Plain-English summary
1. Acceptance of Terms
By accessing or using FloodMap.nz (the "Site" and the "Map"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree, do not use the Site.
FloodMap.nz is a data product of Subdivision and Engineering Limited, trading as SAE Ltd, of Napier, New Zealand ("SAE Ltd", "we", "us"). FloodMap.nz operates as part of SAE Ltd's services and is subject to these Terms.
2. Nature of the Service
The Site is provided as a free, general-purpose reference tool. It displays modelled overland flow path data derived from LiDAR terrain surface modelling. The Site is a data visualisation tool, not a professional engineering product or engineering advice.
Beta status. The Site is in beta. Data, regional coverage, classification thresholds, methodology and features are under active development and may change or be updated without notice. Layers may be added, revised, withdrawn or reissued at any time as new LINZ LiDAR survey blocks are released or as the methodology is refined. The current published layer covers the published regions only — see the Map for current regional coverage.
3. No Reliance
The Site is for general informational purposes only. It does not constitute professional engineering advice, surveying, flood risk assessment, land valuation, or any other professional service. You must not rely on the Site for:
- Resource consent or building consent applications
- Property purchase, sale, valuation or investment decisions
- Conveyancing representations, sale-and-purchase warranties or pre-settlement disclosure
- Flood risk assessment, hazard categorisation or insurance purposes
- Design of stormwater infrastructure, earthworks or drainage systems
- Setting finished floor levels or building platform locations
- Any regulatory, planning, lending or legal purpose
For site-specific flood assessment, overland flow path analysis or stormwater design, engage a qualified professional engineer. SAE Ltd offers these services as bespoke engineering — see /flood-report for what's typically covered.
4. Known Data Limitations
The Site does not represent or model:
- Soil infiltration capacity, saturation state or antecedent moisture. Two locations with identical surface terrain can flood very differently depending on soil conditions on the day. Where a flow path is shown, that does not mean water will pond there during any specific rainfall event.
- Rainfall intensity, duration, return period or storm event. The Map shows where water would route if it flowed at all — not how much, how often, or how deep.
- Underground stormwater pipe networks, culverts, road drains or constructed drainage. Engineered drainage routinely intercepts surface flow that the bare-earth model would otherwise show flowing across the surface. In urban areas particularly, actual drainage behaviour differs significantly from modelled terrain flow paths.
- Vegetation interception, surface roughness, land cover effects on flow velocity and depth.
- Coastal flooding, storm surge, sea-level rise, tsunami, dam break, large-river flooding (Tier 1/Tier 2 not yet published), groundwater rise, or any other flood mechanism that does not arise from rainfall-driven overland flow on bare earth.
Additional known beta-stage limitations:
- Overland flow paths are derived from LiDAR terrain modelling, not field-verified survey
- Results may differ from council-published flood hazard maps or floodplain management plans
- LiDAR surface imperfections may produce artefacts in flat, developed or vegetated areas
- Some regions have incomplete LiDAR source data coverage; the Map only shows regions that have been published
- Tile-processing block boundaries may produce minor discontinuities in flow path connectivity
- Data vintage varies by region (LINZ surveys 2018–2024) and does not reflect post-survey development, earthworks or terrain change
SAE Ltd makes no warranty that the list of known limitations is complete or current.
5. Property Representation
The Map displays modelled overland flow paths derived from LiDAR terrain data. The display of a flow path on or near any parcel of land does not constitute:
- An authoritative record of flood hazard or flood risk for that land
- A council planning map, property information memorandum (PIM), or land information memorandum (LIM)
- A title search, valuation, or formal assessment of any property
- Evidence of any encumbrance, easement, watercourse classification or restriction on title
- A finding that a watercourse, drain or overland flow path actually exists on any specific property
- A representation that the property has flooded, will flood, or is more or less prone to flooding than any neighbouring property
Flow paths shown on the Map are derived from terrain surface modelling only. The model does not account for underground stormwater pipes, culverts, road drains or other constructed drainage infrastructure. A flow path shown on the Map may not exist in practice if adequate constructed drainage is present.
The authoritative source for flood hazard information affecting a specific property is your local council. Regional councils and territorial authorities publish flood hazard layers through their GIS portals and Land Information Memoranda. FloodMap.nz is not a substitute for a LIM report or council flood hazard overlay.
If you believe flow path data displayed for a specific location contains an error, you may report it by emailing info@subeng.nz with the location details. SAE Ltd will review reported errors and update the data in future releases where corrections are confirmed. SAE Ltd does not accept liability for any loss arising prior to any correction.
6. Limitation of Liability
Use at your own risk
You access and use the Site, the Map and the data entirely at your own risk. You are solely responsible for evaluating accuracy, completeness and suitability of any output for your intended purpose, and for obtaining independent professional advice before acting on it.
To the maximum extent permitted by New Zealand law, SAE Ltd, its directors, employees, contractors, agents and licensors accept no liability for any loss, damage, cost or expense (including legal costs on a solicitor-client basis) arising from or in connection with:
- Use of, or reliance on, the Site, the Map or any data displayed by it
- Any inaccuracy, omission, error or change in the data, including any difference between the Map and any council, regulatory, or actual flood record
- Interruption, unavailability or termination of the Site
- Any decision (including but not limited to property purchase, sale, valuation, insurance, lending, design, consent, or development decisions) made in reliance on any content of the Site
- Any property valuation, devaluation, marketability impact, sale outcome, insurance outcome, or financial loss attributed in any way to information shown or implied by the Site
- Any third-party claim arising from a representation made in reliance on the Site
Where any liability cannot be excluded under New Zealand law, our total aggregate liability to you (whether in contract, tort, negligence, statute or otherwise) for all claims arising out of or in connection with these Terms or the Site is limited to NZD $100.
7. Prohibited Uses
Life-safety and emergency use. The Site must not be used for emergency management, civil defence planning, evacuation routing, flood response coordination, or any other life-safety application. The Site does not provide real-time flood data and is not validated for emergency use.
Institutional and official use. Councils, government agencies, regional authorities, emergency management organisations, insurance underwriters, banks and financial institutions must not use the Site in official documents, planning instruments, underwriting decisions, property valuations or any formal assessment without a separate written data licence agreement from SAE Ltd. Contact info@subeng.nz.
AI and automated systems. The Site and its data must not be used to train artificial intelligence or machine learning models, feed automated property assessment systems, or provide input to any system that outputs conclusions about specific properties or locations without human expert review. Automated scraping, systematic data extraction, or bulk download is prohibited without prior written agreement.
Insurance underwriting. The Site must not be used as a basis or contributing factor for insurance underwriting, premium setting, policy issuance, claims assessment, or coverage decisions for any property. The data does not constitute a flood risk assessment for insurance purposes.
Property marketing and conveyancing. The Site must not be used in marketing material for any property sale, in real estate listings, in vendor disclosure statements, or as a basis for any pre-settlement representation about flood risk or flood history of any property.
8. Indemnification
You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless SAE Ltd, its directors, employees, contractors and agents from and against any claims, damages, losses, costs and expenses (including legal costs on a solicitor-client basis) arising from or related to:
- Your use of the Site in breach of these Terms
- Any representation you make to a third party based on the Site
- Any third-party claim arising from your use or misuse of the Site, or from a decision made by another party in reliance on information you provided that was sourced from the Site
9. Limitation Period
Any claim arising from your use of the Site must be brought within 12 months of the date you first accessed the Site session giving rise to the claim. Claims brought after this period are barred to the maximum extent permitted by law.
10. Exclusion of Warranties
The Site, the Map and all data are provided "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE", with all faults and without warranty of any kind. To the maximum extent permitted by New Zealand law, all warranties (express, implied or statutory) are excluded, including any implied warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, completeness, reliability, security, non-infringement, or uninterrupted availability.
Consumer Guarantees Act 1993. Where you acquire access to the Site for the purposes of a business (as defined in section 2 of the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993), you agree that the Consumer Guarantees Act does not apply.
11. Intellectual Property
Overland flow path data is derived from LiDAR terrain data sourced from the LINZ Data Service under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (CC BY 4.0). Terrain data © Crown copyright reserved. Land cover data sourced from Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research (LCDB v5) under CC BY 4.0. Base map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors under ODbL. Processed data, vector tiles, methodology, processing pipeline, brand and the Site are © SAE Ltd 2026.
You may use the Site for personal, research and general reference purposes, with attribution to "FloodMap.nz, derived from LINZ LiDAR (CC BY 4.0)". Commercial redistribution of map data, systematic bulk download, embedding in third-party products, or incorporation of map data into any database or service is not permitted without written agreement from SAE Ltd.
12. Privacy
Use of the Site is subject to the Privacy Policy. The Site uses Google Analytics 4 to collect anonymised usage data and Formspree to process contact form submissions. No personally identifiable information is collected through the Map itself.
13. Changes to Terms
SAE Ltd may update these Terms at any time. The current version is always available at https://floodmap.nz/terms. Continued use of the Site after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms. Material changes will be indicated by incrementing the version number above. Where changes are material, the disclaimer modal on the Map may be re-shown to require fresh acceptance.
14. Governing Law
These Terms are governed by the laws of New Zealand. Any disputes arising out of or in connection with these Terms or the Site will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the New Zealand courts. If any provision of these Terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, that provision will be severed and the remainder will continue in full force and effect.
15. Contact
For questions about these Terms, data accuracy queries, takedown requests, error reports or licensing enquiries:
SAE Ltd
76 Latham Street, Marewa, Napier 4110, New Zealand
Email: info@subeng.nz
Phone: 027 604 4015
Form: https://floodmap.nz/contact