Title

Vicmap Features - Locality Point 

Alternate title

LOCALITY_POINT 

Purpose

This dataset is designed to optimise the display of locality/township locations in Victoria and adjoining States specifically for map production and webservices. 

Supplemental Information

Current Design Issues: Each point within this dataset contains a Hierarchy and Scale Use Code field. Hierarchy generally reflects the population of the town, ranging from 1 to 8 (where Melbourne is 1, and a small regional town may be 8). However since this dataset has a point representing each gazetted locality in Victoria, some of these in reality should not be represented by a point (eg, Murray Sunset which is a region or Lake Tyrell and Lake Eppalock where the locality is completely covered by a lake), so these points have been allocated a Hierarchy of 9. Other points with a Hierarchy of 9 include those added in through the CFA project. (refer to History - Processing Steps). It is possible that some of these points should have their Hierarchy changed to another number, but assessment of these points has not been done yet. Scale Use Code is a mechanism that can be used to control the level of content displayed for a given scale. The official Scale Use Code range in all other Vicmap products ranges from 1 to 5. For example, to display a level of detail suited for a 1: 1 million scale map, select "scale use codes" 1, 2 & 3. Once again, some points, which in reality are regions or lakes, or those that were added in during the CFA project, have been given a Scale Use Code of 6. Related Documents: None Please see Vicmap Features of Interest product description for more detailed information on this product. This can be found on the Vicmap Features of Interest webpage. https://www.land.vic.gov.au/maps-and-spatial/spatial-data/vicmap-catalogue http://www.delwp.vic.gov.au/vicmap 

Status

Completed  

Horizontal Accuracy

1000m  

Code

4283 

Maintenance and update frequency

As needed  

Topic category

• Society

Use limitation

Available directly from Vicmap Data Service Providers listed at www.delwp.vic.gov.au/vicmapdsp or DataVic www.data.vic.gov.au For enquires relating to this product: vicmap.info@delwp.vic.gov.au 

Classification

Unclassified  

Statement

Dataset Source: Derived from TOWNS_SEAUS Dataset Originality: Derived 

Description

Collection Method: Derived 

Description

In June 2008 it was decided to add in a towns dataset to Vicmap Features of Interest (VMFOI). The one that was in use at the time was known as TOWNS_SEAUS which represented the location of townships throughout South East Australia (Victoria plus selected towns in NSW, SA and ACT near the Victorian border). The TOWNS_SEAUS dataset was being maintained in an ad-hoc manner and was of varying quality, so a decision was made to bring the dataset up to Vicmap standard and include in Vicmap Features, in order for there to be a current and maintained towns dataset. It was decided to call the new dataset "Locality_Point". One of the key criteria for the Locality_Point dataset was that all towns needed to be gazetted by the Office of Geographic Names as either a bounded or unbounded locality. Thus a reconciliation process took place to determine this status, and each gazetted point was given a feature subtype of "locality bounded" or "locality unbounded". They were also given the Vicnames_ID in order to provide for easy reconciliation with the Vicnames data. For those points that did not exist as either a bounded or unbounded locality, they were simply tagged with "locality" and left to deal with later. Points outside Victoria were also tagged with "locality". When there where spelling anomalies, the official spelling was checked with the Office of Geographic Names and the record in the Locality_Point dataset changed accordingly. The hierarchy field of the original TOWNS_SEAUS dataset was reversed so the hierarchy ranged from 1 (capital cities) to 8 (small regional towns). The changes to the dataset were finished in Dec 2008 and it was published in March 2009. Further maintenance was made to this dataset over the coming months as a result of feedback from users. In September 2009, the CFA requested that the Locality_Point dataset be upgraded to include all bounded localities, to provide a product that would be suitable for a bushfire warning system. About 450 new points were added as a result of this in October 2009. These points were automatically assigned a Hierarchy of "9" to indicate that they were new to the dataset. These hierarchies need to be reviewed as many are valid and should be upgraded to a higher hierarchy. Conversely, some points should be used with caution as some localities should not really be represented by a point, for example, Lake Tyrell, Murray Sunset. These points will be remaining in the dataset but a way of dealing with them has not yet been determined. At the same time, it was decided to work through the ungazetted localities to determine how to deal with them, as this was not done when the dataset was first created. For these points, further supporting documentation was collected to try and justify why that point may have been put in the dataset (eg, whether it was on a topo map, in Melways/Vicroads directory, in Vicnames as a different feature, etc). This information was then forwarded onto the relevant council (via the Office of Geographic Names) to determine whether the town was valid and therefore whether it should be gazetted. The result of this consultation was three options: gazette the point as an unbounded locality and change its status accordingly, remove the point from the dataset, or leave it in with a feature type of "Locality". Approximately 30 points were removed from the dataset as a result of this process in June 2010. Other minor amendments have been made to the dataset such as moving points to more suitable locations and adding in new points as a result of new localities being gazetted. 

Classification

Unclassified  

Attribute Quality

Comments

The general validity of the classification scheme was verified by comparison with published map sources such as Melways. All names were processed to ensure consistent capitalisation of the words. 

Positional Accuracy

Comments

Each point in this dataset relates to either a Bounded or Unbounded Locality as gazetted by Geographic Place Names. Those related to a Bounded Locality are located within that actual Locality polygon. Where possible, points have been placed using a combination of aerial photography and the road network, to ensure the location of the point actually represents the township location, rather than using a meaningless point such as the centroid. 

Conceptual Consistency

Comments

A consistent subset of the LOCN dataset within Victoria with a classification code added. 

Missing Data

Comments

Statewide coverage. All gazetted localities within Victoria are represented by a point within this dataset. 

Excess Data