NZCoast - NIWA national coastal information portal

NZCoast has been established as a portal for information relevant to the New Zealand coastal environment and its associated hazards. NZCoast went live on the 1st July 2008. Purpose: NZ Coast is a collection of information about the New Zealand coastal environment and related hazards. A lot of this also relates to NIWA's online tool "coastal explorer", which delivers digital maps in a nationally consistent framework. The primary aim of NZ Coast is to give resource managers key information about the coast to inform decision-making. It also provides the public with educational information and resources, and aims to raise community awareness about coastal hazard issues.

NZCoast provides a range of services via Coastal Explorer, BPAT beach profile analysis tool, Cam-Era beach video monitoring and tide forecasting: Coastal Explorer allows the user to explore layers of coastal information as maps, data and images, which show different physical environments along the coast, with descriptions of how they work and their associated hazards. NIWA’s Beach Profile Analysis Toolbox (BPAT) is an easy to use, integrated package for collecting and analysing data about beaches. Cam-Era is a network of computer-controlled cameras that monitor the New Zealand environment for research and resource management. These are also useful for surfers and swimmers. NIWA has a range of online tools and information relating to tides, including a tide forecaster, yearly tide envelopes and storm tide "red alert" days. Coastal Explorer is a GIS-based web-accessed classification and database for the New Zealand coast. It allows the user to display selected layers of coastal spatial information on a map of New Zealand. It provides information to end users in the form of maps, data, and images, which show where various physical environments occur along the coast, descriptions of how they function and their associated hazards. The Tools and Visualisation function links the user to the NIWA tide forecaster and wave hindcast maps. The Learn function provides fact sheets, various links, terms and definitions, and references to relevant literature. At a very basic level NZCoast provides answers to FAQs like "were does sand come from? Which beaches are dangerous to swimmers? At a more detailed level the origin of different beach types and how they function is explained. We hope to use NZCoast to raise community awareness of and participation in issues of coastal hazards. The overall aim of NZCoast is to assists with the management of coastal hazards that relate to property or personal safety through informed choice and importantly the information is nationally consistent and reveals ‘blanks on the map’ where more information is needed.

National - Entire Waikato Region

All available information.

Varied

Varied data quality: Consistent approach taken to classification around NZ coast.

All data available through NIWA web link provided below.

Discuss with NIWA

Ongoing - further improvements will be made over time.