From 1 July 2024, Whakatane District Council adopted New Zealand Vertical Datum (NZVD2016). This new datum ensures consistency around how land height is measured across the district, and align with New Zealand standards.
Previous to this, Whakatāne District Council recorded height or elevation information in Moturiki 1953 vertical datum.
Adopting the national standard for recording height information
NZVD2016 is the official vertical datum for New Zealand and is maintained by Land Information New Zealand (LINZ). It was adopted by Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) on 27 June 2016. By adopting this national standard, Council’s geospatial services, works and infrastructure, and planning and consents information will be compliant with the national norm. It will also assist with modelling for climate change and sea level rise.
The new datum will be easier to update and manage, and LINZ has conversion tools available to convert old to new datum.
Frequently asked questions
What does this mean for people using vertical datum?
- From 1 July 2024, Whakatāne District Council will stop using other datums in favour of NZVD2016.
- Spatial data including LIDAR and contours will be converted to NZVD2016.
- All height data will need to show which datum was used.
- Height or elevation data will still need to be supplied to Whakatāne District Council for engineering as-builts, building consents and resource consents.
- Pre-2024 elevation data on as-builts, building consents and resource consents will remain unchanged.
Why did it change?
- To align the way Whakatāne District Council records elevation data.
- To adopt best practice by using a national standard to record elevation data.
- To display elevation data in a consistent datum on web-based maps.
- To ensure the Council can readily contribute to national datasets such as sea level rise.
- To simplify infrastructure planning between councils.
- Additional costs will no longer be incurred by ratepayers when purchasing height data, such as contour and LIDAR data, as the data will be supplied in the same datum in which it is collected.
When did it change?
Whakatāne District Council adopted the New Zealand Vertical Datum 2016 from 1 July 2024.
What do I need to do?
From 1 July 2024:
- All height data in engineering plans, as-builts, resource consents and building consents will need to be supplied to Whakatāne District Council using the New Zealand Vertical Datum 2016.
- All height data available online will be using the New Zealand Vertical Datum 2016.
The LINZ website provides further information including an online datum conversion service.
Contact us
If you have any questions about NZVD2016, please get in touch.