ArcGIS REST and council data services
Many council web maps are ArcGIS applications. The public app can be only the front end; the underlying service often exposes much richer metadata and, for FeatureServer layers, queryable features.
Current public examples
| Publisher | Public service example | What it demonstrates |
|---|---|---|
| Bay of Plenty Regional Council | BOPRC Data Feed WFS MapServer | council public data feed in NZTM2000 with regulatory/environmental layers |
| Horizons Regional Council | Public BaseData MapServer | place, river/REC2, transport and boundary context |
| Horizons Regional Council | Public OnePlan MapServer | planning schedules for water, biodiversity, landscape, coast and floodway topics |
| Greater Wellington | Open Data Contours MapServer | 5 m contour service with LiDAR/source and NZVD2016 metadata |
| Marlborough District Council | Public Search MapServer | Smart Maps search layers including property, planning, wells and environment-plan features |
| Christchurch City Council | District Plan FeatureServer | open planning vector layers in NZTM2000, including heritage, coastal and cultural-significance planning layers |
| Queenstown Lakes District Council | Contours FeatureServer | queryable contour features and service metadata |
| Queenstown Lakes District Council | Three Waters FeatureServer | public infrastructure feature layers |
Service examples can be retired or reorganised. Use the council's official maps page as the durable route if a deep endpoint changes.
MapServer versus FeatureServer
MapServer
Usually provides map rendering and identify/query operations. Some services expose dynamic layers and GeoJSON/PBF queries.
FeatureServer
Usually exposes vector features and attributes more directly. Check Capabilities, Supported Query Formats, MaxRecordCount and individual layer metadata.
Inspect before connecting
At the REST page, read:
- service description
- layers/tables
- spatial reference
- extent
- copyright/access information
- max record count
- supported operations
Click an individual layer to inspect fields and geometry type.
Cultural/planning layers
A council service may contain fields or layers called Iwi, Cultural Significance, Sites of Significance, Statutory Acknowledgement or similar. Those names usually describe a specific council/planning dataset. Read the plan, metadata and source before interpreting it as a broader cultural boundary or complete local knowledge base.
QGIS use
For a queryable vector service, use the ArcGIS Feature Server provider or another supported connection. Export only the features/area you need where possible and retain the REST URL in layer metadata/project notes.
If you repeatedly use the service, record the access date because live content can change without the URL changing.
Related: APIs and web services, ArcGIS REST and QGIS services/field preparation.
Last reviewed: 26 August 2026