FAQs

Q. What data and metadata standards AusSeabed currently supports (any documentation they can link us to).

A. AusSeabed aligns with Geoscience Australia’s metadata standard based on ISO 19115-3.

Q. What are the processes and requirements for data submission?

A. Our Data Submission documentation and Product Specifications (including metadata) can be accessed from here.

Q. Are there any associated costs?

A. Currently there are no associated storage or egress costs for data supplied to AusSeabed. The AusSeabed Program covers these costs.

However, this would be up for review if datasets supplied become extremely large (10s of TerraBytes per dataset) or if download (egress) costs rise significantly due to these larger datasets).

Q. How does AusSeabed handle sensitive or commercial datasets?

A. AusSeabed has implemented secure, highly redundant s3 storage with Sensitive data stored separately from Open file data.

Geoscience Australia’s AusSeabed Program currently stores highly sensitive and commercial datasets from local and overseas agencies where the data intersects Australian waters. Conditions and Licensing documentation is stored with these datasets and in our Records Management System.
Sensitive data stores are managed and restricted to known Geoscience Australia Data Managers.
Requests for data are handled manually by these data managers.
Requests made from non-Geoscience staff are re-directed to the Data Supplier unless prior agreements and distribution rights are agreed and documented.
What are the access control mechanisms are in place to restrict data visibility to specific users?

Data supplied moves through the following lifecycle:

Data received is stored in a temporary container (automatically deleted after 30 days unless explicitly extended).
access is limited to the data supplier (IAM account) and the Geoscience Australia (National Seabed Mapping) Data Management Team (Single Sign-On (SSO)) only.
Data is migrated to a Clearing House and Long-Term Archive (as received, no reformatting or renaming)
- There are two high level containers in this store, one for Open File data and one for Restricted data.
  - Access to both containers is limited to the Geoscience Australia (National Seabed Mapping) Data Management Team (using SSO) with no IAM accounts, and no other Read or Write Access.
Only specific data required for processing or publication is copied into a highly structure container known as the Product House.
- There are two high level containers in this store, one for Open File data and one for Restricted data.
  - Access to the Open File container is limited to the Geoscience Australia (National Seabed Mapping) Data Management & Data Processing Teams (using SSO) with no IAM accounts, and no other Read or Write Access.
  - Access to the Restricted container is limited to the Geoscience Australia (National Seabed Mapping) Data Management Team (using SSO) only, with no IAM accounts, and no other Read or Write Access.
Published Data Products (Outputs of Processing) along with their metadata are copied from the Product Store into in our Publication House
- There is only one container in this store for Open File data. Restricted data is not published as individual products.
  - access is limited to Public Read Only to allow for application API access and downloading by external users.
Decommissioned Data Products along with their metadata remain accessible only in the Internal Product Store (Read Only).

Summary

Publicly accessibly storage is typically open file (CCBY 4.0 INT) published datasets [Read and Download only]
Open File datastores are typically for Internal GA use only, with access limited to specific identified GA staff on an as needs basis (using SSO not IAM accounts)
Restricted datastores are always limited to only a few Data Managers within the AusSeabed Program (using SSO not IAM accounts).

Internal Staff will soon be provided a metadata index of all three of the storage types, but data visibility and access are restricted to the first two (Public and Open File).

External Users will soon be provided with a similar metadata index of all three of the storage types, but data visibility and access will be restricted to the first one only (Publicly accessible).

If metadata values are also identified as sensitive or commercial in nature, then the metadata will also be restricted. This is not a typical use case and would be implemented on a case-by-case basis.

Q. Can a project/reference code be attached to data submissions?

A. Yes, please identify the code in the metadata.

Q. Is there a system for managing read-only permissions for select users?

A. Yes. If other select users are identified, read-only permissions could be provided on a case-by-case basis. For example, a contractor hired to supplement our processing pipeline may be provided temporary IAM credentials to facilitate the contract.