NZ Elevation ToolsOpen the map tool →

How to use each tool

One page per tool: what it does, a step-by-step walkthrough with screenshots from Mt Iron, Wānaka, how the calculation works, how to read the result, and where it will mislead you. Every tool runs on the LINZ national 1 m LiDAR elevation model in your browser.

Which tool for which job

Start from the question you have. Each job lists its tools in the order you would use them.

Solar panels and sun

Where will panels, a glasshouse or a deck get the most sun?

  1. 1.Sunlight
  2. 2.Slope & Aspect
  3. 3.Find Matching Areas
  4. 4.Object Heights

Choosing a house site

Where on this block should the house go?

  1. 1.Find Matching Areas
  2. 2.Slope & Aspect
  3. 3.Sunlight
  4. 4.Cut & Fill
  5. 5.Viewshed

Buying a section or lifestyle block

What is the ground like, and how does it compare with the others on my list?

  1. 1.Property
  2. 2.Property Report
  3. 3.Saved Properties
  4. 4.Water & Drainage

Earthworks, driveways and tracks

How much digging, and can a driveway or farm track make the grade?

  1. 1.Cut & Fill
  2. 2.Elevation Profile
  3. 3.Route Explorer
  4. 4.Contour Lines

Drainage, flooding and wet ground

Where does the water go, and where will it sit?

  1. 1.Water & Drainage
  2. 2.Wetness Map
  3. 3.Catchment
  4. 4.Landforms

Views, privacy and line of sight

What can I see from here, and what can see me?

  1. 1.Viewshed
  2. 2.Sightline
  3. 3.Object Heights

Farming, orchards and planting

Which ground suits which use?

  1. 1.Slope & Aspect
  2. 2.Sunlight
  3. 3.Wetness Map
  4. 4.Landforms

Walks, runs and rides

How much climbing, and how far?

  1. 1.Elevation Profile
  2. 2.Elevate a File
  3. 3.Measure

Plans, CAD, GIS and 3D printing

I need the terrain as a file.

  1. 1.Download Data
  2. 2.Contour Lines
  3. 3.Elevate a File
  4. 4.Add Elevation
  5. 5.Terrain Stats

Property

The Mt Iron reserve parcel outlined in green with its appellation, title and area in the panel

Property

Click a point

Selects the legal parcel under your click and uses its real boundary as the analysis area for every other tool.

The Property Report panel with the reserve selected and a Generate report button

Property Report

Click a point

Builds a multi-page PDF terrain report for one parcel: shaded relief, contours, slope and aspect breakdowns, elevation statistics, and a checklist of the official records the report does not replace.

Comparison table of Mt Iron reserve and Lakeside flats

Saved Properties

Select a property, draw a box or polygon, or upload a boundary

Keeps up to five places in your browser and compares their elevation, slope, winter sunlight and drainage side by side.

Green patches inside the reserve showing ground that meets all three conditions

Find Matching Areas

Select a property, draw a box or polygon, or upload a boundary

Combines several tests at once (slope, facing direction, winter sun, wetness and room to build) and highlights only the ground that passes them all, so the next tool can run on just that patch.

Terrain

Coloured contour lines with height labels across Mt Iron

Contour Lines

Select a property, draw a box or polygon, or upload a boundary

Draws topographic contours at any interval from 0.5 m upward across your area and exports them for GIS, CAD, Google Earth, print or laser cutting.

Slope map: green on the flats, yellow on moderate slopes, red on the steep faces

Slope & Aspect

Select a property, draw a box or polygon, or upload a boundary

Maps how steep every part of your area is and which compass direction each face points, with a full breakdown of slope classes and aspect shares.

Hours of direct sun on 21 June, bright on north faces and dark on the south-west flank

Sunlight

Select a property, draw a box or polygon, or upload a boundary

Models hours of direct sun across a site on any day of the year, with shadows from terrain up to 3 km away and, where LiDAR has been flown, from trees and buildings.

Terrain Stats results: area, minimum, maximum, mean, relief and mean slope

Terrain Stats

Select a property, draw a box or polygon, or upload a boundary

Summarises the minimum, maximum, mean and range of ground elevation across an area, with a chart of how much land sits at each height.

Cut in orange on the uphill side and fill in blue downhill, with volumes in the panel

Cut & Fill

Select a property, draw a box or polygon, or upload a boundary

Estimates how much earth would be cut and how much filled to level your area to a flat platform, at a height you set or at the height that balances the two.

Landform classes coloured across the hill: slopes, spurs, hollows, ridges and valleys

Landforms

Select a property, draw a box or polygon, or upload a boundary

Classifies every part of your area into one of ten landforms, such as ridge, spur, slope, hollow and valley, at a scale you choose.

Object heights coloured from tan (bare ground) to deep blue (tallest)

Object Heights

Select a property, draw a box or polygon, or upload a boundary

Estimates the height of buildings and vegetation above the ground by subtracting the bare-earth terrain from the LiDAR surface model.

Spot elevation of 493 m shown in the panel with the point marked on the map

Add Elevation

Click a point

Returns the ground elevation in metres at any point you click.

Water

Drainage channels in blue, thicker and paler where they carry more water

Water & Drainage

Select a property, draw a box or polygon, or upload a boundary

Extracts the drainage channels across an area as an ordered stream network, and maps where water would pond once hollows fill, with depth, area and volume.

Wetness map, tan on ridges and blue in gullies and on flats

Wetness Map

Select a property, draw a box or polygon, or upload a boundary

Maps where the shape of the land tends to concentrate moisture, from how much ground drains to each point and how flat that point is.

Blue catchment upstream of the clicked outlet

Catchment

Click an outlet

Maps all the land upstream of a point you click, so you can see where the water arriving at a culvert, a gully or a stream crossing comes from.

Views

Green ground visible from the point on Mt Iron, with hidden ground left clear

Viewshed

Click a point

Shows which ground within 1 to 10 km can be seen from a point, for a chosen eye height, with earth curvature and refraction allowed for and, optionally, trees and buildings blocking the view.

Sightline result: B is hidden from A, with a profile showing the terrain rising above the line

Sightline

Tap two points

Checks whether one point is visible from another, and if not, where the view is first blocked and by how much.

Lines

Elevation profile chart with length, ascent, descent and range

Elevation Profile

Draw or tap out a line

Produces a cross-section of the ground along any line, with distance, total climb and descent, and gradient.

Measure result showing 1.01 km over 3 points

Measure

Draw or tap out a line

Measures the length of a line you tap out on the map, corner by corner, as a flat map distance.

Route zig-zagging up the hill with its profile in the panel

Route Explorer

Tap two endpoints

Finds a route between two points that favours gentle grades and stays under a maximum grade you set, and shows its elevation profile.

Data

Download Data panel ready to export the current view

Download Data

Select a property, draw a box or polygon, or upload a boundary

Exports the terrain for your area as contour vectors, a GeoTIFF elevation raster or a 3D surface mesh for printing and rendering.

The panel reporting mt-iron-walk_elevation.gpx downloaded

Elevate a File

Upload a file

Adds accurate ground elevation to the coordinates in a GPX, KML, GeoJSON, JSON or CSV file you already have, replacing missing or noisy GPS altitude.