Councils have now contracted aerial survey companies to collect gap-free LiDAR across 10 New Zealand regions.
The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) LiDAR elevation data capture project was announced in October 2018. It is providing co-funding to develop a consistent elevation dataset across:
- Waikato
- Bay of Plenty
- Hawke’s Bay
- Taranaki
- Tasman
- Marlborough
- Canterbury
- West Coast
- much of Otago and Southland.
The standard open-data products are a 1m gridded bare earth digital elevation model, a 1m gridded digital surface model, and the source data point cloud.
For current status and data access, see our Elevation data page.
On 29 October 2018 Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Land Information Minister Eugenie Sage announced that up to $19 million co-funding from the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is available over 5 years.
The co-funding is to help regions obtain a baseline elevation dataset, which will deliver enormous practical value and multiple uses over the coming decades to councils and regional industries.
Toitū Te Whenua is managing this initiative on behalf of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.