Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) and its predecessor organisations have been responsible for national topographic mapping in New Zealand for more than a hundred years. This year they will release a New Zealand Topographic Strategy to guide this work over the next decade. The strategy will set a direction to ensure that topographic work contributes to LINZ’s 10 Year Vision, a goal for increasing the value of location information by tenfold over the next ten years.

To contribute to this the strategy will look at how topographic work can better meet changing needs and uses, as technology changes the way we use data. Traditionally LINZ’s approach has been to see hard copy maps as its core topographic product, with data collection and updates carried out only in aid of producing these. This strategy will place topographic data as the central product, while still recognising the need for accurate and up to date paper maps, particularly for areas where they are most used. This approach reflects the growing need and value of location information data, and supports this with goals to make this data more available and accessible in digital formats that can be reused for innovation and enterprise. Another objective identified by the strategy is to improve the reuse and sharing of data among different organisations to further ensure topographic data is kept accurate and accessible.

Topographic maps have long been used for planning, emergency response and recreation. This strategy sets the direction for this service to continue to support growth in these areas as well as many more, helping to unleash ‘the power of where’, the power of location information, to ensure New Zealand thrives.