Aerial imagery now online for reuse

Land Information Minister Maurice Williamson today announced New Zealand’s most current publicly owned aerial imagery, covering 95 per cent of the country, is now available online.

Land Information New Zealand has been working with other agencies to make imagery available under an open licence, and to ensure it is accessible through the LINZ Data Service.

“Releasing publicly held aerial imagery for reuse has the potential to create cost savings for the public sector and generate economic benefits for the private sector.

“Imagery can be used to improve productivity in agriculture and forestry, and can be used in construction, engineering, disaster recovery planning, and land and asset management.

“Making aerial imagery available is in line with the government’s goal to make more publicly held data accessible to as many people as possible,” Mr Williamson says.

LINZ is also working with local authorities and government agencies to establish a national programme for coordinating public sector imagery purchases.  This will ensure imagery is purchased on an open licence and at a consistent standard, which will mean value for money and open access.

Aerial imagery provides an accurate photographic representation of the earth’s surface and features, and can be used to visualise landscape or to understand how an area has evolved over time.