included with every entry. Where data sets are available for download, licence details are included.5

Comments

 Can be very slow (more than 1 minute to return search result), and prone to errors.