LINZ Data Service — NZ Land Records, Titles & Spatial Data

The Facts

LINZ Data Service is the public-facing portal for Land Information New Zealand's authoritative spatial datasets. It carries records of title, primary parcel boundaries (the legal extent of every piece of land in NZ), road centerlines, addresses, easements, hydrography, and topographic data. Most datasets are free to download with a registered account. Records of Title, the legal ownership document for any property, can be ordered for approximately NZ$8-15 each. Many datasets are available via WFS/WMS feeds, which lets developers and surveyors pull live data straight into GIS software like QGIS or ArcGIS for site analysis.

A Developer's Take

Free authoritative spatial data for all of NZ. Records of title, parcel boundaries, easements, addresses, road centerlines.

The two things you'll use most: ordering Records of Title and pulling parcel data into QGIS for site analysis. Title order is around $10-15, takes five minutes online. A search copy is fine for due diligence, get a guaranteed search copy when you actually settle.

The thing that took me too long to figure out: WFS feeds. You can pull live parcel and address data straight into QGIS without manually downloading shapefiles every time. Once it's set up, you're working with current LINZ data on a per-project basis. For anyone doing more than one deal at a time, learn this once and save days over the year.

Common miss: reading the title without checking the survey diagram it references. The DP plan tells you the actual boundary geometry, not just the legal description. If you're doing anything that depends on exact dimensions (boundary works, easement realignments, subdivision), order the DP plan too. Costs about the same as the title. Just because someone has built a fence there doesn't mean that is where yours or their boundary is. Always check the titles to be sure you understand what you are buying.

LINZ is free, but the learning curve is real. Worth the investment for any developer who's planning to be in the game more for the long haul.

When to use this

Reach for LINZ Data Service when you need authoritative legal land data rather than a council snapshot. It is the right source for parcel boundaries, road centerlines and easement geometry — the data your surveyor and lawyer will rely on. Use it to order Records of Title cheaply during due diligence, and to pull WFS feeds into QGIS for sites where you need overlays the council viewer doesn't carry. Pair it with the council GIS for the full picture: LINZ for legal, council for regulatory.