The February 2012 issue of the CURF Microdata Newsletter is now available on the ABS website.
We encourage you to view the Newsletter articles.                                
Features include:
    - New and upcoming CURF releases
    - Survey TableBuilder
    - Where do clients look for help on MiCRO and RADL
Please visit the Microdata pages for more information about microdata.

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Errors were found in the 'Services component' of the Goods and services analytical series for each of the eight state/territory capital cities data that were published on 25 January 2012 in ABS catalogue number 6401.0. These errors affected the December quarter 2011 observations for the index number (Table 11), percentage change from corresponding quarter of previous year (Table 12), and percentage change from previous quarter (Table 13).

These corrections affect only one of the Analytical series that accompany the CPI release. There are no errors in the headline or underlying CPI series.

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Information paper Census of Population and Housing – Products and Services, 2011 (cat. no. 2011.0.55.001), has been released on the ABS website.  This paper outlines key information about the 2011 Census product suite and data release timetable.

Visit our Census NewsBoard for more information.

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The new Business Longitudinal Database, Expanded CURF, Australia, 2004-05 to 2009-10 is out now!

To find out how to apply for access to the new Business Longitudinal Database CURF, visit the How to Apply for Microdata page  on the ABS website.

For more information on existing and future CURF releases view the  List of Expected and available Microdata.

For any other information in relation to microdata, please contact the Microdata Strategies section at microdata.access@abs.gov.au

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Working Towards an Informed Australian Society : Introducing to the National Statistical Service (NSS)

The National Statistical Service (NSS) is a community of Government agencies, led by the ABS, building a rich statistical picture for a better informed Australia.  One of the main aims of the NSS is to develop and improve the statistical system to ensure that providers and users of statistics have the confidence to trust the statistics produced.

The NSS seeks to improve the full suite of statistics produced by the Government. Government agencies are increasingly producing and/or using statistical information for developing policy, performance monitoring and program evaluation. The NSS is working to ensure that relevant statistical data can be brought together through an agreed set of statistical frameworks, principles, polices and data resources for the benefit of government agencies. The information base will include important statistics generated as a by-product of the administrative processes of Government, as well as the outputs of statistical collections conducted to support government activities. The key benefit of this initiative will be the availability of a larger range of relevant and high quality statistics for informed decision making.

A key NSS initiative is the Statistical Clearing House (SCH)which provides a central clearance point for business surveys, that are run, funded or conducted on behalf of the Australian Government. The purpose of the SCH is to reduce duplication, minimise the burden on business and ensure that surveys are fit for purpose.

To assist in improving the quality of statistical collections and information management activities, the National Statistical Service also provides access  to Online resources to support the development of statistical expertise. These resources include the NSS Handbook, A Good Practice Guide to Sharing your Data with Others, the Data Quality Online tool and the Sample Size Calculator.

The objectives of the NSS are set out in the NSS Vision Statement, along with the NSS initiatives that are improving the quality of national statistics.

For more information about the NSS, please visit www.nss.gov.au or email inquiries@nss.gov.au.

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The new Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) is being implemented in the Building Approvals collection from July 2011. To assist clients with the transition from the old geography (the Australian Standard Geographical Classification or ASGC) to the new, we will publish outputs based on both classifications for 12 months (July 2011-June 2012).This will result in a number of changes to the Building Approvals publication, Catalogue # 8731.0, commencing with the July 2011 issue.

The change in geography affects statistical geographic areas below state and territory level. Consequently, building approvals data currently released for the ASGC classifications of Capital City, Statistical Division, Statistical Sub-division, and Statistical Local Area will need to be released on the ASGS levels of Greater Capital City Statistical Area, Statistical Area 4, Statistical Area 3, and Statistical Area 2.

These lower levels of geography are mainly published in the Excel datacubes and SuperTable files under the 'Datacubes' section of the publication online. As you will see from the information included below, we will be increasing the amount of data released. By delaying the small area release we are allowing additional time to process the greater volume of information.

Currently, we have scheduled the additional information release for small area data up to ten days later than the main release, including customised data requests based on this information. Over time, should we be able to reduce the processing time adequately, we will discontinue the release of additional information and go back to releasing the small area data at the same time as the PDF and Time Series Spreadsheets.


In detail:

• The 24 current Excel datacubes and 24 current SuperTable cubes will all be released as additional information. We will be adding the following 16 files as a result of releasing on the ASGS.
• NSW SA2 datacube 2011-12: Excel Spreadsheet
• Vic. SA2 datacube 2011-12: Excel Spreadsheet
• Qld SA2 datacube 2011-12: Excel Spreadsheet
• SA SA2 datacube 2011-12: Excel Spreadsheet
• WA SA2 datacube 2011-12: Excel Spreadsheet
• Tas. SA2 datacube 2011-12: Excel Spreadsheet
• NT, SA2 datacube 2011-12: Excel Spreadsheet
• ACT, SA2 datacube 2011-12: Excel Spreadsheet
• Statistical Areas 2s: New South Wales, 2011-12: SuperTable file
• Statistical Areas 2s: Victoria, 2011-12: SuperTable file
• Statistical Areas 2s: Queensland, 2011-12: SuperTable file
• Statistical Areas 2s: South Australia, 2011-12: SuperTable file
• Statistical Areas 2s: Western Australia, 2011-12: SuperTable file
• Statistical Areas 2s: Tasmania, 2011-12: SuperTable file
• Statistical Areas 2s: Northern Territory, 2011-12: SuperTable file
• Statistical Areas 2s: Australian Capital Territory, 2011-12: SuperTable file

This amounts to a total of 64 files to be released as additional information.


The web summary, PDF and all the Time Series Spreadsheets will be released as part of the main release.

Since we will be releasing four new time series spreadsheets for the territories the table numbering has changed so the previous Tables 74-82 will now be Tables 78-86.

We also have one new time series based on the ASGS - the equivalent of Table 10 for capital cities. This new Time Series Spreadsheet will be part of the main release and will be Table 87. Number of Dwelling Units Approved, by Greater Capital City Statistical Area.

Therefore, for the main release we will be publishing the web summary, PDF and 87 Time Series Spreadsheets.


Previously published notifications of this change include:

• Additional information dates scheduled and advertised in Release Advice on ABS website
• April 2011 Building Approvals Australia - Feature Article on the implementation of the ASGS:

http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/allprimarymainfeatures/FDD578BFAE37DD3ECA2578C000156532?opendocument

• June 2011 Building Approvals Australia - Changes in this issue plus additional information dates published:

http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/8731.0Main+Features1June%202011?OpenDocument

• July 2011 - About this release updated to include information about delayed small area release

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The ABS released the new Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) on 23 December 2010. This standard will  be the basis for the 2011 Census of Population and Housing as well as other ABS collections. It will become the standard from July 2011 onwards.
The standard is available from the ABS website (Cat no 1270.0.55.001) and contains a publication explaining the standard as well as digital files containing the codes and labels for the new areas.  Maps in PDF format are also available as are the boundary files in GIS formats.
More information on ABS geography is available at www.abs.gov.au/geography or by emailing geography@abs.gov.au

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Current geospatial functionality on the ABS website is largely focused on display and navigation. For example, Census Output (link) and National Regional Profiles (link). Key boundary files are also available for download (link) in ESRI Shapefile and MapInfo MID/MID file formats.

Upcoming enhancements to Census mapping have been mocked up in Betaworks (link) as well as some data visualisation concepts using Google Maps (link).

Other possible new functions being discussed include:

• boundaries available for download in KML format, via both direct link and web service
• interactive display of ABS boundaries on a map
• easier mechanism to request/access geographic correspondences
• a web service providing access to geocoded datasets, narrowed down by location

Are there key services related to geospatial data/metadata or mapping that you feel are missing from ABS offerings? Are there items in the list above which you're strongly interested in? Are there items which you don't consider important at all?

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Join the dialogue today!

Welcome to Data-Dialogue - A place for collaboration and innovation aimed at providing better solutions to you, our Secondary Distributors. The ABS values our relationship with you and your in-depth understanding of client's data needs. We would like to involve you as we shape our future and inform the nation through sharing ABS data. This blog will provide the latest information on ABS publications, products and services and we welcome your honest feedback.

We believe that understanding your data requirements is critical in helping us serve you better and we invite you  to share your thoughts, opinions and ideas, and comment on existing data products , developing data services and technical issues.

We hope you find this blog helpful and we eagerly await your comments.

Enjoy and I invite you to join the data dialogue!

Merry Branson

Branch Head  

Customer Services Branch  

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