Geoscience Australia's topographic data is available in the following scales which reflect their level of accuracy and best scale for use. The smaller the scale (i.e. 1:250 000 is a smaller scale than 1:100 000), the fewer features are depicted in the data and the less accurate they are. This is because different applications of data require different scales and complexity of feature depiction. For instance:

• 1:100 000: At this scale 1 centimeter (cm) is equal to 1 kilometre (km). This is the largest scale data provided by Geoscience Australia and is particularly suited for land management and planning applications. Data quality and reliability varies at this scale.
• 1:250 000: At this scale 1 cm is equal to 2.5 km. The data has been prepared to provide high quality base information for mapping and GIS professionals as it provides a detailed overview over a large area.
• 1:1 million: At this scale 1 cm is equal to 10 km. This data covers the Australian landmass and its island territories and was created by generalising Geoscience Australia's 1:250,000 topographic data.
• 1:2.5 million: At this scale 1 cm is equal to 25 km. This data is a vector representation of Geoscience Australia's 1:2.5 million scale general reference map and is suited to regional, state-wide or national applications.
• 1:5 million: At this scale 1 cm is equal to 50 km. This data is a vector representation of Geoscience Australia's 1:5 million scale general reference map and is suited to larger regional, state-wide or national application.
• 1:10 million: At this scale 1 cm is equal to 100 km. This data has been derived mainly from Geoscience Australia's 1:250,000 topographic data and is suited to state-wide or national applications.