Councils to benefit from winning environmental software

By ADAM GIFFORD

Regional councils will have a new analytical tool to help them manage the environment, thanks to innovative work by Landcare Research.

Land Environments of New Zealand (Lenz) was judged best analytical application and best overall application at this year's ESRI user group conference in San Diego, California.

ESRI is a leading provider of geographic information systems software, and more than 1000 applications competed for the top prize.

Landcare systems analyst Fraser Morgan said Lenz took more than two years to develop and brought together 15 databases, ranging from climate to soil type to terrain.

"The core extension we use is ESRI's spatial analysis module, which allows us to break New Zealand into cells, ranging down to one metre if need be," he said.

The two core data sets used were the Meteorological Service's long-run weather data and Landcare's New Zealand Land Resource Inventory. Bulk topographical data from Land Information New Zealand allowed the programmers to create the digital elevation model and slope layer for the application.

Using Lenz, planners can quickly see which parts of New Zealand have similar characteristics. Morgan said Landcare worked with the Ministry for the Environment to develop new classification systems for environmental conditions, because Lenz is intended to provide a consistent ecological framework for conservation and resource management.

Lenz could be used by councils - which Morgan says will pay only the cost of supply - to meet their responsibilities under the Resource Management Act or for monitoring climate change as required under the Kyoto protocol.

Environment Ministry senior policy analyst Kirsty Johnston said Lenz had a range of potential applications, such as measuring loss of native ecosystems, international biosecurity screening and predicting pest distributions.

"Lenz can also assist in identifying optimal growing locations for horticulture and forestry, and mapping threats to public health, such as likely habitats of the invasive southern saltmarsh mosquito which can spread the Ross River virus," Johnston said.

Land Environments of New Zealand (LENZ)

Landcare Research