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Hot off the press: updated 2016 Census data release schedule

Hot off the press: updated 2016 Census data release schedule

The ABS have just updated their 2016 Census data release schedule and it’s a little different to what we’ve published before, so we thought we’d give you an overview of the latest information.

Dates have been pushed back a little and the Australian release in April will have less data than previously thought.

April 11th, 2017 – Australia and States/Territories data release – this will contain some key figures for each state, looking at what makes the ‘typical’ Australian (or Victorian, Queenslander etc.). There will be some interesting figures coming out of this, but no comprehensive downloadable datasets will be included, and no custom data is available. Unfortunately, this means we won’t be able to update .id’s Australia profile at this release.

June 27th, 2017 – Main dataset for all geographic levels, first release datasets. This has been delayed one week from the original June 20th (and some discussion about June 14th). Once we receive this dataset, .id will be able to begin updating all the Community profiles and Social atlas sites. We are planning to do this topic by topic over the weeks after this release, so all our clients will have some topics very soon on the site. There is a lot of work that needs to be done to prepare these sites but we’re endeavouring to have as much as possible done prior to the release, to make the data inclusion as quick as possible. The first topics to be updated will be Age Structure and Household Types.

Also on June 27th, the Census-based Estimated Resident Population numbers will be released, which will replace the current ERP on the site, back to 2012. Read this for an explanation of the difference between Census counts and ERP.

July 4th, 2017 – Release of Tablebuilder and Meshblock counts. Following this release, we can run custom tables for our clients if you require specific datasets urgently. This is a service we offer to all our clients, but please be aware that there may be a wait on this service due to higher than normal demand for the new Census information.

October 2017 (no date specified) – Release of employment, internal migration, educational qualifications and Journey to Work datasets. This will enable us to largely complete the update of profile.id and atlas.id with 2016 Census data, and commence updating the Census datasets in the economic profile (economy.id), which are all based on these employment-related topics.

Early 2018 (no date specified) – SEIFA – the Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas will be the last thing updated in the Community Profile, but we don’t know exactly when this will be available.

At .id we are committed to having our clients sites updated as soon as possible after the 2016 Census data release. Unfortunately, we don’t get any priority access to the data, so we can’t have them ready on the day of release. We will work tirelessly to make the update as quick as possible, after this.

If you have any queries about the update of your Local Government profile.id, atlas.id, forecast.id or economy.id sites, please don’t hesitate to contact us at .id.

.id specialises in analysing and presenting Census data in user-friendly online information tools. You can access .id’s community websites to see the demographic profile characteristics for over 250 local government areas in Australia and New Zealand.

Glenn - The Census Expert

Glenn is our resident Census expert. After ten years working at the ABS, Glenn's deep knowledge of the Census has been a crucial input in the development of our community profiles. These tools help everyday people uncover the rich and important stories about our communities that are often hidden deep in the Census data. Glenn is also our most prolific blogger - if you're reading this, you've just finished reading one of his blogs. Take a quick look at the front page of our blog and you'll no doubt find more of Glenn's latest work. As a client manager, Glenn travels the country giving sought-after briefings to councils and communities (these are also great opportunities for Glenn to tend to his rankings in Geolocation games such as Munzee and Geocaching).

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