Provincial Growth Fund - LiDAR programme

The PGF-LiDAR Programme was a partnership between regional councils, LINZ and MBIE-Kānoa. It provided leadership and funding to bring the New Zealand national LiDAR coverage to over 80%.

Boosting LiDAR availability across New Zealand

Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) administered a Provincial Growth Fund grant from Kānoa Regional Development and Commercial Services at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) to significantly boost LiDAR availability across New Zealand. 

The PGF-LiDAR programme formed partnerships with 11 regions and resulted in the LiDAR coverage shown in the map below.

National LiDAR data 2025

Map of New Zealand showing PGF-LiDAR programme coverage 2025 across large parts of North and South Island. See page text for more detail

High quality data that benefits New Zealand

This was the first accurate 3D mapping of much of this area. It delivered a baseline elevation dataset with high quality data that supports regional needs, for example, managing land use and developing infrastructure. 

The data is also widely re-used to benefit New Zealand. These benefits are summarised in the Post-Contract Outcome Report.

All data is available from the standard LINZ elevation data channels, and includes a 1m gridded bare earth Digital Elevation Model, a 1m gridded Digital Surface Model, and the source data point cloud.

Access elevation data.

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