A National Elevation Programme currently being carried out by Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) in partnership with Regional Councils aims to make available a consistent, high quality baseline elevation dataset for all of New Zealand within the next few years. The power of this dataset lies in its ability to provide a deeper understanding of our landscape through higher resolution mapping across the regions.
The impending availability of this data is expected to unlock new opportunities in many industries such as forestry and agriculture.
This programme will deliver three datasets generated after capture is complete. These are:
• 1m gridded bare earth Digital Elevation Model (DEM/DTM)
• 1m gridded Digital Surface Model (DSM)
• the classified point clouds.
To promote greater visibility of information for existing and future elevation datasets, LINZ has released an interactive map that allows people to easily search for the most up to date information relating to when data will be available for their area of interest. For data that is already available, links are provided that point to where the data can be accessed for free via open licence on LINZ Data Service (for the DEM and DSM) or Open Topography (for the point clouds).
The map along with additional resources can be accessed via the following link.
Future potential:
Analysis by Scion has found that nationwide DEMs have the potential to set a useful baseline for the application of other exciting technologies in forestry such as satellite photogrammetry and InSAR for the continued cost-effective management of forest inventory.
From a two-year research program, Scion has also developed methods to estimate forest yield for small to medium-scale forest plantations using this technology. These methods could then be deployed at a national level once the data is available.
To ask a question or provide feedback, please contact customersupport@linz.govt.nz
Source: Land Information New Zealand
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