Soils and land-resource data

Manaaki Whenua's LRIS/Our Environment ecosystem provides several national land-resource datasets that answer different questions.

NZLRI and Land Use Capability

The New Zealand Land Resource Inventory is a national polygon database containing physical land-resource themes. Land Use Capability (LUC) groups land according to long-term capability/limitations for sustained productive use under the classification method.

Do not turn LUC class into a statement of cultural value or the only land-development criterion.

Fundamental Soil Layers

Older national soil layers remain useful for broad context and historical project compatibility. Check source scale and lineage before site-level interpretation.

S-map

S-map is New Zealand's modern soil information system, but detailed data access/licensing differs from the fully open LRIS layers. Do not assume a public web viewer equals permission to bulk download/rehost every S-map attribute.

Practical use

Combine soils/land-resource data with slope, drainage, flood, access and field evidence for papakāinga, restoration or farm-planning screening. Site investigation remains necessary when decisions depend on actual soil conditions.

Start with LRIS and Our Environment.

Last reviewed: 26 August 2026