Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) have the principal objectives to reduce the incidence of unwanted fires and the associated risk to life and property. To protect and preserve life, and prevent or limit injury, damage to property, land and the environment. By utilizing LiDAR data in New Zealand, they can create 3D building primitives and perform 'location allocation' analysis to estimate response times in emergencies.

As part of FENZ's Aerial Appliance Strategy project, Fire and Emergency used LiDAR and building outlines data from the LINZ Data Service to identify buildings with an area over 1000m 2 or 9m in height. These buildings typically require the attendance of an aerial appliance to battle fires. An aerial appliance is a specialized emergency vehicle that has a large ladder that hydraulically rises to suppress fire and/or effect rescue.

In 2016 Toitū Te Whenua LINZ in partnership with Regional Councils began a project to procure and make available a nationally consistent baseline elevation data set for Aotearoa New Zealand. By 2024, 80% of the country will be covered.

Elevation data or LiDAR (light detection and ranging) is a technology using laser sensors mounted on aircraft that fly over a landscape to capture a 3D view of the land. The sensor measures the time it takes for light to travel back and forth from the sensor to the ground. Because the sensor can rapidly pulse a laser beam, it can capture a "point cloud" of highly accurate 3D measurements – like a digital twin of the landscape.