The Locality and Postcode Areas dataset depicts the authoritative boundaries and names of localities. A locality is an administrative area which uniquely defines the name of a place to enable street addressing. In metropolitan areas it may also be referred to as a ‘suburb’. Every locality has been defined with boundaries that do not overlap with other localities. Because of its unique name and unambiguous boundaries, a locality provides the official reference point for addressing purposes. A locality may include a town having the same name Locality Boundaries generally extend to High Water Mark and may not include uninhabitable offshore rocks and small islands. Larger named islands which are not included in this dataset will, if required for addressing or location purposes, use the official island feature name as the locality. Attributes include: The approved locality name (NAME); The Postal Code assigned by Australia Post for a locality (POSTCODE); The plan reference of the Central Plans Office plan that defined the initial locality (PLAN_REF); The Gazettal date for the proclamation first proclaiming the locality (GAZ_DATE) The Nomenclature Board of Tasmania has approved the Locality Boundaries and names, and Postcodes have been assigned by Australia Post.

Locality Boundaries were formalized for the first time in Tasmania in 2001. This was to formally define the extent of established suburbs and localities names to reflected the current understanding and wishes of residents, whilst at the same time being geographically consistent with the aspect and access of those properties. Localities were initially compiled using a number of reference sources of address information in order to achieve this. In urban areas boundaries will generally follow the back fence of property boundaries so properties sharing the same street address will be in the same locality. In rural areas a similar approach has been made with regard to parcel access points. Where possible the whole of a property is included in a locality. Local Government are the authority responsible for initiating changes to Locality Boundaries. Locality Boundaries are maintained independently from LIST Cadastral Parcels and therefore they may be some areas where the boundaries are not co-incident, although periodic processes are undertaken to maintain this alignment. Locality Boundaries are updated regularly to reflect changes arising from street addressing and subdivision changes.

Position Accuracy: Locality and Postcode Boundaries will generally align to the Cadastral Parcels and have the same positional accuracy as the parcel boundary they align to. Attribute Accuracy: Locality and Postcode attributes have been verified 100% correct. Logical Consistency: Locality and Postcode Areas are closed polygons and cover all of Mainland Tasmania and the larger inhabited islands. There will be no overlaps or voids in the coverage. Polygons are attributed with Locality Name and Postcode. Completeness: Locality and Postcode Areas are complete for Tasmania.