In a major milestone for the management of the nation's geospatial information resources, Cabinet has approved the New Zealand Geospatial Strategy.

Geospatial information - which describes the location and names of features on, above and below the earth's surface - is integral to practically all human activity. Emergency services, national defence, utilities, resource management, biosecurity, environmental protection, economic development, elections, land transactions, social services, Treaty of Waitangi settlements - the list of activities underpinned by accurate geospatial information in modern society is seemingly endless.

New Zealanders can be proud of the work that has been done to develop our geospatial information resources, from the efforts of our pioneering surveyors in the 19th Century through to the sophisticated digital databases of today. But there has been a lack of coordination and direction in the way these resources are developed and managed. There has also been duplication of effort, and sets of data collected by different agencies have not always been compatible. It is deficiencies like these that the Geospatial Strategy sets out to address.

The issues were first outlined in the November 2004 discussion document, Geospatial Information - the Future Role of Government. The Geospatial Strategy was developed after extensive consultation with key stakeholders such as emergency services.

The strategy directly involves all tiers of government: central government, local government and Crown entities. Beyond that, it involves the geospatial information industry.

Their participation will be critical to the successful implementation of the strategy, while the evolution of a better coordinated system may offer further opportunities for the industry to develop more value-added products.

The strategy is guided by a vision:

Trusted geospatial information that is available, accessible, able to be shared and used to support the:

• safety and security of New Zealand
• growth of an inclusive, innovative economy; and
• preservation and enhancement of our society, culture and environment.

Flowing from this vision are several guiding principles, which address duplication of effort, access, compatibility and protection of geospatial information.

In turn, these principles inform four overlapping strategic goals, which reflect the issues that have been identified right throughout the development of the strategy. These come under the headings of:

• Governance
• Data
• Access
• Interoperability.

What will really give the Government's Geospatial Strategy some shape and impetus, though, will be the establishment of a governance structure. The key elements of this structure include:

• A Joint Ministerial Group: Ministers for Land Information and Information Technology.
• A Geospatial Executives Group: chief executives of key public agencies who will be responsible for driving strategy implementation. This group will initially be chaired by the Land Information New Zealand Chief Executive.
• A Geospatial Advisory Committee: policy experts from key agencies who will advise the Geospatial Executives Group and facilitate interagency implementation.
• A Geospatial Office: to be hosted by LINZ, this office will be the 'engine room' and coordinator for the work programme, and will report to the Geospatial Executives Group.

We will feature further updates on the establishment of the Geospatial Office and the implementation of the strategy in future issues of Landscan.

Click here to download the Strategy document

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