Lines · Draw or tap out a line
Measure
Measures both the flat map distance and the true distance over the ground along a line, which is longer on steep terrain.
When to use it
- Ordering fencing, pipe or cable, where the ground distance is what you pay for.
- Checking a walking distance on hilly ground.
How to use it
- Open Measure and tap out the line.
- Finish. The panel shows the horizontal distance and the distance along the terrain.
How it works
The horizontal distance is computed on the earth's surface between the corners. The slope distance samples the LiDAR bare-earth model along the line and adds up the small diagonal steps, so every rise and fall lengthens it.
Reading the results
On flat ground the two numbers match. On a 20 degree slope the ground distance is about 6 % longer; on 30 degrees about 15 %.
Limits and warnings
- Where 1 m LiDAR has not been flown the tool falls back to the national 8 m elevation model, and the result says what share came from the fallback. The 8 m model was interpolated from 20 m map contours and is not fit for site-scale decisions.
- Follows the ground, not a fence top or a suspended cable.
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