Access AVAILABLE FORMAT TYPE(S) 1. Online Digital Data and Map Products through WetlandInfo and the Queensland Globe 2. Digital data available as a ESRI Shapefile, ESRI Geodatabase and ESRI Geodatabase Export download through QSpatial
Edition date
2018-05-31
Cit Resp Party
Contact—organization name
Queensland Herbarium, Department of Environment and Science
Surface expression GDEs are ecosystems dependent on the discharge of groundwater on a permanent or intermittent basis to meet all or some of their water requirements so as to maintain their communities of plants and animals, ecological processes and ecosystem services. Surface expression GDE area features include wetlands and regional ecosystems that have some groundwater dependency. Information about the location and extent of known and potential GDEs was sourced from expert knowledge, literature and existing datasets. This dataset is one of five datasets that describe the distribution of known and potential GDEs across the landscape. The complete set of GDE datasets is: 1. Surface expression GDE points, 2. Surface expression GDE lines, 3. Surface expression GDE areas, 4. Terrestrial GDE areas, 5. Subterranean GDE areas. As the different types of GDEs represent different overlapping layers or cross-sections of the landscape, it is recommended that the datasets be mapped in the order of listing shown above (i.e. surface expression GDE points on top) to maintain logical consistency and assist visualization.
Version 1.0 (released October 2012) - mapping covering the eastern Murray-Darling Basin (eMDB) and Wide Bay-Burnett (WBB).
Version 1.1 (released May 2013) - mapping extended to include Pumicestone Passage catchment (PUM) and Mackay-Whitsunday (MW).
Version 1.2 (released May 2015) - mapping extended to include South East Queensland (SEQ).
Version 1.3 (released July 2015) - mapping extended to include Lake Eyre Basin (LEB), Cooper Basin (CB), Galilee Basin (GB), and western Murray-Darling Basin (wMDB).
Version 1.4 (released December 2015) - mapping extended to include Surat Basin (SB) and southern Bowen Basin (sBB).
Version 1.5 (released March 2017) - mapping covering the eastern Murray-Darling Basin (eMDB) improved.
Version 1.5.1 (released in May 2018) - mapping attribution revised to update hyperlinks to supporting material delivered via webpages.
Resource purpose/summary
Surface expression groundwater dependent ecosystems (GDE) areas
Unrestricted to all levels of government and community. Dataset is available to all government agencies, community groups and individuals. Dataset is available through physical supply and may be made available via web delivery tools, for example, through the Queensland Department of Environment and Science internet site.
This dataset reflects the level of knowledge and information about the landscape that may be biased due to a range of reasons such as accessibility and land use: It is likely that the dataset is incomplete. Detailed field survey and verification of the groundwater location, extent and fluctuation has not been done, nor has the level of ecosystem dependency on groundwater been tested.
Report
Data quality report, measure description
The GDE attribution was sourced from local expert knowledge, literature and spatial data. The reliability of different attribute values may vary. Areas described as 'known' have been delineated according to local expert knowledge and generally have the highest level of confidence. Areas that are derived from a rule base, that make up the majority of the areas mapped, have been assigned a level of confidence according to judgment of the reliability of knowledge supporting the rule base.
Report
Data quality report, measure description
The mapping linework is at a nominal scale of 1:100,000 and the accuracy associated with this is within the range +/-100 metres. For more information refer to the regional ecosystems and Queensland Wetlands Data metadata.
Department of Environment, Science and Innovation, Queensland (n.d.) Surface expression GDE (areas) – spatial metadata, WetlandInfo website, accessed 30 August 2024. Available at: https://wetlandinfo.des.qld.gov.au/wetlands/facts-maps/get-mapping-help/metadata/gde/surface-area/