Hydrographic Standards and Specifications

Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) produces and maintains current hydrographic standards and specifications for its products and services. These define the characteristics of charts and publications. All LINZ contractors must comply with them.

Current Standards and Specifications

Some of the documents below can also be found in the Regulatory Interventions, Standards and Guidelines database.

The IHO Manual on Hydrography is released to provide knowledge on the concepts involved in hydrography as well as guidance to plan and execute hydrographic surveys. The Manual is considered to be a professional guide for hydrographic surveyors and a tool for teachers and students involved in hydrographic courses or programs.

The entire Manual can be downloaded in zip format or as separate pdf files.

• Contents and Chapter 1 (pdf 388KB)
• Chapter 2 (pdf 1.16MB)
• Chapter 3 (pdf 1.16MB)
• Chapter 4 (pdf 718KB)
• Chapter 5 (pdf 3.17MB)
• Chapter 6 (pdf 2.65MB)
• Chapter 7 (pdf 1.08MB)
• Appendices (pdf 930KB)



• Entire Manual in zip file format (zip file 10.5MB)

• Definitions for Hydrographic Chart Production (pdf 153KB)
• Hydrographic Metadata Specification TH123 v1.1 (pdf 187KB)
• HYSPEC Version 3.0 Technical Specifications for Hydrographic Surveys (pdf 762KB)
• Provisional Swath Sonar Survey Specifications (HTML)
• Hydrographic Survey; Quality Assurance Representative; Requirements (pdf 109KB)
• CHARTspec v3.10 - Specifications for New Zealand Hydrographic Charts (pdf 953KB)
• Standard for Hydrographic Chart Correction (pdf 221KB)
• Standard for Map and Chart Warehousing (pdf 29KB)
• Standard for the Official New Zealand Sea Level Information (pdf 75KB)