What’s free
- Every tool on the map, as often as you like, with no account and no sign-up.
- The full result on screen: volumes, areas, hours of sun, slope classes, the report preview.
- Saving the map view as a high-resolution PNG image, stamped with the source.
- Searching by address or legal description, and selecting a property’s title boundary.
What a pass unlocks
Every file download on the site, from every tool, while the pass lasts:
- Property Report: the PDF report and the data bundle (PDF, contours and elevation GeoTIFF)
- Find Matching Areas: the matching-ground map as a GeoTIFF
- Contour Lines: the contours as GeoJSON and KML here, or as DXF, Shapefile, SVG and PDF from Download Data
- Slope & Aspect: the slope or aspect grid as a GeoTIFF
- Sunlight: the sun-hours grid as a GeoTIFF
- Cut & Fill: the cut and fill depth grid as a GeoTIFF
- Landforms: the landform map as a GeoTIFF
- Object Heights: the object height grid as a GeoTIFF
- Water & Drainage: the drainage channels as GeoJSON or KML
- Wetness Map: the wetness index as a GeoTIFF
- Catchment: the catchment grid as a GeoTIFF
- Viewshed: the visibility grid as a GeoTIFF
- Route Explorer: the route as GeoJSON and its profile as CSV
- Download Data: GeoTIFF, contours (DXF, GeoJSON, Shapefile, KML, SVG, PDF) and STL or OBJ meshes
- Elevate a File: the enriched file in its original format
Formats: GeoJSON, Shapefile, DXF, KML, SVG, PDF, STL, OBJ, GeoTIFF, plus analysis grids as GeoTIFF, the PDF property report and your own GPX, KML, GeoJSON or CSV files with elevation added. Output resolution scales with the size of the area you select. Exports are capped at 1024 pixels on the longest side, with a floor of 1 m per pixel — so a 300 m building site is delivered at the full 1 m LiDAR detail, while a 12 km block is resampled to roughly 12 m per pixel. Select a smaller area when you need fine detail.
Compared with a survey
A field topographic survey in New Zealand typically costs NZ$1,600–4,500 + GST, going by surveyors’ published price ranges, and is the right tool when a council or an engineer needs surveyed levels. A NZ$49 pass isn’t a replacement for that. It is the step before: find out whether the ground is worth surveying, compare several properties, and hand your surveyor and designer contours and a terrain model on day one.
Questions
Is it a subscription?
No. Both passes are one-off payments. The 7-day pass and the 12-month pass simply end; there is nothing to cancel and you are never charged again.
Is GST included?
Yes. The prices shown are in New Zealand dollars and include GST. Stripe emails a receipt.
What does unlimited downloads mean?
While the pass lasts you can download as many files as you like, from any tool, in any format. Each download is still limited to the area a single request can process, up to 12 km per side for contours and terrain files.
Can I see results before I pay?
Yes. Every tool runs free, with no account, and shows the full result on the map, including the share of the area covered by 1 m LiDAR. You only pay when you want the file.
Do I need an account?
No. The pass is stored in the browser you buy it in. There is no login, which also means it does not follow you to another device or survive clearing your browser data. Keep the Stripe receipt email as your proof of purchase.
Can I use the downloads commercially?
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
Is a pass a substitute for a topographic survey?
No. The files come from the LINZ LiDAR model, which is good for due diligence, concept design and quantities estimates. Consent drawings, boundary work and engineering design still need a licensed surveyor. A field topographic survey typically costs NZ$1,600–4,500 + GST. A pass helps you decide whether a site is worth that spend, and gives the surveyor and designer a head start.
What if my area has no 1 m LiDAR?
The tools fall back to the national 8 m elevation model and say how much of the area came from it, on screen, before you download. Check that figure first: an 8 m result is fine for a big-picture view and not fit for site-scale design.