Boating activity on Victoria's waterways is governed by rules that are determined by Transport Safety Victoria in accordance with the powers of the Marine Safety Act 2010 (Vic). Those rules are published as the Vessel Operating and Zoning Rules (VOZR). The VOZR determines safe speed and distance rules for Victoria's waterways and determines zones that are set aside for special purposes. These zones can include areas determined for exclusive use such as rowing only zones or zones that prohibit boating such as a swimming only zone. The VOZR is a documentary description of the rules and zones. This data is a geographical representation of those zones and includes polygons depicting the size and shapes of zones. Also contained within the dataset is point data that provides information regarding assets that are used to delineate zones and provide information to boaters to help identify the presence of those zones (such as a buoy on the water to show the corner of a zone).
The data has been collected by TSV as part of its audit program for monitoring compliance of the activities of local waterway managers. The data is not a complete GIS data set for Victoria's scheduled waterways and has been collected since 2008. The data is being periodically updated as audit activity collects new data. The data has not been collected with the express purpose of publication of this data. Any potential users may be required to apply an intrepretive process in order for the data to be re-purposed. TSV is currently undertaking a project to convert this data into a published waterways online system. As that project progresses, the information supplied with this data will improve.