Over the past year, Land information New Zealand (LINZ) has been working on an initiative developing digital base maps for online viewing and research. These maps are created using open source software, updated automatically, and are soon publicly available to users as a WMTS feed via the LINZ Data Service (LDS). Our intention is providing a comprehensive collection of spatially accurate base maps derived from New Zealand specific data with a visual aesthetic and appeal. The following describes the processes and tools involved in creating these maps. Some of the techniques described include colour sampling, layer selection, software, and presentation.