About this project
NZCoast has been established as an information portal for information relevant to the New Zealand coastal environment and its associated hazards. The primary aim of NZCoast is to give resource managers robust, higher level information on the coast to inform decision-making, and provide the public with educational information and resources.
NZCoast provides a range of services via Coastal Explorer, Tools and Visualisations, and Learn.
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.
The Tools and Visualisation function links the user to the NIWA tide forecaster and wave hindcast maps.
The Learn function provides fact sheets, various links, terms and definitions, and references to relevant literature. At a very basic level NZCoast provides answers to FAQs like "were does sand come from? Which beaches are dangerous to swimmers? At a more detailed level the origin of different beach types and how they function is explained. We hope to use NZCoast to raise community awareness of and participation in issues of coastal hazards.
The overall aim of NZCoast is to assists with the management of coastal hazards that relate to property or personal safety through informed choice and importantly the information is nationally consistent and reveals ‘blanks on the map’ where more information is needed.