Short description: A network of natural and semi-natural areas which support critical ecosystem services, including connected native species habitats, and which provide for implementation of living infrastructure, active travel, climate adaptation and community wellbeing outcomes. An output of the Connecting Nature, Connecting People program, developed to guide land use and management decisions.Coordinate system: GDA2020 MGA zone 55METHODSData collection / creation: The ecological network was initially derived from potential habitat and connectivity model outputs for grassland, woodland and aquatic-riparian ecosystems. These model outputs indicate potential habitat areas, fragmentation and whether a patch is big enough to provide core or corridor habitat functions for specific taxa groups. The network was created by identifying key patches of core habitat and corridors, as well as missing links that could reconnect fragmented patches. These were reviewed by several ecologists until the proposed network was agreed upon.These agreed areas were converted to spatial data. Polygons were drawn around the relevant potential habitat and connectivity model outputs to simplify the data and visualise connections between habitat patches. The output was overlaid over other environmental data, including sensitive ecological communities, threatened species records, waterways and many more. Boundaries were adjusted to reflect these values as needed.The ecological network was reviewed by subject matter experts and tested in a draft policy document released for public comment. Further revisions to boundaries were made following feedback. The final layer was dissolved and checked for geometry issues. NOTES ON USEQuality: The network considers an abundance and variety of datasets, including protected areas, potential habitat and connectivity maps, distribution of sensitive ecological communities, threatened species records, waterways, restoration projects, urban open spaces and community sites. Data was sourced from authoritative sources where possible. The network was verified and refined through wide distribution and review of the draft dataset, including by ACT Government ecologists and community members. Where possible, polygon boundaries were drawn around existing features (such as lakes or mapped habitat). Polygons were checked against the most recent aerial imagery to verify values and boundaries. This broad review of existing data and consultation on the output provides confidence the output represents the extent of our collective knowledge and provides a holistic illustration of known values.Limitations: The urban ACT Ecological network is a concept only. Polygon boundaries are hand drawn and imprecise. The data has not been ground-truthed. Boundaries should be considered approximate and verified with additional data and ground surveys. Further, the network does not assess feasibility or priorities. It does not consider species presence or absence, habitat condition, management regimes or tenure. This information should be gathered for decision making by referring to other environmental datasets, undertaking ground surveys and consulting with subject matter experts. Data refinement: The dataset could be further improved by testing corridors against a feasibility ruleset (e.g. distance between core patches, width). Additionally, future research may support a wider range of uses by adopting a more technical approach to establish polygon boundaries or areas of interest. This would support higher spatial accuracy and enable greater certainty on what areas are within the network. A quantitative approach could support spatial statistics to aid decision making, e.g. through the ability to prioritise corridors. The Least-Cost Pathway Method is recommended for further study.SHARINGLicenses/restrictions on use: Creative Commons By Attribution 4.0 (Australian Capital Territory)How to cite this data: ACT Government, 2023. Urban ACT Ecological Network, version 2. Polygon layer developed by Office of Nature Conservation, CED, ACT Government.CONTACTFor accessibility issues or data enquiries please contact the Connecting Nature, Connecting People team, cncp@act.gov.au.

The National Indicative Aggregated Fire Extent Dataset has been developed rapidly to support the immediate needs of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW, previously DAWE) in:quantifying the potential impacts of the 2019/20 bushfires on wildlife, plants and ecological communities; and,identifying appropriate response and recovery actions.The intent was to derive a reliable, agreed, fit for purpose and repeatable national dataset of burnt areas across Australia for the 2019/20 bushfire season.The NIAFED was first published on 13 February 2020 and was updated several times during 2020 to reflect updates to fire extent datasets from state and territory agencies. Most changes across these versions, after February (end of summer), reflect refinements on previous extent mapping, rather than new burnt areas. Fire analyses and decision making within the department after June 2020 has been based on the GEEBAM dataset. The GEEBAM dataset reports on fire severity within the NIAFED v20200225 extent envelope and includes some areas determined to be unburnt within NIAFED areas.NOTE: previous versions of this dataset are available on request to geospatial@dcceew.gov.auThe dataset takes the national Emergency Management Spatial Information Network Australia (EMSINA) data service, which is the official fire extent currently used by the Commonwealth and adds supplementary data from other sources to form a cumulative national view of fire extent. This EMSINA data service shows the current active fire incidents, and the Department map shows the total fire extent from 1 July 2019 to the 22 June 2020.EMSINA have been instrumental in providing advice on access to data and where to make contact in the early stages of developing the National Indicative Aggregated Fire Extent Dataset.This dataset is released on behalf of the Commonwealth Government and endorsed by the National Burnt Area Dataset Working Group, convened by the National Bushfire Recovery Agency.Known Issues:The dataset has a number of known issues, both in its conceptual design and in the quality of its inputs. These are outlined below and should be taken into account in interpreting the data and developing any derived analyses.The list of known issues below is not comprehensive: it is anticipated that further issues will be identified in the future, and the Department welcomes feedback on this. We will seek as far as possible to continuously improve the dataset in future versions.In addition, the 2019/20 bushfire season is ongoing and it can be expected that the fire extent will increase.Future versions of the dataset will therefore document and distinguish between changes arising from methodological improvement, as distinct from changes to the actual fire extent.The dataset draws data together from multiple different sources, including from state and territory agencies responsible for emergency and natural resource management, and from the Northern Australian Fire Information website. The variety of mapping methods means that conceptually the dataset lacks national coherency. The limitations associated with the input datasets are carried through to this dataset. Users are advised to refer to the input datasets’ documentation to better understand limitations.The dataset is intentionally precautionary and the rulesets for its creation elect to accept the risk of overstating the size of particular burnt areas. If and when there are overlapping polygons for an area, the internal boundaries have been dissolved.The dataset shows only the outline of burnt areas and lacks information on fire severity in these areas, which may often include areas within them that are completely unburnt. For the intended purpose this may limit the usability of the data, particularly informing on local environmental impacts and response. This issue will be given priority, either for future versions of the dataset or for development of a separate, but related, fire severity product.This continental dataset includes large burnt areas, particularly in northern Australia, which can be considered part of the natural landscape dynamics. For the intended purpose of informing on fire of potential environmental impact, some interpretation and filtering may be required. There are a variety of ways to do this, including by limiting the analysis to southern Australia, as was done for recent Wildlife and Threatened Species Bushfire Recovery Expert Panel’s preliminary analysis of 13 January 2020. For that preliminary analysis area, boundaries from the Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation of Australia version 7 were used by the Department to delineate an area of southern Australia encompassing the emergency bushfire areas of the southern summer. The Department will work in consultation with the expert panel and other relevant bodies in the future on alternative approaches to defining, spatially or otherwise, fire of potential environmental impact.The dataset cannot be used to reliably recreate what the national burnt area extent was at a given date prior to the date of release. Reasons for this include that information on the date/time on individual fires may or may not have been provided in the input datasets, and then lost as part of the dissolve process discussed in issue 2 above.With fires still burning extents are not yet refined.Fire extents are downloaded daily, and datasets are aggregated. This results in an overlap of polygon extents and raises the issue that refined extents are disregarded at this early stage.The Northern Australian Fire Information (NAFI) dataset is only current to 19 June 2020.

This layer represents generalized walksheds around bus stops (0.25-mile) and rail stations (0.5-mile), illustrating pedestrian access to transit as part of a Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) analysis. Walksheds have been dissolved to show the overall TOD influence area based on transit stop locations. The bus and rail stops used to generate the walksheds are a static version of GTFS stop data from the start of the TOD project and may not reflect current stop locations. Additionally, bus stops were generalized by consolidating individual stop points within 250 feet of each other to better represent stop clusters along corridors. Walksheds were generated using Valhalla and FOSSGIS tools, providing a network-based approximation of pedestrian accessibility to transit. This dataset supports planning and analysis related to transit coverage, pedestrian connectivity, and TOD opportunities.