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

Download LINZ LiDAR elevation data for any NZ area

Download the LINZ LiDAR DEM for exactly the area you need, as a GeoTIFF elevation model, contours as DXF, GeoJSON, Shapefile, KML, SVG or PDF, or a 3D mesh as STL or OBJ. Draw or select the area; the file is cut, resampled and written in your browser.

The LINZ Data Service has the same data with no area limit, but hands you raw tiles to merge, clip and convert in GIS. This skips that step for site-sized areas.

Download Data on Mt Iron, Wānaka. The walkthrough below shows how this was made.

Free to run · pay to download

See the full result on the map free, with no account. Download GeoTIFF, contours (DXF, GeoJSON, Shapefile, KML, SVG, PDF) and STL or OBJ meshes with a pass: NZ$49 for 7 days or NZ$299 for 12 months, one-off, GST included, not a subscription. Every download on the site is included while the pass lasts.

Open Download Data on the map →Pass prices and what’s included

Who uses this

GIS analysts and surveyors. Get a clipped DEM for a site without tile wrangling.
CAD users. Pull contours straight into AutoCAD or Civil 3D.
Makers and educators. Download an STL of any NZ landscape to 3D print.

When to use it

You want the elevation model itself for GIS, CAD, drainage or structural software.
You want to 3D print a block, a mountain or a coastline.
You want contours in a specific format without generating them on screen first.

Which tool for your job

Download Data is one step in a bigger question. These are the jobs it helps with, and the tools that go with it.

If you’re working on plans, cad, gis and 3d printing

I need the terrain as a file.

1.Download Data (this tool) — Contours, a GeoTIFF elevation model or a 3D mesh for printing.
2.Contour Lines — Contours previewed on the map before you export them.
3.Elevate a File — Adds ground elevation to your own GPX, KML, GeoJSON or CSV points.
4.Add Elevation — A single spot height, for a floor level or a tank.
5.Terrain Stats — The highest, lowest and mean ground height of an area, and how the land is spread between them.

How to use it

Select a property, draw an area or upload a boundary.
Choose the product: contours, a DEM raster or a mesh, and the format.
Set the contour interval or the mesh options where they apply, then download.

Step by step: Mt Iron, Wānaka

We set up a download of the terrain around Mt Iron.

1.Frame the area and choose Download this view, or draw a box or select a property. Then pick contours, a GeoTIFF elevation model or a 3D mesh, and the format.

What it showed

The panel shows the output resolution before you download: 1 m for a small site, coarser for a large area.

Screenshots from NZ Elevation Tools. Aerial imagery from LINZ Basemaps. Sourced from the LINZ Data Service and licensed by Environment Southland, Otago Regional Council and Queenstown-Lakes District Council for re-use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

Try it on Mt Iron, Wānaka →

How it works

The 1 m LiDAR bare-earth model is loaded for the area, resampled to fit the export size cap, and written in the chosen format in the browser. The GeoTIFF is georeferenced in Web Mercator with a no-data value for gaps. Meshes are built from the same grid with a base so they print as a solid.

Every file names the LiDAR survey and its licensor in its metadata or an accompanying attribution.

Reading the results

The panel shows the output resolution before you download. A small site is delivered at 1 m; a 12 km area at roughly 12 m per pixel.

The share of the area that came from the 8 m fallback is reported, and the file is not survey grade where that share is high.

Limits and warnings

Areas up to 12 km across.
Exports are capped at 1024 pixels on the longest side. Select a smaller area when you need full detail.
The files are yours to use commercially under CC BY 4.0, with the licensor credited.

Data and attribution

Results come from the LINZ national 1 m LiDAR bare-earth elevation model, read in your browser, with the national 8 m model filling any gaps. Tools that use the surface model (Sunlight, Viewshed, Object Heights) read the matching LiDAR surface tiles.

Elevation and cadastral data is sourced from the LINZ Data Service and licensed for re-use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. Copyright in each LiDAR survey belongs to the body that commissioned it — a regional or district council, Waka Kotahi, NIWA and around thirty others — rather than to LINZ, which hosts and processes the national dataset. Every file exported from this site names the licensors whose surveys cover the area, and anything you publish from those files carries the same attribution requirement. See https://www.linz.govt.nz/products-services/data/licensing-and-using-data/attributing-elevation-or-aerial-imagery-data

Questions

What resolution will the GeoTIFF be?

A site-sized area is delivered at the full 1 m. Exports are capped at 1024 pixels on the longest side, so larger areas are resampled: a 12 km block comes out at roughly 12 m per pixel. The panel shows the resolution before you download.

Can I use the data commercially?

Yes. LINZ elevation data is CC BY 4.0. Credit the licensor named in the file, which is usually a council or agency rather than LINZ.

Ready to try it?

Open Download Data on the map →

Free to use, no account. Runs in your browser on LINZ open data. Downloading the results needs a pass: see prices.