LINZ encourages mapping innovation

Land Information Minister Louise Upston says a new approach to mapping will encourage Kiwis to find innovative uses for information about our land.

“Land Information New Zealand’s (LINZ) topographic data – the authoritative record of the country’s physical features – has long been used to create maps, but recently we’ve seen businesses reuse it to create some rather clever products.

“LINZ’s Topographic Strategy sets actions to encourage everything from creating a range of tramping apps to building software for planning the location of wind farms,” says Ms Upston.

“LINZ has begun to produce topographic products in new formats that can be reused by web and mobile app developers in the most simple way possible. I’m also excited to see that LINZ will work to coordinate data held by other organisations so it can be used by not only LINZ, but others who can benefit from this open data.

“At the same time, LINZ recognises the continued importance of the trusty ‘topo’ map in helping people find their way in the bush and outdoors. It will continue to develop maps to high levels of accuracy while reflecting new uses for topographic information.”

LINZ produces the Topo50 and 250 series of maps for New Zealand and its offshore dependencies. Digital images of these maps and the data used to produce them are available online through the Land Information New Zealand Data Service.

In developing the Topographic Strategy, LINZ sought the views of a range of map users and organisations that use or produce topographic data regularly.

Read the New Zealand Topographic Strategy. 

View topographic data on the LINZ Data Service (LDS).