Kiwis Head into the Great Outdoors – Armed with Maps
Media release: Almost 300,000 ‘Topo50’ maps are in circulation since this new national map series was launched a year ago. And the biggest sellers confirm that we love the great outdoors.
Land Information New Zealand (LINZ), the national mapping authority, released an entire series of 1:50,000 scale maps – 482 of them – on one day last September – the first time an entire national map series of this type had been launched on a single day.
New Zealand’s emergency services, and the search and rescue sector adopted the new Topo50 maps and coordinates system at the time of the launch, and people heading into the great outdoors were encouraged to use the new maps.
And use them they have. In the year to the end of September 2010, more than 295,000 Topo50 maps have been dispatched from the LINZ Map Centre to emergency services and retailers, says Chief Topographer Geoff Howard.
“Although LINZ originally printed 500,000 maps with the expectation of having five years’ worth of stock, we’ve actually had to crank out a second print run for a number of the more popular maps,” says Geoff.
“And now that the maps have been available for a year, we have a good picture of those favoured by the public. Maps of some of our most iconic countryside – and challenging terrains – are the biggest sellers.”
The five most-sold Topo50 maps are:
- Hollyford – map ref CB09 – containing the Hollyford and Routeburn tracks.
- Otira – map ref BV20 – containing Arthur’s Pass and the Coast to Coast run.
- Aspiring Flats – map ref CA11 – containing Mt Aspiring/Tititea and the Matukituki River.
- Mt Ruapehu – map ref BJ34 – containing Mt Ruapehu.
- Turangi – map ref BH35 – containing North Part of the Tongariro National Park.
The maps are compatible with international mapping systems and modern GPS units. At the same time as producing the new paper maps, LINZ introduced a new system that automates map production directly from the data we maintain.
“With an integrated system, we’ve been able to concentrate our efforts on updating and maintaining our topographic data,” says Geoff. “The time for producing maps has reduced from months to minutes. We can now launch a whole new map series at one time, whereas previous cycles for printing a full 1:50,000 map series could take up to 30 years.”
LINZ now also provides Topo50 maps as data and image files online, which means people can download the most current maps available at no cost, via our choose a map tool.
“These files have proved very popular with members of the public and businesses, as Topo50 now forms an important base layer for many GIS systems. As a result of making these files freely available, Topo50 can be found in an increasing number of mapping applications such as map viewers, GPS systems and smart phone applications.”
September 2010 saw the first electronic release of updated maps as part of ongoing Topo50 maintenance. Fifteen fully maintained map sheets were released, and an additional 17 maps were released in October containing selected updates. Similar numbers of updated maps are expected to be released online in November and December.
ENDS
