Built from 2024 LINZ LiDAR (composite L121859). Methodology open and auditable at /methodology. The map is free for council staff, contracted consultants and the public — no login. Data partnerships and feedback welcome.
Cross-check overland flow against the district plan flood overlay when assessing new applications. Flags sites where the council layer pre-dates current LiDAR. Useful as a second reference, not as the primary regulatory source.
Catchment-scale flow visibility for network planning and asset siting. Layer ships with upstream catchment area on every segment, useful for rational-method runoff sanity checks.
Property-level overland flow visibility for pre-event briefings and public communications. Methodology and limitations are published openly so the public can sense-check what the map shows.
The published map is built from open data sources documented at /methodology. If your team wants to compare against your in-house derivations, get in touch — we can share the workflow.
Quick check for overland flow paths at building-platform scale before issuing a PIM or processing the consent — useful to flag minor flood-related issues early.
FloodMap.nz currently publishes overland flow paths only — Tier 3 (25–500 ha catchment), Tier 4 (2–25 ha) and Tier 5 (0.4–2 ha). The layer is derived from D8 routing on hydroflattened bare-earth LINZ LiDAR. It does not include depth, velocity or flood hazard category, and it does not model culverts, stormwater pipes or constructed drainage. It is a screening reference — not a regulatory hazard layer, not a substitute for council flood overlays, not a substitute for site-specific HEC-RAS modelling. The methodology page lists every limitation up front.
If your council has internal flood layers we should be aware of, comparison data you'd like to share, or interest in council-specific data deliveries (regional bulk download, embed widget, API access for property reports), get in touch. We are exploring partnership arrangements with councils that want closer integration — no productised licence yet, just a conversation.
What we can talk about today:
Try the free public map for any address in your district. Happy to send a no-obligation comparison report against your current council flood layer for any region — see where the data agrees, where it doesn't, and why.
Request a comparison → Open the map