New Zealanders will now know the approximate size and location of earthquakes within two minutes of the tremor striking.
GeoNet has launched a test version of GeoNet Rapid, which uses SeisComP3, an automated system to locate and measure earthquakes.
However Geonet said the earthquake measurements should be usedwith "caution".
Quakes will initially have an "automatic" status next to them, and will have a "reviewed" status once a seismologist has looked at the data manually.
Geonet said the beta testing period will take up to six months, and in the meantime the geonet.org.nz site remains the authoritive source of information.
GeoNet Rapid includes many smaller quakes not featured on the old site, such as a magnitude 1.8 earthquake which struck 45km northeast of Auckland at a depth of 10km at 2.18am today.
More than 19,000 earthquakes (one every 27 minutes) struck New Zealand last year.
