Glossary¶

Geographic Terms¶

ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics): The national statistical agency. Polimap uses ABS geographic boundaries and census data.
CED (Commonwealth Electoral Division): A federal electorate — the area represented by one member of the House of Representatives. Australia has 151 CEDs.
SED (State Electoral Division): A state electorate — the area represented by one member of a state's lower house.
LGA (Local Government Area): A council, shire, or city boundary. The unit of local government in Australia.
SA1 (Statistical Area Level 1): The smallest geographic unit in the ABS classification. Typically covers 200-800 people. Useful for fine-grained analysis.
SA2 (Statistical Area Level 2): Roughly equivalent to a suburb. Covers 3,000-25,000 people.
POA (Postal Area): Approximation of Australia Post postcodes, used by the ABS for census data.
SAL (Suburb and Locality): ABS geographic unit aligned to gazetted suburb and locality boundaries.
STE (State/Territory): One of Australia's six states or two territories.
Booth: A polling place where votes are cast on election day. Booth-level data is the most granular electoral data available.

Primary Vote: First-preference votes — who voters put as their number 1 on the ballot paper. Expressed as a percentage of formal votes in that electorate or booth.
Two-Party Preferred (2PP): The result after preferences are distributed to the final two candidates (almost always Labor vs Coalition). Shows who would win in a head-to-head.
Two-Candidate Preferred (TCP): Similar to 2PP but uses the actual final two candidates in that seat, which may include independents or Greens.
Swing: The change in vote share between two elections. A positive swing to Labor means Labor's vote increased.
Formal Votes: Ballots correctly filled in according to the rules. Informal votes (incorrectly filled in) are excluded from results.

Census Year: The ABS conducts a national census every five years. Polimap includes data from 2011, 2016, and 2021.
SEIFA (Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas): ABS indexes ranking areas by socio-economic advantage and disadvantage. Includes IRSD, IRSAD, IER, and IEO.
Choropleth: A map where regions are shaded in proportion to a data value. This is the primary visualisation method in Polimap.