Mapping information showing the locations of publicly accessible land across New Zealand has been released by the New Zealand Walking Access Commission (NZWAC) to enable researchers, government agencies and app developers embark on their own mapping projects.

The mapping information released includes locations of public reserves, conservation land, Crown land, legal roads, marginal strips and esplanade strips. Developers wanting to use the information can plug into the map feed on the Commission’s website, on the new GIS Data page.

“This new data feed will improve access to government data for the public and business, in line with the Government’s Information and Communications Technology strategy. It will facilitate new research, better central and local government decision making on land issues and development of some truly innovative new mapping websites and apps by private companies,” said Mark Neeson, NZWAC Chief Executive.

The mapping information available on the Commission’s website feed is sourced from Land Information New Zealand’s Parcel Database and processed by the Commission.

It is currently used on the Commission’s free nationwide Walking Access Mapping System website to help people identify land the public can access.

Furthermore, citizens can also use the map service via the Commission’s ESRI REST End Point. This will allow developers to use the map service for their own custom mapping applications as well as allowing GIS analysts to view the Commission’s public access information in their own GIS workspace. Neeson revealed that the Commission will soon make the information available as a “shapefile” download, in addition to the direct feed.

“The download, which will be updated monthly, will allow GIS users to download the public access area dataset to their local systems for geospatial analysis,” he said.