Imagery
Imagery is often the quickest way to understand what is physically on the whenua and how it has changed. It can show river movement, wetland loss, plantation harvest, tracks, buildings, erosion, restoration and subdivision. It cannot by itself tell you ownership, legal boundary position, historical meaning or the name of a place.
Choose the imagery by the question
| Need | Good starting source |
|---|---|
| current detailed public imagery | LINZ Aerial Basemap / regional LINZ imagery |
| capture date and survey extent | NZ Imagery Survey Index |
| historical aerial photographs | Crown Aerial Film Library / Retrolens |
| orthorectified historical imagery | LINZ Basemaps / NZ Imagery AWS collection |
| previous global basemap versions | Esri World Imagery Wayback |
| repeat multispectral observations | Sentinel-2 / Landsat |
| simple visual time travel | Google Earth historical imagery where available |
Guides
- Aerial versus satellite imagery
- LINZ aerial imagery
- Historical aerial imagery
- LINZ Basemaps and imagery services
- Esri World Imagery and Wayback
- Satellite imagery basics
- Sentinel-2
- Landsat
- Compare change over time
- COGs, image services and tiles
Existing practical material: Retrolens historical imagery workflow and Georeferencing historical maps.
LINZ public imagery in 2026
LINZ reports aerial imagery coverage for about 95% of Aotearoa. Typical rural ground sample distance is 20–30 cm, urban imagery is commonly 5–20 cm, targeted satellite projects can be 50–100 cm, and annual Sentinel-2 mosaics provide 10 m nationwide context. Always check the individual survey metadata because those are broad ranges, not guarantees for a particular place.
Use the capture date, not the date you downloaded the image, when interpreting change.
Last reviewed: 26 August 2026