Accessing web services

We provide spatial environmental data. We release this data under open access licenses as part of the Australian Governments Open Access and Licensing Framework.

You can access up-to-date information without storing and maintaining it in your own systems or applications. You can use our data in multiple ways. For example, direct use, mashups, mobile apps and spatial systems.

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OGC Services

These Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) specifications facilitate the interoperability of geospatial data:

A WMS produces an image (e.g. PNG, JPG) of geospatial data which can be queried to return a simple attribute set.

A WFS delivers all the geospatial data in XML format and allows more complex querying of a dataset.

A WCS provides access to coverage data in forms:

  • useful for client-side rendering
  • as input into scientific models
  • for other clients.

How to use

You will need access to software which can communicate with the web services, such as an online web portal or a GIS application.

See instructions for using some commonly available desktop applications (both proprietary and open source):

Use these to access our OGC web services and ESRI mapping and image services. Not all of the services will work in all of the software systems.

Add an ArcGIS service

  1. In the Arc Catalog Tree select GIS Servers folder
  1. Select 'Add ArcGIS Server'
  1. Select Use GIS services, select Next
  2. In the Server URL box, enter the following URL:
    http://www.environment.gov.au/mapping/services/ogc_services
  1. Select Finish
  2. Navigate to the required ogc_services folder in 'GIS Services'.
  3. The available services will be listed.

Using WMS and ArcGIS Services in ArcGIS

ArcGIS is a suite of desktop GIS applications designed for geospatial data management, viewing, editing, and analysis.
Different versions of ArcGIS handle WMS requests differently. The connection steps are the same. The following instructions are for ArcGIS 10.2.
To add a WMS layer to ArcGIS, you must first establish a connection with a map server. This can be done with ArcCatalog or directly within ArcMap.

In ArcCatalog:

  1. Expand the GIS Servers folder in the catalog tree
  2. Double click Add WMS Server
  3. Enter the URL in the URL text box, e.g. http://www.environment.gov.au/mapping/services/ogc_services/World_Heritage_Areas/MapServer/WMSServer?  
  4. Click the Get Layers button
  5. If the connection is successful, click the OK button

In ArcMap:
Drag and Drop Method

  1. Expand the GIS Servers folder in the catalog tree
  2. Drag and Drop the service layer on to the map

Add Data Method

  1. Click the Add Data button
  2. From the Look in: list, select GIS Servers

If you already added a connection in ArcCatalog, select that connection, otherwise:

  1. Double-click Add WMS Server
  2. In the URL text box, enter the URL e.g. http://www.environment.gov.au/mapping/services/ogc_services/World_Heritage_Areas/MapServer/WMSServer?
  3. Click the Get Layers button
  4. If the connection is successful, click the OK button

To add a WMS layer to ArcMap:

  1. Double-click the WMS server in the GIS Servers list
  2. Double click World_Heritage_Areas_Australia Web Map Server
  3. Double click World_Heritage_Areas_Australia Web Map Server again
  4. Select the layer(s) from the list you wish to add
  5. Transparency and scale range can be set through Layer properties.