If you wish to use Reef Authority licensed spatial data for non-commercial or educational use, download it from the Reef Authority Geoportal.

If you wish to access Reef Authority licensed spatial data for commercial use, download an application form for commercial use.

If you wish to access spatial data that has not been published, you will need to contact the Spatial Data Centre - gis@gbrmpa.gov.au - to discuss your request and ascertain if the Reef Authority has spatial data that is suitable for your intended purpose.

The Reef Authority will usually make unclassified unpublished spatial data available under licence, and fees may be charged.

By using Reef Authority spatial data, we mean copying or reproducing, or modifying Reef Authority spatial data, distributing or selling or offering any of the results of copying, reproducing or modifying Reef Authority spatial data to anyone else.

If you wish to use Reef Authority spatial data, you will need to obtain a license, and you may be required to pay fees and possibly royalties.

You should read the general licensing information that follows.     

Modifying Reef Authority spatial data means altering it in any way.

This includes changing a computer format or converting Reef Authority spatial data into a computer format, any redevelopment or modification of Reef Authority spatial data, any generalisation or selective editing of Reef Authority spatial data or any merger of Reef Authority spatial data with other spatial data, or creating a computer program, intended to be accessed or operated in conjunction with Reef Authorityspatial data.

If you wish to modify Reef Authority spatial data, you will need to obtain a license and you may be required to pay fees and possibly royalties. You should read the general licensing information that follows.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority is responsible for publishing the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority’s official zoning maps.

The Reef Authority is also the custodian of spatial data relevant to Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 and maintains an extensive and comprehensive collection of current reef and marine park spatial data covering the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park area.                

While Reef Authority wants to encourage the development and further use of Reef Authority spatial information, you must have Reef Authority's written permission (a licence) before you can reproduce or publish any of Reef Authority's spatial data. All Reef Authority publications and spatial data in whatever form or media are protected under the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968.

For example, under the provisions of the Act, the Commonwealth’s copyright will be infringed if any person or organisation reproduces or publishes Reef Authority spatial data without having Reef Authority written permission in advance.

The Commonwealth’s copyright will also be infringed if any spatial data is imported or sold, or distributed in Australia, where that spatial data would infringe copyright if it had actually been made in Australia.

If you do anything which infringes the Commonwealth’s copyright, you will have stolen the results of Reef Authority's work, and Reef Authority will take legal action. Under the Copyright Act, the Commonwealth may have the right to obtain injunctions and an account of profits or damages. You may also be required to hand over any infringing copies.

• Copyright will be infringed whether reproduction:
• Is by hand or by any mechanical or electronic means
• Is based directly or indirectly on the Commonwealth’s spatial data
• Is from a map or a document, or an electronic file.

Copyright will not be infringed when reproduction constitutes a 'fair dealing' for the purpose of research or private study, for the purpose of criticism or review or for the purpose of reporting news. However, the 'fair dealing' provisions are strictly limited.

Copyright will not be infringed when the reproduction is done for the purpose of a judicial proceeding or for a report of a judicial proceeding. The Copyright Act may permit you to make a backup copy necessary for safeguarding electronic data, as long as the copy is kept and used only for that purpose.

You should get your own legal advice to find out if any proposed project in relation to using Reef Authority spatial data will or may infringe Commonwealth copyright if it is done without permission.                

The Commonwealth has prepared standard terms and conditions for granting access to its spatial data. These terms and conditions control the way you may exploit the spatial data. Your licence will set out exactly how you may exploit Reef Authority spatial data.

The licence will state what spatial data you will be allowed to use and how it must be treated. Our licences cannot be used by or transferred to anyone else. However, the Reef Authority may give you permission to engage someone else to assist you in your work.

Where your use of Reef Authority spatial data is intended to create a derived product that will assist navigation, the Reef Authority will only allow you to use the officially published charts and documents produced by the Australian Hydrographic Office for this purpose. If you do not comply with the terms and conditions, it will result in the termination of your licence.

Applications for a licence must be made by the person or organisation wanting to use Reef Authority spatial data. The Reef Authority prefers licensees to be based in Australia. However, depending on your financial or business circumstances or location, the Reef Authority may ask you to provide a bank or other business guarantee before the Reef Authority gives you a licence.

The Reef Authority application procedure is as follows:

• You send the Reef Authority an application form. It will tell the Reef Authority about:
  • your proposed use of Reef Authority spatial data
  • your technical capabilities and previous experience (where applicable)
  • your business circumstances (where applicable).
• The Reef Authority will assess your application.
• The Reef Authority may ask you for additional information, and the Reef Authority may ask to see examples of your work.
• Finally, when the Reef Authority is satisfied that you can meet all the Reef Authority conditions, the Reef Authority may grant you a Licence.
• Application Form for commercial use

When issued, your licence will permit you to modify and reproduce the spatial data covered by the licence. It may also allow you to distribute or sell a derived product or service based on the Reef Authority spatial data if appropriate. If you already have a licence from the Reef Authority, you can ask to have other spatial data or other uses added to it.

Duration of Licences

The Reef Authority licences usually operate for varying amounts of time, depending on circumstances. Some licences may be for more extended periods depending on the circumstances.

The Reef Authority is constantly revising and updating the Reef Authority spatial data to ensure that they contain the latest information that the Reef Authority has available.

The Reef Authority will supply you with the relevant spatial data updates.

Your licence will then permit you to use these updates in your proposed work if you want to.

The Reef Authority may charge an update fee for this.

The Reef Authority will ask you to take measures to protect the Reef Authority's spatial data from unauthorised copying, misuse, unauthorised viewing or access.

If you are making derived products or distributing the results of your work, you might use warning notices, data encryption, hardware locks (dongles) or some other methods to do this.

The Reef Authority will also expect your employees, colleagues and premises to be subject to appropriate security arrangements.

The Reef Authority will want to be sure that your security methods are adequate before Reef Authority grants you a licence.

The Reef Authority will not allow you to make any advertisements or publicity, which implies that the Reef Authority will endorse any of the results of your work.

You must also seek the Reef Authority's permission before you can use or associate the Reef Authority's name or anything else which identifies the Reef Authority in any of your advertising or promotion.

Depending on the nature of the results of using the Reef Authority's spatial data, you will be required to show acknowledgements clearly on any packaging, screen displays, printouts or documentation. They will be similar to the following example:

© Commonwealth of Australia (Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority) [insert year in which the Data was published]. Neither the Commonwealth nor GBRMPA gives a warranty regarding the Data's accuracy, completeness, currency or suitability for any particular purpose. Visit The Reef Authority's website (www2.gbrmpa.gov.au) to access the most current version of the Data.

The results of using GBRMPA spatial data will also require a prominent and unambiguous warning to be displayed on them. It will be similar to the following example:

This [insert Derivative Product name] incorporates Data which is © Commonwealth of Australia (Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority) [insert the year in which the Data was published]. The data has been used in [insert Derivative Product name] with permission of the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth has not evaluated Data as altered and incorporated within [insert Derivative Product name] and therefore gives no warranty regarding its accuracy, completeness, currency or suitability for any particular purpose.

The Reef Authority will decide the precise display details and the form of words for these notices on a case-by-case basis.

The Reef Authority has some fixed fees, and some charges to cover costs in preparing the spatial data for supply, and the Reef Authority may also charge royalties when Reef Authority spatial data is reproduced. Reef Authority licenses give the Reef Authority the right to revise charges and fees from time to time.

In some cases, the Reef Authority will charge a license establishment fee to pay for administration costs in processing your application and your licence.

If you sell or distribute derived products or any other outcome from using Reef Authority spatial data, the Reef Authority may charge you a royalty on each derived product or outcome that you supply.

This includes any charges you make for supplying updated products or spatial data to customers.

Royalties may still be payable when your derived products or services are distributed for in-house use (rather than sold to customers).

The royalty will be fixed per centage of the net selling price of every derived product or outcome that you sell or distribute.

The Reef Authority will want you to send the Reef Authority regular progress reports during the term of your licence, including your audited sales and production figures. The Reef Authority licences provide the Reef Authority with the right to levy penalty interest on amounts that are outstanding.

Data provision prices

The following prices relate to the provision of spatial data from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) under a licence agreement. For information about the format or the availability of GBRMPA spatial data, please contact the Spatial Data Centre Manager.

• Non-commercial and educational access fee - There is no cost to access or download spatial data for non-commercial and educational purposes from our Geoportal.

• Commercial access fee -  This one-off fee provides you with copies of our spatial data for the purposes specified in your commercial use licence. Download a commercial use application form - $99

   

We reserve the right to waive some or all of these charges.

Waiver or Reduction of Fees

• Some organisations or individuals may not have to pay all of our fees and charges. Reductions or waivers may be granted to the following kinds of applicants:
• Some Commonwealth and State organisations (such as AMSA, the EPA or State mapping organisations)
• Academic research
• Some educational publications (such as school textbooks or examination papers)
• Organisations that provide significant spatial data to the Reef Authority without charge.

If you think that you might qualify for a waiver, please contact the Spatial Data Centre. You will also need to explain your reasons in full on your application form.

The licence conditions allow the Reef Authority to check that you are keeping to the terms of your licence. The Reef Authority may want to visit your premises at any reasonable time to inspect your operations or ask auditors to look at your records.

The Reef Authority will typically pay the Reef Authority costs for these inspections.

If the Reef Authority finds significant discrepancies, then the Reef Authority will charge you for the inspection and auditing.       

Your licence from the Reef Authority only gives you permission to exploit Reef Authority spatial data.

You do not have the right to include any spatial data in your products, services or work which, if published or reproduced, or otherwise used, would contravene the rights of other persons or be an offence under the Crimes Act 1914.