Biodiversity and protected areas
The Department of Conservation maintains a public ArcGIS open-data portal containing conservation land, management, species and operational spatial layers. Manaaki Whenua also publishes national protected-area and ecosystem resources.
Separate three kinds of biodiversity data
- observations — species recorded at a place/time
- modelled distribution/habitat — predicted or generalised suitable/present area
- administrative/management area — land or programme boundary
They should not share a generic species area label.
Public conservation land
Protected-area polygons are useful for land-management context but legal status, administering body and overlapping designations can require attribute-level checking.
Species observations
For point observations, retain date, method and source. A missing observation is not evidence of absence unless the survey design supports that conclusion.
Sensitive species
Some biodiversity systems intentionally generalise or restrict location precision. Use the published precision rather than trying to reverse-engineer hidden exact sites.
Related: Taiao mapping and Publishing sensitive locations.
Last reviewed: 26 August 2026