Australian Urban Expansion Australian cities and towns are
constantly evolving to suit the living requirements of an ever
growing population. Australia’s current population of more than
22 million in 2011 has grown significantly from approximately 15
million in 1981 with the majority of population growth occuring
in Australia’s urban environment. This satellite image gallery
shows the expansion of Australia’s major towns and cities in
every State and Territory since the 1980’s. Residential
expansion, new infrastructure (such as freeways), and changes in
environmental features including reservoirs and dams can all be
seen through comparison ‘swipe’ imagery. Geoscience Australia
and its predecessor agencies have been acquiring satellite
imagery for over 30 years resulting in an Australian Government
collection continaing more than 400 000 images. The diversity of
uses for this information ranges from environmental monitoring
and management, to directing emergency management agencies and
assisting border protect