Establishing the Geospatial Office
In this section...
- Statement of Intent Homepage 2007/08
- Minister's foreword
- Chief Executive's overview
- Statement of responsibility
- Strategic direction
- Introduction
- Our strategic context
- The outcomes we want for land management and land information
- Our key priorities 2006-2009
- Introduction
- High Country Policy
- Establishing the Geospatial Office
- Regulatory interventions review
- Supporting the 2007 Electoral Representation Commission
- Landonline 100% e-Lodgement programme and associated projects
- Hydrographic Data Infrastructure (HDI)
- Topographic 1:50,000 Map Series
- Overseas Investment Office database
- Risk management
- Focusing on our future capability
- Forecast financial statements
- Appendices
- Contact details
Why establishing the Geospatial Office is a priority
Geospatial information is data about the location and names of features beneath, on, or above the surface of the earth. Geospatial information is important for a wide range of government and private sector activities, including managing hazards and emergencies, planning defence and transport services, managing the environment, settling Treaty of Waitangi claims, and providing health services.
Public agencies, including the emergency services, health and defence, support a co-ordinated approach to geospatial information. A co-ordinated approach to managing geospatial information will increase efficiency and effectiveness, and optimise the benefits of public investment in geospatial resources. It reduces duplication, increases awareness of existing information, improves access to information, makes information more usable by ensuring interoperability, and ensures that priority geospatial datasets meet the wider needs of New Zealand.
In 2006 Cabinet agreed to a vision for geospatial information, key principles to guide decision making and strategic goals to provide a coherent approach to addressing issues and optimising benefit from public investment. Collectively these constitute the New Zealand Geospatial Strategy.
The New Zealand Geospatial Strategy's long-term vision is:
Trusted geospatial information that is available, accessible, able to be shared and used to support the:
- safety and security of New Zealand
- growth of an inclusive, innovative economy, and
- preservation and enhancement of our society, culture and environment.
The principles that will guide decision making are:
- geospatial information is collected once, to agreed standards to enable sharing by many
- discovery and access of geospatial information is easy
- within the appropriate context, geospatial information is easy to understand and use
- geospatial information that government needs is readily available and its use is not unduly restricted, and
- geospatial content is appropriately preserved and protected.
The four strategic goals (or broad categories of activities) that will support a co-ordinated approach to geospatial issues are:
- governance - establish the governance structure needed to optimise the benefits from government's geospatial resources
- data - ensure the capture, preservation and maintenance of fundamental (priority) geospatial datasets and set guidelines for non-fundamental geospatial data
- access - ensure that government geospatial information and services can be readily discovered, appraised and accessed
- interoperability - ensure that geospatial datasets, services and systems owned by different government agencies and local government can be combined and reused for multiple purposes.
The governance arrangements, including the establishment of a Geospatial Office within LINZ, are essential to the achievement of the vision. They provide a mechanism for co-ordination and collective decision making across the wider geospatial sector.
Contribution to end outcomes
Availability of land information - by adopting a coordinated approach to the management of geospatial information that will increase the efficiency and effectiveness in the development, management and use of that information. Collectively the following improvements will optimise the benefits of public investment in geospatial resources by:
- reducing duplication
- increasing awareness of existing information
- improving access to information
- making information more usable by ensuring interoperability, and
- ensuring that priority geospatial datasets meet the wider needs of New Zealand.
Contribution to intermediate outcomes
An effective system for defining and transacting land.
Convenient access to integrated land information.
Activities
During 2007/08, LINZ will develop an inter-agency work programme focused on creating a more co-ordinated approach to managing government's geospatial information resources. This work programme will initially involve developing an all-of government geospatial policy programme, and will determine which initiatives should be undertaken in relation to geospatial datasets critical to the effective running of government, and in what order of priority.
It will take into account the importance of active engagement with industry and the desirability of expanding the work programme over time to meet wider national geospatial information requirements.
Performance measures
Development of an inter-agency work programme focused on developing a more co-ordinated approach to the management of government's geospatial information resources.
