LRIS Portal FAQ

I can’t find the data I am looking for on your portal, where else can I look?

If you have been looking for data which you can’t find on this portal then it may be available through the main Koordinates web site, or:

Still unable to locate your data? If you are looking for data you expected to find here and didn’t, please contact us at lris_support@landcareresearch.co.nz and tell us what data you are after. We will try to help.

Why am I not receiving notification emails after I have placed a request for data?

When downloading large amounts of data, Koordinates may take some time to create downloads. In order to make sure you get the email notification once download is ready, ensure that you have enabled the check box (Email me when my downloads are read) when creating downloads and that noreply@koordinates.com is a trusted sender to guarantee that your notification email isn’t being redirected to your junk folder.

To ensure that your support emails are not redirected to your junk folder, you also need to make lris_service@landcareresearch.co.nz, lris_support@landcareresearch.co.nz and lris_download@landcareresearch.co.nz trusted senders.

Why don't I see nice cartographic representation of data in this portal?

The LRIS Portal is specifically designed for download of data sets and accompanying material. Visualisation and cartographic representations, i.e. maps, are provided only so far as is required to allow users to determine that they have found the appropriate data layer for their purpose. The strong focus on metadata delivery, particularly the easily understood Dublin Core metadata report, are also designed to facilitate data layer discovery.

This service assumes that you will download the data for use in your own GIS or an application that can work with geospatial data, where query, modelling and mapping can be undertaken. For those who don't currently have GIS software see section below (What do I do if I don’t have my own GIS).

If you wish to explore and interact with some of our data online, you can do so at Our Environment and S-Map Online. Our Environment and S-Map Online are an interactive, free, online services that provide access to some of Manaaki Whenua’s land and environment data.
Some of the things you can do at these websites:

Explore and interact with maps to learn more about the soils and environment of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Learn about your local soils, environment and regional differences.
Access a range of land resource and soil fact sheets.
Create custom PDF maps ready for printing.

If you’re looking to access Manaaki Whenua’s Web Map Services (APIs), please refer to Manaaki Whenua's Web Map Services. (scinfo.org.nz).

What do I do if I don't have my own GIS?

There are many different desktop software offerings available, but the two most commonly used are Esri ArcGIS and QGIS. We recommend QGIS due to its free and open-source nature. QGIS works on Windows, Mac or Linux systems unlike Esri products, which only runs on a Windows system.

What formats are the data available in?

The LRIS Portal provides data in many types of GIS and non-GIS data formats:

GIS

Shapefile (.SHP) (.DBF for tabular data)
Esri File Geodatabase (FGDB)
GeoPackage / SQLite
GeoJPEG
GeoTIFF
JPEG2000
KEA

Non-GIS

DWG with linked JPEG's for images/rasters
Google Earth KML
CSV and GeoCSV
PDF

To read more about each type of format please refer to: File Formats and Data Types | Koordinates Help & Support.

If the data format that you can read with your GIS package is unavailable, or you think the LRIS Portal should be supporting another format, please contact lris_support@landcareresearch.co.nz.

What sort of data use agreement is the data available under?

Most of the data are available under a Landcare Data Use licence created by Manaaki Whenua. Some data are available under Creative Commons licences. Manaaki Whenua has chosen to use its own licence rather than Creative Commons in order to restrict onward sharing of data. This is to ensure that you source your copy of data from the LRIS Portal and are therefore provided with the authoritative and latest copy and not a copy provided by a third party which could have been modified.

Some of your data is licensed under Creative Commons Use Licences. What is Creative Commons?

Creative Commons licences (also referred to as CC licences) permit the copying, the reuse, the distribution, and in some cases, the modification of the original owner’s creative work without having to get permission every single time from the rights holder.
The licence is attached to the content and is available in various forms, allowing the rights holder to retain a level of control over how their work is treated.

Creative Commons is not ideal for scientific data hence we publish data under a Landcare Data Use Licence.

You can find out more about Creative Commons.

I have some data I'd like to add to the LRIS portal. How do I do that?

We are very interested in new data which has been derived from data you downloaded from the LRIS Portal or data sets you have augmented, for example by adding new data attributes. However, while the LRIS Portal is designed to allow anyone to add data to it, this functionality has been disabled for general users.

If you are an employee of Manaaki Whenua, please contact the LRIS helpdesk: lris_support@landcareresearch.co.nz.

If you are not an employee of Manaaki Whenua but have data you think we might be interested in, please contact the LRIS helpdesk: lris_support@landcareresearch.co.nz.

In either case, we will provide you with a way to provide your data to us online and will work with you to publish your data.

Understanding the data layer – what is metadata?

To understand a data layer on LRIS, users can access the data layer’s metadata. Metadata is loosely defined as data about data. This definition is easy to remember, but not very precise. The strength of this definition is in recognizing that metadata is data. As such, metadata can be stored and managed in a database. You will see a database containing metadata described as a catalogue, registry or repository. Metadata is a concept that applies mainly to electronically archived data and is used to describe the

definition,
structure and
administration e.g. re-use rights

of data files to ease the use of the captured and published data for further use. All environmental data should have metadata associated with it. Increasingly this is available in machine readable formats as well as in a human readable format. In either case the metadata record will contain a description of the data, keyword tags, information about the location, extent, lineage, conditions of use and contacts which are essential to understanding the spatial data layers content and to make proper use of that data in spatial analyses.

Metadata on the LRIS Portal are provided in three ways:

Dublin Core, a standard metadata schema aimed for the web publications, intended to simplify the reading of metadata.
ISO 19115/19139, a schema designed specifically to describe geographic information.
FGDC CSDGM, schema designed by the US Federal Geographic Data Committee to define digital geospatial data.

Not all schema are provided for every data layer. Dublin Core metadata is always available. LRIS Portal users can download metadata in a PDF or XML format.

Why does my layer display no metadata in ArcGIS Pro?

Layers loaded into ESRI ArcGIS pro may not have any metadata by default. In order to load the metadata (.xml) please refer to ESRI's guide: Copy or import metadata to an item—ArcGIS Pro | Documentation.

What ancillary documents are included with Downloads?

Most data downloads will include at least some ancillary documents. These will help you in understanding and using the data. Apart from a PDF version of the Dublin Core metadata record, the ancillary documents will usually include a data dictionary or some equivalent (e.g. in the case of a soil survey the appropriate soil survey report in PDF format).

How do I ensure that I am using the appropriate symbology for the data I downloaded?

Included with the ancillary documents, some of the data downloaded from LRIS may contain .lyr or .lyrx files. These ArcGIS layer files are created for and used by ArcGIS software packages. These layer files can be used to load the suggested symbology for that data. Currently QGIS layer style files (.qml and .sld) are unavailable.

What are map projections?

A map projection is the representation of the spheroidal surface of the earth on a flat surface (a piece of paper or computer screen). The mathematical algorithms used to achieve the transformation depend on the specific purpose required, such as preservation of shape, correct area, direction, etc. Map projections are designed to deliver accuracy over a defined area, usually the larger the area the lower the accuracy.

For mapping purposes most of New Zealand is covered by a single projection. Between about 1980 and 2000 this was the New Zealand Map Grid (NZMG), but since 2000 this has transitioned to New Zealand Transverse Mercator (NZTM). You can still find some data sets using NZMG. The Chatham Islands has its own projection while the sub-Antarctic and northern Kermadec Islands are usually projected in latitude/longitude WGS84.

For more information on New Zealand projections please refer to https://www.linz.govt.nz/guidance/geodetic-system/coordinate-systems-used-new-zealand/projections.

All data in the LRIS Portal is uploaded from its “native” projection – in most cases for Manaaki Whenua data this means either New Zealand Map Grid (NZMG/NZGD1949) or New Zealand Transverse Mercator (NZTM/NZGD2000).

The LRIS Portal stores all uploaded data in its "native" projection but displays all data on-screen in WGS84 which is a global projection (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Geodetic_System),

Data downloads from the LRIS Portal require you to specify a projection. In New Zealand, the most frequently used projections are:

New Zealand Transverse Mercator / New Zealand Geodetic Datum 2000 (EPSG:2193)
New Zealand Map Grid / New Zealand Geodetic Datum 1949 (EPSG:27200)
World geodetic System 1984 (EPSG:4326 Lat/Long)
North Island Grid / New Zealand Geodetic Datum 1949 (EPSG:27291)
South Island Grid / New Zealand Geodetic Datum 1949 (EPSG:27292)

Or one of the local circuit surveying projections for New Zealand

Marlborough Circuit / New Zealand Geodetic Datum 1949 (EPSG:27220)
Marlborough Circuit / New Zealand Geodetic Datum 2000 (EPSG:2120)
Either in terms of NZGD1949 or NZGD2000.

What are coordinate/grid references?

Anything on earth can be positionally referenced with an X, Y , and sometimes Z (vertical position) coordinate. Coordinates must refer to a specific projection or datum. To compare two coordinates, they must first be projected under the same system.

The WGS 84 uses degrees of latitude (Y) and longitude (X) starting from the Earth’s center of mass to refer to a location on the Earth’s surface. Lines of latitude runs parallel with the equator and divides the Earth to 180 spaced sections running South to North (or vice versa). Latitude is measured from zero at the equator and go to +90° at the North pole, and -90° at the South pole. On the other hand, the lines of Longitude runs perpendicular to the equator while converging at the poles. They are measured zero to 180° East or West of the reference prime meridian (0°) located at Greenwich, England.

For map projections such as NZMG and NZTM, a set of Cartesian coordinates in metres are defined to uniquely identify any point on the map by an easting and a northing. Because projections are mathematically defined with their origin in some sense centrally located, all projections have a false origin defined. This is a point in the south and west corner of the area to which the projection pertains which will nominally have the coordinates 0,0. This ensures that all coordinates will be positive numbers increasing towards the east and north. In the case of NZMG, which is a unique form of projection, the origin point of the projection is at 41°S, 173°E latitude, a point somewhere near Nelson. For NZTM, as a Transverse Mercator projection, the origin point is at 0°S, 173°E, a point located on the Equator but centred longitudinally on New Zealand.