LINZ secures historic imagery for New Zealanders

26 January 2015

LINZ secures historic imagery for New Zealanders

A new contract between Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) and Opus International Consultants will safeguard New Zealanders’ ability to use historic aerial imagery.

“Historic aerial imagery has many uses – such as showing changes in land use, identifying where dangerous chemicals were used, showing coastline changes, and archaeology and cultural research,” says LINZ Senior Technical Leader Bjorn Johns.

“The government’s aerial imagery archive – consisting of around 500,000 images taken from 1936 to 2005 – was previously managed and stored by New Zealand Aerial Mapping (NZAM).

“When NZAM went into liquidation in September, LINZ started to look for another company that could safely store historic aerial imagery and make it available to the public.

“I am pleased to announce that company is Opus International Consultants. At the same time, LINZ has also taken ownership of additional historic imagery – a total of 145,000 negatives – previously owned by NZAM.

“These additional NZAM images are complementary to those in the Crown archive. They are mostly at higher levels of detail and with a greater focus on urban areas – meaning they can show the growth of our towns and cities.”

Archival images are now available for use through Opus International Consultants. Scanning costs will apply to each image and an index of the areas covered is available through the LINZ Data Service. LINZ is also investigating the potential to scan and digitise the aerial imagery archive for long term preservation, easier access, and better use of this valuable national resource.

ENDS

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