LiDAR for Environmental Management

The Regional Council, Environment Waikato, commissioned several LiDAR derived terrain data sets (+/-15cm vertical accuracy) and other data sets to support its duties and functions associated with environmental management through temporal and spatial analyses.

Products Delivered
- Thinned ground strikes in ASCII XYZi
- Non ground strikes in ASCII
- 1m ASCII GRID
- 0.5m contours (shapefiles)

Using this valuable and up to date information, the Waikato Region improved resource and hazard management, in addition to facilitating change detection and monitoring.

The Waikato region is a local government region on the western side of the North Island. It stretches from Lake Taupo and northern King Country in the south, up to the Coromandel Peninsula and the boundary with the Auckland Region. The region has an area of 25,000 km², and an estimated 2006 population of 387,700.

LiDAR Data Applications – Current and Planned
- Assist with planning processes and reviews for Regional and District plans
- Identification and accurate mapping of floodplains and flood hazard areas
- Establishment and ongoing monitoring of local land drainage catchments that are affected by settling peat
- Modelling – inundation, hydraulic, flood hazard, estuarine and delta
- Tsunami mitigation
- Location and capture of assets such as drains, pumps and floodgates
- Regional and national modelling – Raglan fine sediment study, National sediment model and CLUES nitrogen
- Water catchment investigations – catchment and waterway delineation
- Shoreline landscape assessments
- Vegetation and land cover mapping
- Better identification of topographically based planning zones

To read the expanded case study, click here (PDF - 0.4MB).

For more information on LiDAR, click here.


Above left: Waiomu Surface Heights
Above right: Te Puru Surface Analysis with Contours