About Positioning Australia

Our position on the globe is essential to everyday life. Positioning allows us to locate ourselves in the world and get to where we want to go. Geoscience Australia is ensuring Australians have access to a high-quality accurate, reliable and resilient positioning capability. We help Australia prosper by fostering a world-leading positioning capability accessible to all Australians. By leading and coordinating a thriving, resilient, competitive Australian positioning capability, we unlock the potential for technological improvements in industries to deliver accelerated economic growth, create entrepreneurial opportunities, increase environmental and societal benefits, and improve community safety. A 2008 report showed that these technologies have the potential to generate upwards of $73 billion of cumulative value to Australia by 2030.

Improving our positioning capability

Geoscience Australia is working to ensure that accurate, reliable, resilient and innovative positioning information is widely available to the community through the Positioning Australia program. This capability is being delivered through complementary projects:

• We deliver robust foundations for location information in Australia and its region by providing high-quality, reliable, user-ready geospatial reference products that enable centimeter-accurate positioning across Australia and its maritime regions. We maintain Australia’s Geospatial Reference System (AGRS) and provide products and services for its adoption and use.
• The Southern Positioning Augmentation Network (SouthPAN), provides augmented and corrected satellite navigation signals directly from satellites based on Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS) technology. SouthPAN will offer positioning services down to as little as 10 centimeter level accuracy across Australia, New Zealand and its maritime zones, overcoming gaps in mobile, internet and radio communications.
• The National Positioning Infrastructure Capability (NPIC) provides an openly accessible platform that supports Australian businesses and their customers in accessing data and products needed to achieve accurate and reliable positioning solutions. This is being achieved through the coordination and establishment of a national network of positioning infrastructure that will enable 3 to 5 centimeter accurate positioning in areas of internet and mobile phone coverage.
• Ginan is an open-source software that provides GNSS analysis, delivering real-time precise point positioning correction services. Ginan is a key component of NPIC and enables the increase of positioning accuracy to 3 to 5 centimeters across Australia.

Background to the program

The Australian continent moves 7 centimetres a year towards the North-North East – almost double the speed at which your fingernails grow. Location-based information needs to be linked to a well-maintained coordinate system, or it would be impossible to determine true position, or combine datasets with different timestamps. Positioning Australia’s geospatial reference products and services enable centimetre-accurate position applications offered by modern technologies, despite being on the fastest moving continent on Earth!

To determine position, velocity and time we rely on global navigation satellite system (GNSS) technology. Satellite positioning technologies have enabled the precise navigation and positioning we rely on at the touch of a button, from smartphones to autonomous vehicles.

Due to our geographic location, Australia is one of a few countries in the world with high visibility to four global and two regional navigation satellite systems. These include the United States' Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia's GLONASS, Japan's Quasi Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), the European Union's Galileo System, China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BeiDou) and the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS). Each system contains multiple satellites and can be used by land, sea and airborne users in all weather conditions, anywhere and anytime.

Positioning Australia is bringing the benefits of this space-based technology down to Earth by delivering accurate, reliable and resilient positioning for all Australians. The program delivers positioning information with a range of services that to enable sub-meter positioning across the continent and offshore.

Precise positioning is already delivering economic benefits and improved community safety across all industries. Accessible, reliable and accurate data is vital for the next wave of innovation. Positioning Australia’s products and services are supporting these transformational technologies delivered by Australian industry to benefit our economy, community and society.

Find out more about our Positioning Australia products, tools and services.