NZ River Maps is a simple, yet flexible, web-based tool that allows users to map and interrogate estimates for over 100 freshwater variables predicted by NIWA for the entire national river network.
Current national estimates include metrics describing hydrology, river width, river bed sediment, fish distributions and habitat, bird habitat, invertebrate indices, water quality, and water allocated through resource consents.
The tool enables users to visualise how data are spatially distributed and generate summary plots and statistics. Users can also investigate how the national estimates intersect with publicly-available council planning layers. NZ River Maps can be used by environmental planning and science staff from various organisations, as well as special interest groups, to explore regional patterns in a range of freshwater metrics. These data may contribute to regional planning, inform community consultation processes and help identify areas of interest that may require further investigation.
NZ River Maps was developed as part of NIWA’s Environmental Flows programme.
