The Informatics team along with colleagues from the Soils and Landscapes team have successfully secured the LCDB3+ contract.

Land Cover Database (LCDB) is a digital map of the surface of New Zealand created using satellite imagery. It contains detailed information on categories of land cover and boundaries, and is a record of land cover changes over time.  Two completed editions (LCDB1 and LCDB2), which show the state of New Zealand’s land cover in 1996-1997 and 2000-2001 respectively, have become critical to central, regional and local government, industry and research institutions. The information is used for land, water and biodiversity management, pest control and monitoring, wildfire threat and risk analysis, and environmental monitoring and reporting.

The creation of new land cover databases and related research has been identified as an important priority by Ministry for the Environment (MfE), Department of Conservation (DOC) and regional councils.  The Government will give $1 million a year over the next four years to the creation the new land cover databases and will involve the use of satellite technology, geospatial mapping techniques and advanced computing systems.

Landcare Research has been commissioned to deliver two further editions of LCDB and, a parallel research programme will develop improved ways of generating land cover information.  LCDB3, the map of land cover as at 2008, should be released in July 2012. LCDB4, which will use imagery acquired over the summers of 2011/12 and 2012/13, is  expected to be released in July 2014.