New Zealand Vertical Datum, NZVD2016

From 1 July 2017, Nelson City Council and Tasman District Council will both adopt the New Zealand Vertical Datum, (NZVD2016). This new datum will bring consistency in the way land height is measured across the region, and with the New Zealand standards.



GIS Vertical Datums


Nelson City Council currently records height or elevation information in its own Nelson City Council vertical datum.

Tasman District Council currently records elevation information in the LINZ Nelson 1955 vertical datum and the Tarakohe 1982 vertical datum for Golden Bay.

Adopting the national standard for recording height information FAQ

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, both Council’s GIS services, works and infrastructure, 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.

What does this mean for people using vertical datum?

  • From 1 July, Nelson City Council and Tasman District Council will cease using their respective datums in favour of NZVD2016.
  • All GIS data including LIDAR and Top of the South Maps 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 both Councils for engineering as-builts, building consents and resource consents.
  • Pre-2017 elevation data on as-builts, building consents and resource consents will remain unchanged.

 
Why is it changing?

  • To align the way Nelson City Council and Tasman District Council record elevation data.
  • To adopt best practice by using a national standard to record elevation data.
  • To display elevation data in a consistent datum on Top of the South Maps website.
  • To ensure both councils 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 is it changing?
Nelson City Council and Tasman District Council will adopt the New Zealand Vertical Datum 2016 from 1 July 2017. From this date:

  • All height data in engineering plans, as-builts, resource consents and building consents will need to be supplied to Nelson City Council and Tasman District Council using the New Zealand Vertical Datum 2016.
  • All height data available from the Top of the South Maps website will be using the New Zealand Vertical Datum 2016.

The LINZ website provides further information including an online datum conversion service. 

 

Table of Contents