Mapping out a healthy future

Providing computer users with a bird's eye view of New Zealand at the touch of a finger has put a Rotorua business on the map.

Mapping and Technology Systems is winning attention in New Zealand and Australia for The Ultimate Map of New Zealand, which provides a three-dimensional view of the country on a computer screen.

Users can zoom in and out of the virtual world and have access to information ranging from property titles to seabed data.

The package was developed about six years ago, and Mapping and Technology Systems now has more than 20,000 clients in Australasia. Among those snapping up the package are real estate companies, forestry managers, farmers and agricultural contractors.

The map is the brainchild of Alan Somerville and his business partner, South Africa-based Alex van Zyl.

"We saw an opportunity to create innovative software and own and manage that software," Somerville said.

The software uses a combination of global positioning systems, aerial photos and street maps. Users just have to click a mouse to zero in on any area of New Zealand.

The information is so accurate that it is used by New Zealand search and rescue teams and civil defence co-ordinators.

Somerville said the company planned to offer the tourism industry virtual maps of New Zealand translated into several languages.

"It could become a route-solving tool for visitors wanting to find their way from Auckland to Rotorua or anywhere around the city."

- NZPA