About Coastal Explorer
Okarito lagoon.
Coastal Explorer is a GIS-based web-accessed classification and database for the New Zealand coast. The Coastal Explorer currently has two directories: 1) NZ coastal classification and NZ beach type classification, with further directories including NZ beach hazards assessment, NZ beach profile monitoring and NZ coastal erosion and accretion rates still under development.
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. Importantly the information is nationally consistent and reveals ‘blanks on the map’ where more information is needed.
Data for Coast Explorer has been mined from various sources including 1:50,000 topographic maps, aerial photographs, RNZN Hydrographic charts, and various publications and reports, New Zealand Land Resources Inventory (NZLRI), the National Land Cover Data Base (LCDB). Site visits were made to many beaches by helicopter and vehicle to obtain information that could not be collected remotely. Parts of the coast were flown in a light aircraft to obtain oblique aerial photographs. There have also been generous inputs from regional council staff and local experts, university staff and consultants to obtain local and regional information to supplement the database.
Currently only open coast unconsolidated shores and beaches are included in Coastal Explorer. However, the ultimate aim is to include the entire New Zealand coastline incorporating estuaries, rocky shore, cliffed coasts and other coastal forms.
The Coastal Explorer is continually under development and we welcome questions, queries and feedback.