Waikato LiDAR project
The Waikato is one of 12 regions taking part to capture consistent LiDAR data across New Zealand.
Project outline
The Waikato is one of 12 regions taking part to capture consistent LiDAR data across New Zealand.
Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) secured $19 million of Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) funding committed to this initiative.
LiDAR stands for Light Detection and Ranging.
This is a Waikato Local Authority Shared Services (WLASS) project, with significant technical support from Waikato Regional Council. iXblue* (which won the contract for the provision of the Waikato LiDAR data set) is an Australian company, although they do have a New Zealand presence. As well as being awarded the Waikato contract, iXblue will also be providing LiDAR data for the Hawke's Bay region.
The LiDAR survey will be done at 4 pulses/m2 (pulses per square metre square). This is double the minimum density specified in the New Zealand Aerial LiDAR base specifications, and will provide improved quality and accuracy.
The resulting data will be available from LINZ to the public via creative commons licensing.
*In March 2022 Ocean Infinity acquired iXblue and are now completing the project.
Project completed September 2024.
Project update February 2025
Newsflash
The project was completed September 2024. In late 2023 the Waikato published its first block of PGF LiDAR data. Note that data for the Coromandel area had been made available early to assist in the SH25A rebuild following cyclone road damage (helping reconnect the community in time for Christmas 2023!)
Completed DEM, DSM and tile layout are now publicly available on LINZ Data Service. Link below.
Point clouds are now on Open Topography.
Project outputs will include:
- Digital Elevation Model (DEM = bare earth model) Digital Surface Model (DSM = above surface incl. buildings, vegetation canopy) Classified point cloud (classified into key classes like water bodies, bare ground, major vegetation classes) Cartographic contours and return intensities.
Significantly, as well as the core outputs, there is a long list of derived products that the regional council is initiating to support a large range of business purposes.
These are things like delineating hydrological flow paths to map rivers, streams and waterbodies, map slope classes to identify slope-related risks on farms (and other farm plan layers), improved models like coastal inundation, river flooding, erosion, and many other uses where LiDAR can complement other key data for much richer information to support business decision making.
Project details
This map shows the completed flight lines of LiDAR capture. Data capture was completed on schedule on 24 March 2021.
Data outputs were originally expected by November 2022 but delays in achieving the required quality meant that completed data were published by August 2024.
Processing of the vast data collection (22 Terabytes of raw survey data) was a massive and complicated undertaking, contributing to delays in receiving data to the required standard.
LiDAR capture details
The minimum accuracy and pulse density for the LiDAR capture will be:
- vertical accuracy (95%) <20cm horizontal accuracy (95%) <100cm Pulse density >4 pls/m2.
LiDAR will be available at LINZ Data Service and OpenTopography.
Rolf Boswell, the project manager, shows off the LiDAR sensor fitted in the Cessna for data capture.
LINZ PGF LiDAR specifications
The weblink below contains a link to the the LINZ PGF LiDAR specification document which outlines the scope, accuracy requirements, data processing and deliverables outlined by LINZ for the project.
WEB LINKS
LINZ also provides extent details, user stories and other project information at:
Previous Waikato LiDAR
Check out the following list and the map of previous LiDAR surveys in the Waikato:
- LiDAR – Lake Waikare (2003)
- LiDAR – Coromandel urban areas (2004)
- LiDAR – Lake Taupo foreshore (2006)
- LiDAR – 2007/2008
- LiDAR – 2010/2011
- Aerial photography and LiDAR – Mount Tongariro eruption 2012 – GIS layer
- LiDAR – 2012/2013
- LiDAR – 2017/2018
WEB LINKS
Waikato LiDAR ground control survey map
Map shows progress from 26 February 2021 for observed and not observed check sites and ground control points.
Ground control points (GCP) To coincide with aerial survey, ground survey control points and check sites are needed.
Check sites (CS) are small arrays of points that are used to determine the final accuracy of the LiDAR survey once production has reached the stage where the final outputs can be derived.
Setting up a new ground control point.
Checking a new ground control point.
Base station setup.
Community benefits
In securing PGF funding for this national LiDAR programme, LINZ, together with the various councils, identified numerous economic benefits of making this data available on an open-access basis. A few of those benefits are summarized below, together with potential benefits that the project team are working on to deliver.
Cyclone Recovery
Since Feb 2023 LiDAR data has been in hot demand to support various event related tasks. Prior to the first blocks of data being published, preliminary data for much of the cyclone-affected region was available and suitable for use in better understanding cyclone impacts, plus many other applications. Data has been supplied to multiple agencies and companies for things like:
- Geotech engineering to better understand landslip risks and remediation post cyclone,
- Wind farm power generation potential,
- Flood modelling and risk assessment,
- New water main alignment and design,
- Analysis to support resource consent processing,
- Wetland development,
- Kauri tree canopy mapping.
Forestry
- Better information about terrain reduces costs of planning and infrastructure and improves the quality of feasibility studies for new forest planting.
- Improved predictions of soil erosion and sedimentation lead to reduced mitigation costs and environmental impacts, and reduced compliance costs.
- More cost-effective estimations of plantation volumes lead to better targeting of pruning and improved productivity.
Forestry near Wharekawa Harbour, Opoutere.
Land management, infrastructure and urban planning
- Improved land management and decision making by landowners, leading to greater economic return on investments.
- Better and lower-cost planning of land uses by local councils, landowners and investors.
- Cost savings from optimised design of infrastructure, such as avoiding unnecessary earthworks or more efficient routing of networks.
Agriculture
- Better modelling of trends such as soil erosion and terrain changes, to help producers understand effects of current practices and better plan and adapt to future changes.
- Productivity improvements from better decisions about land use, reduced compliance costs, and improved fertiliser and irrigation efficiency.
- Better prediction of fertiliser and effluent run-off and reduced environmental impacts.
An example of using LiDAR for analysing stop banks.
Environment, natural hazard management and resilience
- Improved and lower-cost modelling of natural hazards such as floods, landslides, coastal inundation, extreme weather events and sea-level rise.
- Better modelling of these events leads to improved understanding of risks and development of more effective mitigation and adaption strategies, including optimised design of resilient infrastructure.
WEB LINKS
LINZ LiDAR information
Background
Elevation data derived from aerial light detection and ranging (LiDAR) surveys is a valuable resource that can generate substantial economic value in applications such as forestry and natural resource management, natural hazard management, infrastructure design, agriculture, land management and urban planning. LiDAR ground strikes can be classified to derive a variety of products including ground terrain elevation and above ground features including as buildings, tree canopies and transmission corridors. It is significantly more accurate than existing publicly available elevation data, which is too coarse to use in many of these applications.
WEB LINKS
Value of LiDAR
While LiDAR elevation data can generate significant potential economic value, this value will only be realised to the extent that the data is used. Maximising the use of LiDAR elevation data published by LINZ requires potential users to be aware this data exists and understand how it can be applied to the issues that they face. Potential users must also be capable of using the data directly or easily contract others who are capable. Beyond being used by engineering consulting companies, evidence suggests there remains significant opportunities to improve awareness and capability relating to LiDAR elevation data in New Zealand, and therefore the potential economic value that can be generated from it.
To evaluate whether greater engagement with users could increase the value generated by LiDAR elevation data, some more research is required beyond the LINZ initial scoping study. More extensive desktop research needs to be done to gather intelligence about existing and potential users of LiDAR elevation data, to build up a detailed picture of the actual and potential community of users of this data in New Zealand. This should be followed up by in-depth interviews with users from a variety of sectors and in different roles to better understand their existing uses of LiDAR elevation data (if any) and any barriers they face to use it. Once this information has been gathered, it will be possible to assess the business case for further activities to promote users’ awareness and capability regarding LiDAR elevation data.
WEB LINKS
Regional and Territorial Authorities:
The non-council co-funding partners.
Main project contacts
Project management details – Rolf Boswell, Co-Lab. Email info@colabsolutions.govt.nz
Project technical details – Bryan Clements, Waikato Regional Council. Email bryan.clements@waikatoregion.govt.nz
Company background
iXblue was selected by both the Waikato and Hawke's Bay regions to undertake their LiDAR projects following a rigorous tendering process run by LINZ.
The iXblue group is a privately held, global high-technology company specialising in the design, manufacture and use of the advanced autonomous, marine and photonics technologies. Our project is being delivered by the iXblue Australian team, based primarily in Queensland. iXblue have partnered with the United States-based company Woolpert Inc. Woolpert is widely regarded within the US as being the leading provider of high quality, large scale aerial LiDAR services. Completing the operational project team is aviation contractor Aerologistics which will supply the specialist aircraft and crew.
In March 2022 Ocean Infinity acquired iXblue Australia and with it the Waikato LiDAR contract. Your Waikato project team is pleased to be completing the project with Ocean Infinity .
LiDAR examples
Examples of using LiDAR (source Waikato Regional Council).
