Conformance test report: Australia and New Zealand

1    Background

Australia and New Zealand share a common standard (AS/NZS 4819:2011) that guides the assignment of rural and urban addressing in both countries.  The standard contains common objectives, principles and goals. However, each country (each state and territory in Australia) has independent authority with different regulatory roles that apply to their individual government structure.

Working within the common objectives, principles, and goals specified in the standard, each country (each state and territory in Australia) applies their own good practice and governance framework according to their own legislative environments.

1.1 Good Practice

1.1.1 Objectives

• An address is not allowed to include two road names, such as within complexes like a retirement village;
• Provisions for numbering apartments using the method commonly used in hotels are now specified, thereby avoiding the need to specify level or unit type;
• A distance-based methodology for assigning numbers in rural areas is specified.

1.1.2 Principles

• Address number based on access
• Unique address
• Clear and logical address
• Address numbers sequential
• Address number integers

• Address site numbers shall be assigned sequentially according to existing and planned address sites;
• Numbering a corner site.

• Distance-based address numbering method;
• Rural address site without access point;
• Address numbers on very long roads.

1.2 Governance framework

In Australia and New Zealand, the statutory responsibility for assigning addresses and naming roads lies with the local governments. There are 67 such bodies in New Zealand and over 600 throughout Australia. These bodies are also required to provide address and road name information to a relevant government agency.

The standardisation of the assignment of addressing for both countries is maintained by a cross-jurisdictional working group under the Intergovernmental Committee on Surveying and Mapping (ICSM). ICSM is made up of senior representatives (such as Surveyors-General) from New Zealand and Australian governments surveying and mapping/charting agencies. Most of those representatives come from the departments that are responsible for addressing and road naming in each jurisdiction. This group maintains the AS/NZS 4819:2011 standard on behalf of Australia and New Zealand. 
https://www.icsm.gov.au/what-we-do/permanent-committee-addressing

1.2.1 Australia

There is no federal agency in Australia that has a statutory responsibility for national address assignment standardisation. Each State and Territory determines its own governance framework for the assignment of addresses using the AS/NZS 4819:2011 standard as the basis for assignment. Jurisdictions work closely together to develop standard practices and working arrangement to help achieve the same outcome.
In the State of New South Wales (NSW), a unified solution to addressing is achieved through the alignment of legislation, process and systems (shown in figure below). New South Wales has been used to test Australian conformance in the conformance test report in section D.2

Figure — Australian State of New South Wales Address Data business arrangements relevant to management of addresses at the aggregation, distribution and usage stages of the address supply and use chain (link to: NSW Address Policy and User Manual).

1.2.2 New Zealand

2    Conformance test class: Good practice for assigning and maintaining addresses

2.1    Conformance test subclass: General

• Localities enable addresses to be uniquely and clearly identified.
• Assigned names for roads or other primary means of access enable addresses to be readily and uniquely identified.
• Assigned address numbering enables address sites to be readily located.
• Signage enables assigned addresses to be readily identified and located.
• Address information enables sites to be readily located.

AU - AS/NZS 4819:2011 Rural and urban addressing, is not a profile of ISO19160-1:2015.

NSW addresses are assigned according to the AS/NZS 4819:2011 Rural and urban addressing and maintained under a governance framework administered by the Geographical Names Board and Spatial Services agency on behalf of the Councils and State of New South Wales. It is also compliant with Australian Standard 4590 Interchange of client information which has an address module and informative references to ISO19160-1:2015.

NZ - AS/NZS 4819:2011 Rural and urban addressing, is not a profile of ISO19160-1:2015. It does specify types of addresses, but does not present a conceptual model.
The New Zealand Profile of ISO 19160-1:2015 Addressing – Part 1: Conceptual Model is a draft and is currently being prepared for publication.

AU - Fail

NZ - Partial Pass

AU - G-NAF is built and maintained by Geoscape Australia using authoritative government data. 

The NSW APUM recognises the National Address Database (referred to as the Geocoded National Address File, or G-NAF®, described in C.4.1) as the authoritative source of addresses for Government address validation (p.36, APUM). As such the official NSW government address validation service is via a ‘real-time’ data feed provided through a product known as G-NAF-Live (https://geoscape.com.au/data/g-naf/).

NZ - The NZ Street Address dataset is Crown Copyright.

AU - Pass

NZ - Pass

AU - Geoscape releases the Geocoded National Address File (G-NAF®) under an End User Licence Agreement (EULA) based on the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0) however an important restriction relating to the use of the open G-NAF for sending of mail has been added.
This is not a good practice specific to addressing, rather it is an outcome of the 2015 Australian Government’s National Innovation and Science Agenda and Public Data Policy Statement.

NZ - The New Zealand Street Address dataset is available from the LINZ Data Service at no cost under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. This is consistent with the New Zealand Declaration on Open and Transparent Government in 2011 that directs all Public Service departments to actively release high value public data.

AU - Pass

NZ - Pass

2.2    Conformance test subclass: Addressing principles

AU - NSW leads an address working group with the LGA's and contact councils where they know development is planned.

NZ - The Toitū Te Whenua address team maintain close relationships with all councils, and contact every council at least every three months to ensure they have been notified of all address updates, and those updates are reflected in the NZStreet Address dataset.

AU - Pass

NZ - Pass

AU - NSW leads an address working group with the LGA's and contact councils where they know development is planned.

NZ - Toitū Te Whenua’s address team follow a specified process to ensure address updates from councils are actioned. AS/NZS 4819:2011 is applied when determining whether an address is approved or rejected.

AU - Pass

NZ - Pass

2.3    Conformance test subclass: Address data principles

AU - Geoscape wholesales G-NAF to a network of value-added resellers and integrators who take G-NAF to market as a raw dataset, as part of a software solution or part of an integrated solution to tailor the product to specific requirements. The Australian Government releases G-NAF, along with Geoscape’s Administrative Boundaries, under open data terms through data.gov.au. GNAF address data is utilised in Geoscape’s address API services

NZ - Addresses from the Address Information Management System (AIMS) system are imported into Landonline (the system that holds New Zealand’s survey and title system) and (via the LINZ Data Service) are widely used by both the public and private sector for a wide range of uses.

AU - Pass

NZ - Pass

NZ - The Toitū Te Whenua address team uses AIMS (Address Information Management System, a purpose-built, in-house developed system) to carry out its quality assurance functions, and store and manage the assigned addresses.

The Toitū Te Whenua Address team have processes in place to manage the flow of addresses from councils, through quality assurance, and into AIMS.

AU - In Australia (NSW), the NSW address database is managed in a spatial database system.

NZ - Allocated addresses are maintained in AIMS, which is based on geospatial software (currently QGIS and PostGIS).

AU - Pass

NZ - Pass

AU - Australia does not currently have a profile of the ISO 19160-1:2015 however the AS 4590 Interchange of Client information standard does provide an Annex that shows how collected address information conforms to the ISO 19160:2015.

NZ - The AIMS system is built on the conceptual model contained in ISO 19160-1:2015.

AU - Fail

NZ - Pass

3    Conformance test class: Governance framework for assigning and maintaining addresses

3.1    Conformance test subclass: General

AU - The Geographical Names Board (GNB) provides ongoing governance of address data production, aggregation, and distribution and usage functions in NSW.

A strategy is not specified but AS/NZS 4819:2011 specifies a set of principles, including that a “spirit of cooperation should exist among local governments, the State or jurisdictional agencies, emergency services, local communities, local industries and all other parties involved in rural addressing”.

NZ - New Zealand does not have a specified strategy for guiding the assignment and maintenance of addresses to objects.

However, AS/NZS 4819:2011 specifies a set of principles, including that a “spirit of cooperation should exist among local governments, the State or jurisdictional agencies, emergency services, local communities, local industries and all other parties involved in rural addressing”.

AU - Partial Pass

NZ - Partial Pass

• GNB has statutory authority to assign names to places (localities).
• Councils have statutory authority to assign street address numbers and guidance around standard assignment practice is given by the GNB.
• Councils have statutory authority to assign road names within their boundaries however a statutory body, Roads and Maritime Services, is responsible for National Routes and Highways.
• Planners, Developers and Surveyors have authority to name roads within a development land parcel (e.g. University grounds, Retirement Villages etc) but it is recommended practice that they process this through the relevant local council and GNB first.

AU - Pass

NZ - Pass

AU - There are State Acts and Regulation that explicitly reference governance arrangements for components of addressing: Roads Act 1993; Geographical Names Act 1966; Local Government Act 1993; and Roads Regulation 2018.

The GNB maintains the governance framework for the data producers, data aggregators, data distributers and data users. 
Councils, in their local policy, specify their processes for the assignment and maintenance of addresses.

NZ - The responsibility for the assignment of addresses and maintenance of good practice is shared between local government (Territorial Authorities, known as councils), the Surveyor-General, and Toitū Te Whenua. 

The Surveyor General, in the role of a regulator, specifies and supports good practice through the promotion and implementation of the AS/NZS 4819:2011 standard, and releases guidelines in support of the standard. Use of AS/NZS 4819:2011 by councils is voluntary, but it is the basis against which the Surveyor General will exercise his legislative powers.

Councils, in their local policy, specify their processes for the assignment and maintenance of addresses. Most councils specify the use of AS/NZS 4819:2011 in their policies on road naming and property numbering. 
Quality assurance checks are conducted by the Toitū Te Whenua Address team to ensure compliance of allocated addresses against AS/NZS 4819:2011. The team accept or decline the allocation of new addresses based on AS/NZS 4819:2011. The Office of the Surveyor-General is responsible for resolving any conflict that arises, however, mostly issues are resolved collaboratively between the address team and councils.

AU - Pass

NZ - Pass

3.2    Conformance test subclass: Addressing stakeholders

AU - The responsibilities and authority of each of the stakeholders is maintained in the NSW Address Policy and User Manual (APUM).

NZ - New Zealand legislation specifies stakeholders (and their roles) with legal requirements in the assignment and maintenance of the key components of an address: road naming, property numbers, and suburb naming.

AU - Pass

NZ - Pass

AU - NSW Custodianship Guidelines for Spatial Data and the NSW Address Policy and User Manual as well as the associated legislation makes the roles of the stakeholders clear.

The GNB is responsible for maintaining the NSW gazetteer for place names and road names, and provides support and governance for the production, aggregation, publication and usage of standardised address data across NSW. 
The GNB is responsible for advising local governments of their obligations under those legislative instruments and guiding the requirements for creation, maintenance and/or delivery of addresses [https://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/addressing].

A Division of the NSW government, Spatial Services, is the custodian of the NSW Address dataset and works with the GNB to aggregate and administer address data. (See Section 2.5.3 in the NSW Address Policy and User Manual (APUM: NSW_Address_Policy_and_User_Manual.pdf)).

As custodian, Spatial Services is responsible for quality assurance of the data and supporting the data producers through the Local Government Address Working Group social media channel and related Helpline
Local Governments are recognised as address custodian for all address sites within their Local Government Area.
The Australian Postal Service (Australia Post) is responsible for assignment of postcodes against geographic areas. The four-digit codes are solely for the purpose of delivery of mail.

NZ - The Surveyor-General is an independent statutory officer located within Toitū Te Whenua, a core public service department. The Surveyor-General under s319B of the Local Government Act 1974 can request a council to allocate or change a property number. Additionally, the Surveyor-General supports the registration of voters into the correct electorate by maintaining and supplying a national dataset of allocated addresses and delivering an index of streets and places to support elections.

The Local Government Act 1974, sections 319(1), 319A and 319B, confers powers on councils to name roads and to allocate property numbers. Each council is responsible for determining how they organise themselves to carry out their responsibilities. Councils generally view the allocation of a property number as the allocation of an address and treat it as such. Almost all councils allocate addresses in accordance with AS/NZS 4819:2-11.
The New Zealand Geographic Board, under the NZGB Act (2008), has the responsibility for assigning official names to suburbs and localities. The New Zealand Geographic Board is housed within the Office of the Surveyor-General, and the Surveyor-General is the chair of the board.

The legislative responsibilities held by the Surveyor-General have been used to establish an operational capability within Toitū Te Whenua (the Toitū Te Whenua address team) to quality assure the addresses councils allocate (using their powers to name roads and allocate property numbers) and compile a national set of allocated addresses. Quality assurance is measured against AS/NZS 4819:2011. The Toitū Te Whenua address team act as subject matter experts for AS/NZS 4819:2011 and provide advice and support to councils on the allocation of property numbers and road names.

Responsibility for postcodes lies with New Zealand Post. The four-digit codes are solely for the purpose of mail delivery. There is no requirement for an address to contain a postcode.

AU - Pass

NZ - Pass

AU - After Australia became a Federation of States in 1901, all legal matters relating to land remained a State responsibility. Address allocation is closely related the ownership of parcels of land and the rates and taxes that the States and Territory, and Councils, derive from ownership and the transfer of ownership. The funding of the address assignment governance framework is therefore directly funded by the State Government and Councils.

NZ - Toitū Te Whenua is a central government agency and requests funding through the government budget process for address operations. It organises its addressing functions itself. Local government has its own funding rules, and it is up to each council to determine how they allocate money to fund their operations, and how they organise themselves.

AU - Pass

NZ - Pass

AU - Funding and resourcing for acquisition and maintenance of addressing come from the cadastre (land tax) requirements of the different levels of government.

NZ - Funding and resourcing for the acquisition and maintenance of addressing is provided through the government budget process (for central government), and rates (for local government).

AU - Pass

NZ - Pass

3.3    Conformance test subclass: Processes

AU - Local governments are responsible for their own processes within the governance framework provided by the State or Territory Government.

NZ - Toitū Te Whenua and councils are each responsible for their own processes. Toitū Te Whenua acts in a limited co-ordinating role based on its legislative responsibilities, but this is not specified.

AU - Pass

NZ - Partial Pass

3.4    Conformance test subclass: Addressing processes

AU - NSW has an address working group that includes the LGA’s and State representatives

NZ - The Toitū Te Whenua address team undertake consultation as part of their relationship management activities with councils. However, there is no specific process.

3.5    Conformance test subclass: Address data processes