Local Government Sees Value of Geospatial Information

Date: 22 October 2008

The importance of geospatial information to local councils' planning and services infrastructure was a focus of a day of presentations organised in Wellington in June by the New Zealand Geospatial Office.

A range of speakers presented on topics related to Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and elevation data.

Wellington Mayor, Kerry Prendergast, opened the day and in her welcoming remarks said geospatial information was increasingly being recognised as basic infrastructure for many local government needs.

"We, the politicians, are beginning to understand how geospatial information can help us make better decisions and to monitor and improve many of our services," Kerry said.

"Wellington City has lots of very good base data and we want to become a leader in the way GIS [Geospatial Information System] data is used."

A highlight of the day was a presentation from Dr Dorota Grejner-Brzezinska of Ohio State University. Dr Grejner-Brzezinska, a world leader in the use of real time GNSS applications, spoke on concepts for terrestrial navigation using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology.

Among the other presenters were representatives from the Greater Wellington Regional and City Councils, Auckland Local Government Geospatial Information, Environment Waikato, the New Zealand Geospatial Office and Land Information New Zealand.

The day was coordinated by the New Zealand Geospatial Office in association with the Spatial Sciences Institute (SSI), GeoForum NZ, Land Information New Zealand and the Wellington City Council.

Brendon Whiteman, the Director of the New Zealand Geospatial Office, says the day of presentations tapped into a rich vein of interest. "The fact that over 75 people attended, from all sectors of the geospatial community and many from outside Wellington was very gratifying."

Available for download are pdf versions of the Powerpoint presentations that were given, listed here in order of presentation:

• Wellington Mayor, Kerry Prendergast - Welcoming speech (pdf 110.3KB)
• Dr Dorota Grejner-Brzezinska, Ohio State University - Terrain-based navigation: LiDAR (and terrestrial scanner)-supported navigation concepts, part I: ALS-based navigation (pdf 1.36MB)
• Dr Dorota Grejner-Brzezinska, Ohio State University - Terrain-based navigation: LiDAR (and terrestrial scanner)-supported navigation concepts, part II: TLS-based navigation (pdf 1.19MB)
• Matt Amos, Land Information New Zealand - NZ Vertical Datums and draft standard (pdf 284KB)
• Glen Rowe, Land Information New Zealand - Tidal datums and height transfer across land-sea interface (pdf 288KB)
• Graeme Blick, Land Information New Zealand - Update on new Topo50 map series (pdf 1.8MB)
• Robert Gibb, Landcare Research - National Elevation Data Framework and NZ options (pdf 110KB)

The following local government body presentations were then given on LiDAR/Elevation data activities:

• Wellington City Council (pdf 691KB)
• Greater Wellington Regional Council (pdf 530KB)
• Environment Waikato (pdf 194KB)
• Auckland Local Government Geospatial Information (pdf 1.06MB)

The day ended with the following presentation:

• Stephen Bensberg, New Zealand Geospatial Office - Remote sensing for digital terrain models (pdf 79.6KB)