Koordinates Ltd to Help Make LINZ Data More Accessible

Media release: Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) has accepted a tender from Koordinates Ltd to develop a service that will allow users of LINZ’s spatial information to easily locate and download the data online.

LINZ went to the market in August, seeking a partner to develop web services and tools for making our data more available and accessible.

Jan Pierce, General Manager Customer Services, said LINZ received a number of well-considered responses to the tender, and underwent a robust selection process. Koordinates Ltd was selected last week.

“Selecting the right partner for this work was difficult, as we received many credible options from a wide range of companies,” says Jan.

“An important part of our decision-making was to ensure the partner selected had an innovative approach, backed up by specific examples of this working in other environments. Working collaboratively with Koordinates Ltd will ensure more effective and efficient re-use of LINZ’s fundamental data.”

One of LINZ’s core goals is to improve the way New Zealanders find, use and share geospatial information. LINZ is meeting this goal by making our own land and seabed information more accessible, and ensuring it is reliable, up-to-date and fit for purpose.

“LINZ’s topographical, hydrographical, survey, titles and geodetic data is very important to geospatial analysis and decision-making in New Zealand,” says Jan.

“Previously, access to this data has not always been easy, and this has influenced the way many people and organisations have established their geospatial capability. Koordinates Ltd will now work with us to develop the LINZ data service – enabling wider, easier and more innovative use of our data.”

The LINZ Data Service (eventually hosted at data.linz.govt.nz) will be launched in July 2011.

“Innovators will have the opportunity to develop new products and add more value to our data more quickly,” says Jan. “For example, an organisation with GIS capability will be able to directly access survey and title datasets, and mash that up with customer and product data to make quicker and better business and planning decisions.”

Collaboration with the geospatial industry is key as the LINZ data service is developed. LINZ will work with a panel of industry experts to design the solution, assess and monitor its progress, and provide feedback throughout the entire build process.

LINZ is responsible for coordinating and leading the New Zealand Geospatial Strategy. Geospatial information added $1.2 billion in productivity-related benefits to the New Zealand economy in 2008. However, this figure could be much higher if New Zealand’s datasets are more freely available and accessible.

“Unleashing the rich data that LINZ holds, to be used by more New Zealanders, for more purposes, can only benefit our economy,” says Jan.