New Zealand Fundamental Geospatial Datasets and Themes V2.X Spatial Data Infrastructure | Land Information New Zealand © Crown Copyright | 20 May 2014 | 2

New Zealand fundamental geospatial datasets and themes v2.2

Fundamental Data Guidance Series #01 Spatial Data Infrastructure

20 May 2014

Table of Contents

1 Introduction ...... 3

1.1 Purpose of document ...... 3 1.2 Intended use of document ...... 3 1.3 References ...... 3 1.4 Terminology ...... 3 1.5 Contact ...... 3

2 Rationale...... 4

2.1 New Zealand Geospatial Strategy ...... 4 2.2 Context ...... 4 2.3 Spatial data infrastructure ...... 4 2.3.1 Steward and custodian framework ...... 5

3 Fundamental data themes ...... 6

3.1 Why have themes? ...... 6 3.2 Development ...... 6 3.3 What are the themes? ...... 7 3.4 Theme descriptions ...... 7

4 Fundamental datasets ...... 8

4.1 Identify...... 8 4.2 Evaluate ...... 8 4.2.1 Development of the criteria ...... 8 4.2.2 Characteristics ...... 9 4.2.3 Criteria ...... 9 4.2.4 Assessment ...... 10 4.2.5 Score ...... 10 4.3 Measure ...... 10

5 Current state of fundamental datasets and themes ...... 11

6 Theme narratives ...... 15

6.1 Address ...... 16 6.2 Place Names ...... 18 6.3 Imagery ...... 20 6.4 Administrative Boundaries ...... 22 6.5 Elevation and Depth ...... 25 6.6 Cadastre and Property ...... 28 6.7 Transport ...... 30 6.8 Positioning ...... 33 6.9 Water ...... 35 6.10 Land Use and Land Cover ...... 37

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1 Introduction 1.1 Purpose of document

The purpose of this document is to:

 document the identified fundamental data themes,

 set out a process for determining whether a dataset is considered fundamental, and

 list candidates for fundamental datasets. 1.2 Intended use of document

This document is intended for use by any agency that is interested in, or has committed to, some level of accountability for one or more fundamental geospatial datasets. 1.3 References

This document should be read in conjunction with the following documents;

 NZGO 2012, Steward and custodian framework for New Zealand fundamental geospatial themes and datasets, LINZ, Wellington

 New Zealand Government 2011, CAB Min (11) 29/1 1.4 Terminology

The terms steward and custodian, when used in this document, refer to the agency taking on a role of stewardship or custodianship.

The terms stewardship and custodianship encompass a broader view of all components and aspects related to the role of steward or custodian, including the point of contact for the stewardship, the functions, and responsibilities. 1.5 Contact

Michael Judd SDI Technical Leader New Zealand Geospatial Office Land Information New Zealand [email protected]

Level 7, Radio New Zealand House, 155 The Terrace PO Box 5501, Wellington 6145, New Zealand

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2 Rationale 2.1 New Zealand Geospatial Strategy

In January 2007 the Government released the New Zealand Geospatial Strategy: Understanding our Geographic Information Landscape1. The strategy identified the four strategic goals of Governance, Data, Access, and Interoperability.

The New Zealand Geospatial Strategy's key data goal is to:

ensure the capture, preservation, and maintenance of fundamental (Priority) geospatial datasets, and set guidelines for non-fundamental geospatial data.

Fundamental geospatial datasets are datasets that provide the minimum core set of nationally- significant data that are critical to the effective running of New Zealand, and work together to help support growth in the economy. 2.2 Context

Criteria have been developed in order to unambiguously determine which geospatial datasets can be considered fundamental.

In conjunction with other government and non-government agencies, the New Zealand Geospatial Office (NZGO) has identified ten data themes. Themes provide a way of organising fundamental geospatial datasets for spatial data infrastructure purposes, in particular creating communities of interest in, and allowing holistic management of, thematically related datasets.

Fundamental geospatial datasets may be either Crown-owned or held in the private sector. 2.3 Spatial data infrastructure

On 8 December 2010, the Cabinet Economic Growth and Infrastructure Committee directed LINZ and the NZGO to undertake further work on the design and implementation details of a spatial data infrastructure.2

A spatial data infrastructure (SDI) can be broadly defined as a network of components that allows people to find, share and use spatial data.

The fundamental data and steward and custodian frameworks are part of the work programme to implement the NZ SDI.

1 A New Zealand Geospatial Strategy: Understanding our Geographic Information Landscape. Land Information New Zealand. January 2007

2 Capturing Economic Benefits from Location-Based Information, approved by Cabinet on 8 December 2010 (EGI Min (10) 30/14 refers) (http://www.linz.govt.nz/sites/default/files/docs/geospatial-office/cabinet-minute-capturing- benefits-of-location-based-information.pdf)

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2.3.1 Steward and custodian framework

Three primary roles and a number of secondary roles have been identified to ensure that New Zealand's interest in its information assets is not compromised and to ensure accountability for geospatial data management.

The three primary roles are:

 spatial data infrastructure leadership,  steward of a fundamental data theme, and  custodian of a fundamental geospatial dataset.

Custodians are divided into two roles with distinct responsibilities:

 dataset leadership, and  dataset delivery.

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3 Fundamental data themes 3.1 Why have themes?

Fundamental data themes provide a way of organising and managing fundamental geospatial datasets for spatial data infrastructure purposes, in particular creating communities of interest in, and allowing holistic management of, thematically related datasets.

A theme may include any number of specific datasets. Some datasets may fall across several themes.

While themes are the chosen way of organising and managing datasets for spatial data infrastructure purposes, they are not the only way datasets can be classified or grouped. Alternative ways may be appropriate for other non-SDI purposes.

An example of another way of grouping datasets is the Multinational Geospatial Co-production Program (MGCP) datasets. MGCP data consists of topographic vector data at 1:50,000 captured from imagery, and is managed as a complete set of data. However, the individual datasets (the feature types, and the imagery) would fall within a number of different themes.

Another example is a solutions-based point of view, where multiple datasets create more value when used together than when used individually. A property management solution will draw datasets from a number of different themes (address, transport, administrative boundaries) in order to provide a solution for identifying, finding, and managing property information. 3.2 Development

Work undertaken by a committee of the Geospatial Advisory Committee in 2007 identified ten fundamental data themes, later expanded to thirteen.

In 2011 the thirteen fundamental data themes were approved by the Geospatial Steering Committee (the successor to the Geospatial Advisory Committee).

In August 2012, in order to align with the Australia and New Zealand Land Information Council (ANZLIC) National Spatial Data Framework, the Geospatial Steering Committee approved the consolidation of thirteen themes to eleven. Further work with ANZLIC between August and November 2012 resulted in the eleven themes reducing to ten.

Some themes have been split further into sub-themes. These sub-themes further refine the grouping of like datasets within the theme.

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3.3 What are the themes?

The ten fundamental data themes (with sub-themes) are:

3.4 Theme descriptions

In June 2012 ANZLIC, as part of the Australian Spatial Data Framework, released a draft set of theme description documents for Australia, one for each theme, based on a standard template.

A theme description document outlines basic information about a theme, including a list of datasets in the theme, purpose of those datasets, current and desired future status of the datasets, and applicable standards.

At the August 2012 meeting, the Geospatial Steering Committee agreed that the New Zealand Geospatial Office should create, using the same standard template, a set of theme description documents for New Zealand.

The New Zealand theme description documents are attached to this document in section 6.

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4 Fundamental datasets

Fundamental geospatial datasets are nationally-significant geospatial data that are critical to the effective running of New Zealand, and work together to help support growth in the economy.

The New Zealand Geospatial Strategy specifies “Data” as one of its four strategic goals, and identifies five actions, including:

a. In consultation with the principal geospatial information stewards and customers, confirm/determine the fundamental geospatial datasets that New Zealanders need

c. Evaluate each fundamental geospatial dataset against an agreed standard/quality, and define it’s base data or the starting point for collection

d. Ensure fundamental geospatial datasets meet the ongoing collective needs of New Zealanders

These three actions form the basis of “Identify, Evaluate, Measure”. 4.1 Identify

An open approach has been adopted for identifying geospatial datasets that may potentially be fundamental.

Any geospatial datasets suggested to NZGO as potentially fundamental are captured. Any person or agency may suggest a geospatial dataset to the NZGO.

These potentially fundamental datasets are placed within a theme, and are included in the current state view. However, they are not considered fundamental until they have been evaluated and have met the requirements. 4.2 Evaluate

Once identified, the ideal states of datasets are evaluated against a set of criteria to determine if they can be considered fundamental. A dataset does not necessarily need to currently exist in order to be evaluated, nor does it need to be in its ideal state to be evaluated.

Evaluating the ideal state of a dataset assists (if the evaluation is affirmative) in justifying a work programme for stewards and custodians to improve or create that dataset. However, evaluating the current state of a dataset may result in a low quality but important dataset erroneously evaluating as not fundamental

Evaluation against the criteria also generates a score that can be used to indicate a level of importance and assist with prioritisation of datasets.

Fundamental geospatial datasets may be either Crown-owned or held in the private sector. 4.2.1 Development of the criteria

Work undertaken by a committee of the Geospatial Advisory Committee in 2007 identified criteria under which a dataset could be evaluated to see if it could be considered as fundamental.

The criteria were updated in 2012 in response to unsuccessful attempts to use the criteria to assess whether datasets were fundamental. Minor revisions have continued since 2012 as the number of evaluated datasets increases.

The current criteria are designed to unambiguously determine whether a dataset is fundamental using a robust and defined process.

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4.2.2 Characteristics

Five common characteristics of fundamental geospatial datasets have been identified:

 Use/Re-use

 National Interest

 Coverage

 Significance

 Economy

Each characteristic contains a number of criteria against which a geospatial dataset can be evaluated. 4.2.3 Criteria

USE/RE-USE

 Geospatial: is commonly used as a component dataset in geospatial analysis,

 Products: is commonly used as a layer in geospatial products,

 Foundational Building Block: is a foundational dataset upon which other geospatial datasets rely or are built.

 Multiple Use: supports activities across multiple agencies and organisations.

“Commonly used” should be interpreted as either pervasive across the broader geospatial community, or essential within a sector grouping or user community.

An example of a foundational dataset is meshblocks, from which Territorial Authority, Regional Council, and other administrative boundaries are derived.

NATIONAL INTEREST

 Public Safety: is essential for emergency response or public safety,

 Government Function: is critical for government function,

 Contribution to Society: contributes significantly to government strategies, cultural outcomes, or environmental sustainability,

 Innovation: enables innovation by government, industry, research, or academic sectors.

COVERAGE

 National Coverage: is of national coverage, or is a local/regional dataset that can be aggregated with other datasets to form a dataset of national coverage,

 Within New Zealand: falls within the Realm of New Zealand3, or New Zealand’s extended continental shelf.

SIGNIFICANCE

 Obligations: meets (or supports other datasets in meeting) regulatory functions, the constitutional framework or international obligations,

3 The Realm of New Zealand comprises New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau, and the Ross Dependency in Antarctica. http://gg.govt.nz/role/constofnz.htm

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 Physical Infrastructure: is essential for the maintenance of critical infrastructure,

 Crown: is funded, owned, or held by the Crown,

 Local Government: is funded, owned, or held by a territorial authority or regional council,

 Navigation: ensures the safety of navigation (land, sea, or air),

ECONOMY

 Openly Available: can be licensed in accordance with NZGOAL4,

 Outcomes: supports business outcomes, strategic results areas, economic growth, or land purchase and ownership requirements. 4.2.4 Assessment

To be assessed as fundamental, a dataset must fulfill predetermined requirements. Those requirements are not based on the number of criteria found to apply to the dataset through the evaluation process, but rather rely on a broad representation of applicable criteria across each of the five characteristics.

A dataset can be evaluated multiple times by different groups and individuals. Responses for a dataset with multiple evaluations will be aggregated to provide an overall evaluation. 4.2.5 Score

All evaluated datasets are given a score based on the number of criteria found to apply to the dataset through the evaluation process. The score does not directly relate to whether a dataset is fundamental or not, but is derived from the overall evaluation and can be used to prioritise fundamental geospatial datasets. 4.3 Measure

To ensure fundamental geospatial datasets meet the ongoing collective needs of New Zealanders, NZGO will measure, monitor and review fundamental themes and datasets.

4 New Zealand Government Open Access and Licensing. http://ict.govt.nz/guidance-and-resources/information-and- data/nzgoal

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5 Current state of fundamental datasets and themes

The current state of New Zealand’s fundamental datasets and themes, and the custodians and stewards of those datasets and themes, is changing frequently. Please update this document regularly to ensure you have the most recent version.

Legend:

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6 Theme narratives

In June 2012 ANZLIC, as part of the Australian Foundation Spatial Data Framework, released a draft set of theme description documents for Australia, one for each theme, based on a standard template.

In April 2014 ANZLIC released the 2nd edition of their theme description documents, now called ‘theme narratives’, along with a logo for each theme. This document has been updated to match.

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6.1 Address

WHAT IS ADDRESS DATA?

An address is a structured label – usually containing a property number, a road name and a locality name – used to identify a plot of land, a building or part of a building, or some other construction. It may be further embellished with the inclusion of other valuable attributes including geocodes and delivery point identifiers.

WHAT DATASETS MAKE UP THE ADDRESS THEME?

New Zealand does not have an authoritative, widely endorsed, address dataset. The major address datasets currently are:

 Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) street address (electoral), stored in LandOnline

 Territorial Authority (TA) allocated address datasets

 Geocoded Postal Address File (GeoPAF), and the National Postal Address Dataset (NPAD)

 Commercial physical (in-use) address datasets

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE ADDRESS THEME?

Addressing data provides users with unique and unambiguous identification of an address site within the context of the desired outcome (the physical location or the delivery location) of every address site. Addressing is used for:

 Communication

 Address validation at point of entry

 Socio-economic and demographic analysis

 Emergency services and public safety

 Delivery of products and services

 Personal navigation

 Fraud prevention

 Innovation in business

CURRENT STATUS

Responsibility for assigning and allocating addresses in New Zealand lies with TA’s under section 319B of the Local Government Act (1974). Each TA maintains its own dataset of addresses (including point geocodes).

TA’s are required to pass address information to LINZ, who maintain a national address dataset for electoral purposes (with a point geocode). The dataset generally meets electoral requirements, however, limitations in LandOnline mean the dataset is not complete or authoritative, and lacks robust data integrity. The dataset contains approximately 1.7 million addresses.

The Geocoded Postal Address File (GeoPAF) and National Postal Address Dataset (NPAD) are maintained by New Zealand Post. Data is sourced from New Zealand Post’s mail delivery New Zealand fundamental geospatial datasets and themes v2.x Spatial Data Infrastructure | Land Information New Zealand © Crown Copyright | 20 May 2014 | 16

operations, and incorporates LINZ’s electoral address dataset, along with unofficial and in-use addresses. The geocoded location is intended to represent the delivery point of mail, but does not reliably do so. The GeoPAF contains approximately 1.9 million addresses.

Physical address datasets are held in the private sector. Most were initially based on the LINZ Electoral address dataset, but have diverged due to commercially-driven maintenance programmes and now contain significant unofficial and in-use addresses. Physical address datasets incorporate data from the LINZ electoral address dataset, data sourced directly from territorial authorities, independently sourced data from customers, and crowd-sourced data. The geocode is predominantly (although not consistently) located inside the building footprint. Commercial datasets contain approximately 2.2 million addresses.

FUTURE STATUS

A recorded address is required for every property.

LINZ will work with territorial authorities and other agencies (e.g. Statistics New Zealand) to improve the consistency and completeness of address allocation.

An authoritative, nationally complete and consistent, allocated address dataset will be available, including support for complex addresses and addresses within gated communities, motor camps, and similar facilities. Potentially the dataset will incorporate postal address data. Future developments may include informal addresses sourced from the private sector, although it is expected that improving the quality of allocated addresses will reduce the use of informal addresses.

Private sector providers will be able to trust the authoritative allocated address data, and focus on using their commercial client base to capture informal addresses, and provide value added addressing solutions.

STANDARDS

 AS/NZS 4819:2011 Rural and Urban Addressing

 AS 4590:2006 Interchange of client information

 AS/NZS ISO 19115 - ANZLIC Metadata Profile Version 1.1.

 AS/NZS ISO 19131:2008 Geographic Information – Data product specifications.

 ISO 19160 DRAFT Addressing

 OGC Compliant Web Feature and Web Map Services

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6.2 Place Names

WHAT IS PLACE NAMES DATA?

Place Names are the names of cultural and physical features and their associated spatial identifiers, location and extent.

Place Names constitute the most commonly used spatial references and can be approved, unapproved, commonly used, alternate or historical.

WHAT DATASETS MAKE UP THE PLACE NAMES THEME?

 New Zealand Gazetteer

 New Zealand Place Names

 Commercial Points of Interest

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE PLACE NAMES THEME?

Place Names are used to identify and record the official and/or commonly-used names for the location of places and features and the gazetted or historical information associated with those names.

Place Names are integral to:

 Emergency response.

 Economic, social and environmental analysis.

 Cultural identity and heritage.

 Mapping and navigation.

CURRENT STATUS

The New Zealand Geographic Board Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa (NZGB) assigns, approves, alters or discontinues the use of names for geographic features (eg place names), undersea features and Crown protected areas in New Zealand, its offshore islands and its continental shelf and the Ross Sea region of Antarctica

The NZGB is a statutory body of government operating under the New Zealand Geographic Board (Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa) Act 2008.

The NZGB Secretariat maintains and publishes the New Zealand Gazetteer of Official Geographic Names. The Gazetteer was recently migrated to a PostGrSQL database, enabling geographic names to be searched using a web based mapping tool, or the Gazetteer can be downloaded via the LINZ Data Service. The Gazetteer currently contains approximately 15,000 names, most with a point location.

Many general-use names are not currently included in the Gazetteer as they are not official or recorded. The New Zealand Place Names dataset contains approximately 50,000 names as shown on the NZTopo50 map series, and includes many common-use names for cities and towns that are not in the Gazetteer. The dataset is now not maintained, and the Gazetteer should be preferentially used for official names.

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Suburb and locality names, with boundaries, are not yet found in the Gazetteer, as most Territorial Authorities have not yet officially defined them. However, the NZ Localities dataset maintained by the New Zealand Fire Service currently fulfils this need.

Thematic-specific public information such as schools are usually maintained by the appropriate national authority (e.g. the Ministry of Education for school names and locations).

A number of commercial providers maintain datasets of commercial points of interest. These datasets contain high maintenance data that changes frequently. These datasets vary in size, but are typically contains many tens of thousands of names. Examples are banks, petrol stations, ATM locations, fast food restaurants, etc.

The various datasets listed above have several things in common, they generally:

 utilise text based search and download systems;

 are not delivered through standards based web services

 are not machine to machine enabled;

 do not meet international standards and guidelines for gazetteers

FUTURE STATUS

The Gazetteer will expand to include the following enhancements:

 Line geometry for features like rivers, and polygon geometry for features like placenames.

 Full capture of unofficial town and city placenames.

 Full capture of suburb and locality names, with an associated polygon. Achieving this will rely on Territorial Authorities completing the definition of suburbs and localities within their territorial area.

 Incorporation of other unofficial government placename information such as schools.

The Gazetteer will comply with the all national and international Placename standards and best practice, including application of relevant standards.

The Gazetteer will deliver these data through a variety of standards compliant services including Web Feature, Web Map and Web Feature – Gazetteer services.

Online feedback tools will allow users of the data to provide information on perceived errors, omissions or other issues.

The Gazetteer will be so constituted that it will be readily integrated into the United Nations Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (UNGSDI) network of international gazetteers.

STANDARDS

 AS/NZS ISO 19115 - ANZLIC Metadata Profile Version 1.1

 AS/NZS ISO 19131:2008 Geographic Information – Data product specifications

 Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Feature Service (WFS) Implementation Specification 1.1.0 (OGC Document No. 04-094)

 Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map Service (WMS) Implementation Specification 1.3.0 (OGC Document No. 06-042)

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6.3 Imagery

WHAT IS IMAGERY DATA?

Imagery is derived from sensor technologies used to detect, locate, classify and record objects relative to the surface of the Earth. This includes data sourced from satellite, airborne sensors and terrestrial cameras. It includes but is not limited to orthorectified multispectral, hyperspectral and panchromatic sensors. Raw data is collected from satellite or airborne missions and then processed and orthorectified to remove tilt, terrain, atmospheric and other distortions.

The imagery theme provides accurately georeferenced imagery for decision making and a contextual background layer for a large number of applications.

WHAT DATASETS MAKE UP THE IMAGERY THEME?

 Territorial Authority (TA) and Regional Council (RC) rural and urban aerial imagery

 KiwImage

 Ministry for the Environment SPOT5 multispectral (LUCAS), and natural colour 2.5 m, satellite imagery (both national coverage).

 Various central government acquisitions for particular projects

 National Imagery archive of historical imagery

 Private sector high resolution imagery archives

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE IMAGERY THEME?

High resolution imagery is an essential and authoritative source of information for research, civil and social planning, environmental monitoring and hazard reduction and management.

This data is used to improve operational decision making and policy implementation. High resolution imagery is used for many diverse reasons, such as:

 Monitoring active and/or recent fires, floods, storms, and subsidence;

 Estimating biomass for carbon accounting, native vegetation mapping, and agriculture;

 Managing conservation areas (land and marine), environmental resources, estuaries and coastal waterways, marine jurisdiction, electoral boundaries, floodplains, and dryland salinity;

 Mapping geoscience resources, topographic features, shallow water bathymetry, wetlands, and plant stress; and

 Auditing environmental compliance, urban water use, and urban development.

 Feature extraction for creation of other fundamental datasets

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CURRENT STATUS

Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) has accepted the stewardship role for imagery, and has established a project team.

A report commissioned by the project in 2012 concluded that while there were some benefits to be gained by better co-ordination of procurement of imagery, particularly at a central government level, most benefit would be achieved by improving access to imagery.

The KiwImage project, commenced in 2007, aimed to collect complete nationwide coverage of 0.6 m gsd natural colour and near infrared satellite imagery. The project ended in 2012, having achieved over 70% coverage. While originally only available to consortium members, the imagery is now available to all-of-government, and is managed by LINZ under the imagery stewardship.

Most aerial imagery in New Zealand is procured for TAs and RCs. Imagery at 5 to 25 cm gsd is captured over major towns and cities, often on a 2 to 3 year cycle. There is much wider rural coverage at 0.4 to 0.7 m gsd, captured less frequently. Many TAs/RCs co-ordinate procurement under regional consortiums that loosely follow RC boundaries. Access is mixed. Some TAs/RCs make imagery openly available, while others charge on a full cost recovery basis. However, efforts by the LINZ Imagery project have resulted in imagery over all of the North Island (except Northland) now being available on an open licence.

Central Government is not a big procurer of imagery, although it is a big user. The Ministry for the Environment has acquired, under an all-of-government licence, near infrared and natural colour satellite imagery from SPOT, for the LUCAS, LUM and LCDB projects. Imagery has been acquired in 2001, 2008, and 2012, however, no further commitment has yet been made. The New Zealand Defence Force (through GeoInt New Zealand) acquires imagery for intelligence purposes, and for topographic mapping in the South Pacific under the MGCP programme, with some imagery available under limited access provisions.

FUTURE STATUS

It is expected that the LINZ imagery project will effectively improve the co-ordination of the procurement of aerial imagery, and, by working collaboratively with procurers, increase the amount of imagery openly licenced under creative commons. A more consistent recapture cycle of 3 to 4 years over all of New Zealand is expected.

TAs and RCs will strengthen and increase procurement through regional consortium, resulting in better coverage and potentially more frequent re-flying (for example, every year for urban imagery). It is expected that urban imagery will predominantly be captured at about 5 to 10cm gsd. As technology improves, it is expected that rural imagery resolution will reduce.

Purchase of satellite imagery, especially by territorial authorities, may be limited by the licensing models used by the satellite providers. However, the improving “all-you-can-eat” web solutions, combined with daily capture, increasing resolution, and large image libraries, are likely to become more attractive and competitively priced. Such a service may be more attractive to central government agencies, although appropriate funding models would need to be determined.

STANDARDS

 AS/NZS ISO 19115 - ANZLIC Metadata Profile Version 1.1.

 ISO 19115/2.

 OGC compliant web map and coverage services (WMS & WCS)

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6.4 Administrative Boundaries

WHAT ARE ADMINISTRATIVE BOUNDARIES?

Administrative Boundaries define the spatial extent of legislative, regulatory, electoral, statistical and maritime geographic areas.

The datasets depict national, regional and local boundaries that can be used in visualising geospatial information within the areas defined by the relevant boundaries. In addition, Administrative Boundaries can also be used to aggregate information for analytical purposes that support planning and reporting.

WHAT DATASETS MAKE UP THE ADMINISTRATIVE BOUNDARIES THEME?

Statistics New Zealand: . Meshblocks . Area Units . Territorial Authority (TA) and Regional Council (RC) boundaries . General and Maori Electoral boundaries . Community Boards and Wards . Health Boards NZ Localities: . NZ Localities . Major Localities . Administrative Coastline NZ Post: . Postcodes Ministry for Primary Industries . Fisheries quota management boundaries . CCAMLR (Antarctica) management boundaries Emergency Services: . Administrative boundaries (Police, Fire, Ambulance Regions and Districts) . Response boundaries (Fire and Ambulance) . Fire Jurisdiction Natural Resources Sector: . Environmental management and monitoring boundaries Public Service Agencies: . Agency specific administrative boundaries . International and offshore boundaries Emergency Services : . Administrative boundaries (Police, Fire, Ambulance Regions and Districts) . Response boundaries (Fire and Ambulance) . Fire Jurisdiction

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WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE BOUNDARIES THEME?

The Administrative Boundaries theme is used to visualise administrative areas that represent voting districts, redistributions, zoning, socio-economic analysis, regional planning, service distribution and local and state government boundaries.

In addition, Administrative Boundaries can also be used to aggregate information for analytical purposes and geographically stable boundaries (over time) can be used to establish and analyse time series trends. Administrative boundary data in combination with geo-coded address data, demographic information and agency specific business information underpins the ability to perform high quality spatial analysis.

The aggregation and analysis of data includes:

 Evidence-based development and assessment of government policy.

 Providing the ability to undertake spatial accounting.

 Regional analysis for government, health, education, business and a range of other purposes.

 Support for emergency management.

 Market catchment analysis, micromarketing, customer analysis and market segmentation.

CURRENT STATUS

Statistics New Zealand are the steward of Meshblocks, from which a number of other datasets are derived. A meshblock is the smallest geographic area at which statistical data can be aggregated and released, in order to protect identification of individuals. Meshblocks are maintained in LandOnline by LINZ, although Statistics NZ are investigating options to take over the custodianship. The meshblock dataset is released annually.

The New Zealand Fire Service, in conjunction with New Zealand Post and Quotable Value, maintains the NZ Localities dataset. The dataset conforms to a set of business rules based around identifying common communities of interest, in order to enable unique identification of address for postal, geocoding, and emergency service uses. Boundaries are generally coincident with either cadastral parcel boundaries or topographic features such as ridgelines. The dataset has become the default suburbs dataset for New Zealand. The dataset is not openly available under Creative Commons licensing, but is available for free on request, and is updated frequently.

Postcodes are maintained by NZ Post and designed to improve bulk mail efficiencies. They are loosely built on the NZ Localities dataset, but purposely do not relate to communities of interest. NZ Post sell the dataset under an annual licence.

International boundaries, including the territorial sea baseline, 12 mile limit, Exclusive Economic Zone, and negotiated boundaries, are maintained by LINZ, however, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is responsible for any negotiations and treaties.

Many other agencies maintain boundary datasets specific to their own requirements, generally independently from other boundary datasets. Some may be based on other datasets like cadastral boundaries or meshblocks, while others may follow topographic features. Some are roughly drawn and do not relate to any feature or dataset.

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FUTURE STATUS

Meshblocks continue to be well maintained and openly available to support statistical uses.

Territorial Authorities officially define suburb names and suburb boundaries (but not using meshblocks as a base. Meshblocks often follow road centrelines making them unsuitable for defining communities of interest), and these are incorporated into the NZ Localities dataset to provide an authoritative suburb and locality boundaries dataset to support geocoding and addressing purposes.

Derived administrative boundaries datasets are built on an appropriate base dataset, and align vertically (vertical topology) with all other datasets built off the same base dataset.

Identify and capture/add new administrative boundary information as identified and based on a prioritised list.

STANDARDS

 AS/NZS ISO 19115 - ANZLIC Metadata Profile Version 1.1

 AS/NZS ISO 19131:2008 Geographic Information – Data product specifications

 Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Feature Service (WFS) Implementation Specification 1.1.0 (OGC Document No. 04-094)

 Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map Service (WMS) Implementation Specification 1.3.0 (OGC Document No. 06-042)

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6.5 Elevation and Depth

WHAT IS ELEVATION AND DEPTH?

Elevation is the measurement of the Earth’s surface (wet or dry) above or below a vertical datum to obtain either the height of the land or a bathymetric depth. Elevation and Depth data is collected using a range of sensors; including laser, sound navigation and ranging (sonar), radio detection and ranging (radar), optical remote sensing and survey techniques to derive spot heights, raster surfaces, contours and digital models of terrain.

Digital surface models (DSMs) are derived from source survey data represent 3D representation of the Earth showing all features in the landscape, including buildings and vegetation. DSMs are used for telecommunications management, air safety, forest management and 3D modelling and simulation. Digital elevation models (DEMs) are a 3D representation of the Earth’s surface, devoid of all natural, vegetation and man-made above ground features, which is usually derived from a DSM.

WHAT DATASETS MAKE UP THE ELEVATION AND DEPTH THEME?

Elevation:

Nationally there are a several DEMs available, mostly derived from one or more of the following source datasets:

 3 second (~90 metre) Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM1) and 1 second (~30 metre) Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM2) derived: DEM  20 m DEM derived from LINZ Topographic mapping data using contours and spot height data sourced from aerial imagery

Some examples are:

 Geographx DEM 2.1 with a cell resolution of 8m.  Landcare Research New Zealand 25 m DEM

Locally, Territorial Authorities (TAs) and Regional Councils (RCs) acquire high resolution elevation data, usually using Lidar, and usually in parallel with aerial photography acquisition.

Related derived datasets, of variable availability, coverage, and accuracy, include break lines, point cloud, and contours.

Depth:

Level 1 datasets include:

 Sea Level Information (observations),  Bathymetric Soundings (Spot Heights),  Base points (Lat, Lon)

Level 2 datasets are derived from Level 1 datasets and include:

 Bathymetric Grid (DEM),  Bathymetric Contours

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WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE ELEVATION AND DEPTH THEME?

Elevation and Depth provides an authoritative digital representation of the Earth’s surface enabling evidence based decision making, policy development and an essential reference to other foundation datasets.

Elevation and Depth underpins:

 Safe hydrographic, aeronautical and road navigation.

 Climate Science, including Climate Change Adaptation.

 Emergency management and natural hazard risk assessment.

 Environmental, including water management.

 Engineering projects and infrastructure development.

 Definition of maritime and administrative boundaries.

 Defence and national security.

 Natural resource exploration and exploitation.

CURRENT STATUS

Elevation:

The LINZ 20m contours are currently the most reliable coherent elevation dataset in New Zealand. These contours were created during the 1970s-1990s as part of the production of the NZMS 260 topographical map series with minimal maintenance since.

The New Zealand Defence Force is the custodian in New Zealand of the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission datasets. Level 1 (3 second, 90 m) is freely available. Availability of Level 2 (1 second, 30m) is restricted but may be provided on a case by case basis.

Many organisations have created elevation datasets derived from the either or both of the above sources. Some are freely available (e.g. Landcare). Some are commercially owned and are charged for (e.g. Geographx). All derived datasets display the limitations inherent in the source datasets, although some have been supplemented by additional data and/or reprocessed.

There are a number of higher accuracy disparate elevation datasets that have been collected by individual agencies (mainly TAs and RC’s) in pockets across New Zealand but these are not collected to common standards and are not easily interoperable.

Depth:

Within LINZ, bathymetry data is of varied coverage and resolution, is collected to disparate standards and specifications, and is stored in hard copy and/or digital format. The fundamental products available through the LINZ Data Service are:

 Paper charts  Raster Navigation Charts (RNCs)  Electronic Navigation Charts (ENCs)

Across New Zealand (outside of LINZ), the current status of bathymetry data is generally unclear.

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FUTURE STATUS

Elevation:

Continued availability of existing national coverage datasets at existing or similar resolutions and accuracy.

In addition, the development of an open, fit-for-purpose coherent national DEM with a minimum accuracy of 1m in populated areas and coastal zones and 5m in unpopulated areas. To achieve this, the following will need to be determined:

 a stock take of existing datasets,  economic analysis and justification,  funding secured.

Depth:

LINZ is committed to building a hydrographic data infrastructure (HDI). The HDI will ensure bathymetry data is discoverable, available and usable, and also supports LINZ’s international obligations for the creation of ENC’s.

LINZ will take a wider role in ensuring that future NZ bathymetry acquisition is coordinated and bathymetry DEM products are openly available.

A stocktake of bathymetry data is necessary, as it is not currently known what bathymetry data exists across New Zealand.

Investigate a common vertical datum for both land and sea elevation data, with the aim of better defining the coastal zone.

STANDARDS

Metadata:

 AS/NZS ISO 19115 - ANZLIC Metadata Profile Version 1.1.

Elevation:

 OGC Compliant Web: Map; Feature; and Coverage Services (WMS, WFS, WCS).

 Intergovernmental Committee on Surveying and Mapping (ICSM) LiDAR Specification and Tender Template and ICSM Guidelines for Digital Elevation Data.

Bathymetry:

 IHO S44 Standards for Hydrographic Surveys Special Publication No. 44.

 IHO S57 Transfer Standard for Digital Hydrographic Data Special Publication No. 57.

 IHO S100 Universal Hydrographic Data Model.

 S102 – IHO Geospatial Standard for Hydrographic Data Special Publication No. 102. Bathymetric Surface Product Specification.

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6.6 Cadastre and Property

WHAT IS CADASTRE AND PROPERTY?

A property is something that is capable of being owned, either in the form of real property (land) or personal property (chattels). The interest can involve physical aspects, such as the use of land, or conceptual rights, such as a right to use the land in the future.

The cadastre is an up to date parcel based land information system which contains a record of interests in land (i.e. rights, restrictions and responsibilities). The cadastre includes a geometric description of land parcels linked to other records describing the nature of the interests, the ownership or control of those interests, and often the value of the parcel and its improvements.

A land parcel is an area of land with defined boundaries, under unique ownership for specific real property rights.

A cadastral product or service visualises the boundaries of land parcels, often buildings on land, the parcel identifier, basic topographic features and sometimes boundary corner monumentation.

The cadastre and property theme provides the basic fabric of land ownership. It consists of the national cadastral database and associated parcel and property information.

Descriptive data includes the identifier, tenure, ownership type, size, value, land use and legal rights or restrictions associated with each separate land object.

WHAT DATASETS MAKE UP THE CADASTRE AND PROPERTY THEME?

LandOnline, which contains:

 Land parcels  Survey definition  Land transfer registered ownership and interests  Land ownership and interests (non land transfer)  District Valuation Rolls  Other government-administered property rights, restrictions, and responsibilities.

Quotable Value Valuation datasets

Territorial Authority (TA) datasets for Rating Unit

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE CADASTRE AND PROPERTY THEME?

Land and property data underpins the economic, social and environmental fabric of New Zealand and is used, amongst other things, to:

 Secure tenure for access to capital.

 Define allowable use of land.

 Manage Title and Tenure, Nature Conservation, Heritage Protection, Defence, and Disaster Management.

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 Inform water and carbon accounting programs.

CURRENT STATUS

New Zealand has a robust legal framework for property rights and our Landonline survey and title system is, by world standards, very advanced.

While LandOnline and the cadastre contain all the necessary measurements and survey data to accurately define parcel boundaries, the digital parcel boundary dataset in LandOnline is not consistently to survey accurate standard. This reflects the source of the dataset, which was originally captured in the 1990’s by scanning the NZMS262 series of paper cadastral maps. Most data in urban areas has now been upgraded to survey accuracy, however inaccuracies of up to 100m remain for areas of rural NZ.

New Zealand uses the Torrens system of land title. Titles are held as a computer register in LandOnline. Not all parcels of land have a title, and in particular, Crown land may not be well identified.

LandOnline is managed by LINZ, and updated in real-time, via online lodgement processes and quality assurance mechanisms.

All digital survey and parcel information (including road centreline and address) are available either free (via the LINZ Data Service) or for the cost of dissemination (bulk data extract delivered on physical media).

Rating Units (and other elements of property management data, for example, building footprints) are not available as a geospatial dataset. Some TA’s are able to derive such a dataset from parcel and title information. Quotable Value maintain a non-spatial table linking land parcels to certificates of title that enables a nationwide geospatial dataset of “property boundaries” to be built. The dataset is available for a commercial fee.

FUTURE STATUS

LINZ is currently consulting with the cadastral industry to gain consensus on building a cadastre fit for purpose for emerging and future needs.

LINZ’s Spatial Parcel Improvement project will assess the options for improving the accuracy of the land parcel boundary dataset in LandOnline to full survey accuracy. The major constraint is not technical, but the level of resource required to complete the task in an acceptable timeframe.

LINZ’s Conveyancing 2020 and Future-proofing of property rights work has identified a strong need to better aggregate location-based property data and deliver it to consumers in a more consistent user centric way.

A property management framework being developed for Canterbury in support of the post- earthquake rebuild is intended to provide a template from which a national property management framework can be developed.

STANDARDS

 AS/NZS ISO 19115 - ANZLIC Metadata Profile Version 1.1.

 AS/NZS ISO 19131:2008 Geographic Information – Data product specifications.

 OGC compliant web services (WMS).

 Standards for the cadastre are set the Surveyor-General in terms of the Cadastral Survey Act

6.7 Transport

WHAT IS TRANSPORT DATA?

The Transport network provides the means for moving people, goods and freight, and other services from one location to another.

In countries as remote and relatively sparsely populated such as Australia and New Zealand, having effective transport systems is crucial for maintaining competitive and sustainable trade, business and recreation activities.

Australia’s transport network dataset covers the 813,000 km of public roads and several thousand kilometres of private road networks, 44,800 km of rail, 58 marine ports and 330 certified or registered airports. Australia relies on sea transport for 99 percent of its exports and a substantial proportion of domestic freight also depends on coastal shipping. New Zealand has over 83,000 km of public roads, 4,000 km of operating rail lines, 16 major marine ports and 82 airports. Ninety-two percent of freight (by weight) in New Zealand is moved by road and 800 million by rail. Of the 389 billion kilometres travelled by passengers in 2009-10, 264 billion kilometres were travelled by passenger car.

Maintaining and protecting our transport systems requires significant investment. In 2009, the governments of Australia invested $15.8 billion in road maintenance alone. In 2013, central government funding for roading projects in New Zealand was $3.6 billion, with additional funding from local government. This investment relies upon detailed and accurate spatial datasets.

In New Zealand, the theme is divided into four sub-themes, one for each of the separate modes of transport: road, rail, air, and water.

WHAT DATASETS MAKE UP THE TRANSPORT THEME?

Road:

 NZTopo vector road centreline and associated feature classes (tunnel, bridge, etc)  NZTopo500, NZTopo250, NZTopo50 raster  Cadastral road centreline and road parcel  Private sector physical road centreline datasets and associated feature classes (intersection points, turn restrictions, etc)  TA road centreline datasets and RAMM linear referenced datasets  NZTA State Highway centreline

Rail:

 KiwiRail rail centreline and associated crossing and station datasets  Private sector rail centreline and associated datasets  NZTopo50 Rail centreline and associated feature classes (railway stations, level crossings, tracks, etc)

Sea:

 Maritime NZ Shipping Routes

Air:

 Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)/Airways Corp flight paths, air routes and obstructions datasets

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE TRANSPORT THEME?

Transport data are used for:

 Delivering emergency services.

 Mapping, charting and navigation.

 Planning for and delivering resources and services.

 Asset management and monitoring.

 Defining boundaries.

 Tracking logistics.

 Infrastructure planning and development.

CURRENT STATUS

The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) has agreed to take on the stewardship of a national physical road centreline dataset. Funding was gained in July 2012 to facilitate the development of a business case.

The private sector currently maintains fully attributed physical road centreline data and ancillary network information. These datasets are commercially available under varying licence conditions. The cost varies depending on the datasets and services purchased.

Openly available topographic and cadastral road datasets are available from Land Information New Zealand (LINZ), however, these datasets reflect their origins. The cadastral centreline does not depict a physical or formed road network. The topographic centreline is generalised and designed for 1:50,000 scale maps, with an accuracy of +/- 22m. Neither dataset is fully attributed with network information.

Territorial Authorities (TAs) have the statutory responsibility for maintaining public roads in New Zealand (other than State Highways). Maintenance information held in their linear- referenced RAMM (Road Asset Management and Maintenance) databases provides a source of road network information, although this information is not widely available.

The Airways Corporation and the CAA maintain the datasets required for the safe operation of air services, and produce visual navigation charts (VNCs) at four scales. There is no nationally consistent dataset that meets user requirements for aerial obstructions, particularly those under 60m high.

New Zealand does not have mandatory, defined shipping lanes. A dataset of shipping routes and restricted areas is maintained by Maritime New Zealand.

Data relating to other transport datasets such as ports, ferry terminals, are generally sourced from existing topographic databases, or heads-up digitised by the user to meet a specific need.

FUTURE STATUS

NZTA will develop a spatially accurate road centreline dataset, utilising RAMM data, imagery data, and other data as available. The dataset will not be a full navigation-capable dataset, but will support uses such as address geocoding.

Development of an aerial obstructions dataset has been requested, and will be progressed with the Defence Force (on behalf of the Air Force) and the CAA as resources allow.

In the long term, the transport theme will develop into a more comprehensive multi-modal and integrated transport network data model, potentially including other forms such as pedestrian

and cycling. This will form a critical input for development of achieving sustainable transport systems that will assist the national economic productivity while minimising social and environmental impacts.

STANDARDS

 AS/NZS ISO 19115 - ANZLIC Metadata Profile Version 1.1.

 AS/NZS ISO 19131:2008 Geographic Information – Data product specifications.

 OGC compliant web services (WMS).

6.8 Positioning

WHAT IS POSITIONING?

The national geodetic system and the national survey control system gain statutory authority from section 7 of the Cadastral Survey Act 2002. The Surveyor-General has a duty to maintain these systems. The datasets that define these systems make up the positioning theme.

The theme includes the coordinates and their uncertainty of all location based data promulgated from, or related to, the New Zealand geodetic network (including CORS), the defining New Zealand Vertical Datum, and tide gauge stations.

WHAT DATASETS MAKE UP THE TRANSPORT THEME?

 Geodetic Network Datasets:  Geodetic Datums and Projections  Geodetic Control Marks  Geodetic Observations  Geoid Model  Gravity  Velocity/Deformation Model

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE TRANSPORT THEME?

The national geodetic system and the national survey control system together are New Zealand’s authoritative, reliable, high accuracy spatial referencing system and provides a common reference for all geospatial data.

Services are used by specialists and non-specialists alike, for a growing number of applications (e.g. surveying, construction, mining, precision agriculture, asset capture, tracking, navigation, emergency response, law enforcement, insurance, security, climate/weather forecast and recreation). In order to maximise the benefits of positioning and the enabling infrastructure, and to provide assurance to users of the fitness for purpose of the position outputs, guiding principles are required to enable the consistent and reliable determination and use of position information.

CURRENT STATUS

Land Information New Zealand maintains the national geodetic system and the national survey control system. The systems cover New Zealand, its offshore islands and the Ross Dependency in Antarctica.

The network has been developed over 150 years. Through the advent of enhanced satellite based positioning systems and improved absolute positioning accuracies, we are seeing a move away from the use of traditional survey marks in the ground to the development and use of real time CORS networks. This is necessitating the provision of new data sets such as real time GNSS data-streams.

LINZ carries out the following activities as part of its daily business:

 Physical maintenance of trig beacons and other protective structures

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 Provision and maintenance of the survey control network

 Operation and maintenance of the PositioNZ network of continuous GPS stations - network of approximately 35 permanent GPS stations throughout New Zealand

 Survey Mark Protection Advisory Service and urgent works

The New Zealand Vertical Datum 2009 currently has an accuracy of 8-10cm across New Zealand.

PositioNZ is LINZ's Global Positioning System Active Control Network. The website allows users to download GPS 30 second RINEX files from the active control stations which can be used with remote GPS station data to determine precise positions in terms of New Zealand Geodetic Datum 2000.

FUTURE STATUS

With the rapid increase in the development of accurate location based services there is a need to provide a geodetic system that is accurate and will meet the needs of many new users and uses over the next 5-10 years. These users will be non expert and there will be a need to provide a geodetic system that is accurate and managed in a way that complexities in the system are invisible to users.

It is probable that by about 2020 (or before then) the current geodetic datum will need updating and it is highly likely that this will be more of a global datum in nature.

It is important that a geodetic strategy be developed so that there is a clear direction for ongoing development of the geodetic system.

STANDARDS

 International Earth Rotation Service (IERS) Conventions (2010), see http://tai.bipm.org/iers/conv2010/conv2010.html

 Real time GNSS data: RTCM 3.0, see http://www.rtcm.org

 Static GNSS data: RINEX format, see ftp://igscb.jpl.nasa.gov/pub/data/format/

 Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement, corrected and reprinted, 1995, International Organisation for Standardization, ISBN 92 67-10188-9

 Standard for the New Zealand survey control system (LINZS25003)

 Standard for the geospatial accuracy framework (LINZS25005)

 New Zealand standards defining datums and projections

6.9 Water

WHAT IS WATER DATA?

Water can be described by hydrology; the study of movement, distribution and quality of water, including the hydrologic cycles, water resources, environmental watershed sustainability and groundwater systems.

Hydrology includes surface hydrology, hydrogeology, drainage basin management and water quality where water plays the central role.

In New Zealand, the hydrology elements that this theme includes are grouped into sub-themes and described as:

Surface Water

 Water in a watercourse, lake or wetland; and

 Any water flowing over or lying on land:

o after having precipitated naturally; or o after having risen to the surface naturally from underground.

Groundwater

 Water occurring naturally below ground level (whether in an aquifer or otherwise); or

 Water occurring at a place below ground that has been pumped, diverted or released to that place for the purpose of being stored there.

 Does not include water held in underground tanks, pipes or other works.

Offshore

 Marine environment classifications

 Offshore exploration data (seismic line locations, etc) but not including sub-seafloor geological data.

WHAT DATASETS MAKE UP THE WATER THEME?

Ministry for the Environment, in conjunction with NIWA, have developed the:

 Marine Environment Classifications (MEC)  River Environments Classifications (REC)  Estuarine Environments Classification

The NZTopo dataset contains a number of object classes for depicting water related objects on the NZTopo50 and NZTopo250 map series. Object classes include:

 River and stream centreline and polygons  Lake polygons  Canal, drain and water-race centrelines

Various groundwater datasets are available, including river flow monitoring data and water quality monitoring data.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE WATER THEME?

Water information supports the government in addressing issues such as:

 Climate change.

 Water and natural resource management, including coal seam gas extraction.

 Emergency management.

 Hazard mitigation or disaster risk reduction.

 Environmental planning and monitoring.

 Urban development and agriculture.

 Insurance, engineering and mining.

CURRENT STATUS

The Marine Environments Classification dataset is managed by NIWA on behalf of the Ministry for the Environment. The MEC is an environmental classification of the marine environment of the New Zealand region, an ecosystem-based spatial framework designed for marine management purposes. The dataset was last updated in 2011.

Similarly to the MEC, is the River Environments Classifications dataset, a network of 'sections' that are associated with their upstream catchments. The mapped classification appears as a linear mosaic showing longitudinal spatial patterns that are typical of patterns of many properties of river ecosystems. The dataset was published in 2010.

Also similarly to the MEC, The Estuarine Environments Classification provides a framework for classifying New Zealand's estuaries. The dataset was published in 2011. A Coastal Environments Classification focuses on mapping the open coast unconsolidated shores and beaches

NZTopo data is maintained by LINZ and is made available in common GIS formats under Creative Common licencing through the LINZ DATA Service. The data is regularly updated primarily using imagery.

Groundwater datasets, including flow monitoring, are the responsibility of Regional Councils (RCs), or the Territorial Authority (TA) if they are a unitary council. Datasets tend to be regionally focused, with little consistency on a national basis.

Other water monitoring datasets, such as water quality, are maintained by NIWA.

FUTURE STATUS

Datasets maintained by NIWA for the Ministry for the Environment will continue to be updated and available.

Datasets collected by RCs and TAs will be maintained to consistent national standards, and consolidated and made available as national datasets.

STANDARDS

 NZ Topo Data Dictionary v4.2. Land Information New Zealand.

 OGC compliant Web Map Services (WMS) and Web Feature Services (WFS).

6.10 Land Use and Land Cover

WHAT IS LAND USE AND LAND COVER?

Land cover is the observed biophysical cover on the Earth’s surface including trees, shrubs, grasses, soils, exposed rocks and water bodies; as well as anthropogenic elements such as plantations, crops and incorporates land use, built environments and utility infrastructure. Land cover changes for many reasons, including seasonal weather, severe weather events such as cyclones, floods and fires, and human activities such as mining, agriculture and urbanisation.

A significant component of the value of land cover data comes from the capacity to use land cover dynamics to track change over time and in combination with the appropriate ancillary sources, map changes in land use and land management practice.

WHAT DATASETS MAKE UP THE LAND USE AND LAND COVER THEME?

 Landcover Database (LCDB) version 3

 NZTopo land cover and land use object classes

 Territorial Authority (TA) built environment datasets including building footprints

 Utility Infrastructure datasets (e.g electricity networks).

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF LAND USE AND LAND COVER THEME?

The land use and land cover theme is an essential and authoritative source of information that can provide insight into the response of land cover to a wide variety of drivers, both natural and anthropogenic.

This provides natural resource managers with the capacity to identify emerging patterns of land cover change and provides a broad spatial and historical context within which to interpret that land cover change. This can be combined with ancillary information to assess what, if any, on-ground or policy interventions are required to mitigate the emerging behaviour.

Information about land cover dynamics is essential to understanding and addressing a range of national challenges such as drought, salinity, water availability and ecosystem health:

 Mapping and monitoring land use, natural resources, biodiversity, water usage, drought, pollution, minerals, water quality, wetlands, groundwater dependent ecosystems, land clearing, floodplains, crop acreage and growth, remnant vegetation, land degradation, irrigation, dryland salinity, and vegetation dynamics;

 Management of forests, rivers, fisheries, catchments and agriculture;

 National inventories of forests, greenhouse gases, endangered species, land cover, topography, and carbon sinks;

 Emergency management of floods, bushfires and landslides;

CURRENT STATUS

The LCDB is a thematic classification of land cover and land use classes. It is currently maintained by Landcare Research Ltd under a Public Good Science Fund grant. The grant ends in mid 2014, with the delivery of LCDB version 4. Derived from multispectral photography, the LCDB 3 was released in June 2012 and divides land into 33 classes. It is freely available under a creative commons licence.

The NZTopo dataset maintained by LINZ contains a number of object classes related to land cover and land use. The NZTopo dataset is the only data available (either locally or nationally) for many of these classes (e.g Fences, building points, and natural features like glaciers and sinkholes, etc). The data often reflects the cartographic limitations of the NZTopo50 map series. While extremely widely and commonly used, this may be due more to the lack of any other available dataset rather than these datasets necessarily meeting the needs of the user. NZTopo data is freely available under a creative commons license.

Most TAs maintain built environment datasets for their own internal use. These datasets are not generally available, however they may be provided on a case by case basis on request. Datasets commonly include building footprints, and utility networks.

FUTURE STATUS

LINZ is currently conducting a strategic review of the topographic service. Technology changes, particularly with regard to 3D mapping and automated generalisation, will open up potential for new ways of capturing, maintaining and presenting topographic information.

The future of the Landcover Database is assured with a custodian, and funding in place.

Built environment datasets of national and consistent coverage are available and maintained.

STANDARDS

 AS/NZS ISO 19115 - ANZLIC Metadata Profile Version 1.1.

 Geographic Information – Classification systems: Part 2: Land Cover Meta Language (LCML) - ISO 19144-2:2012