Cyclone Gabrielle gave a stark demonstration of the critical importance of knowing the status of our road network in an emergency … and just how inadequate our national roading data is in times of crisis. NZTA has been part of LINZ’s key data improvement programme since 2019 and there now appears to be light at the end of the tunnel. NZTA is currently developing a national network model to combine state highways and locals road data into New Zealand’s first open, free, routable roads dataset which could become the authoritative source in an emergency. Learn more about what NZTA have planned and how this dataset could support the emergency management community.

Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) plays a critical role in responding to maritime and marine pollution incidents, as well as coordinating search and rescue emergencies at the national level. Despite these responsibilities, existing tools and personnel capacity did not fully meet the demand for timely and comprehensive information essential for effective readiness and response activities. Recognizing this gap, MNZ initiated a project to develop a Geospatial Common Operating Picture (COP) aimed at enhancing incident response capabilities.
During the initial phases of this project, MNZ faced a maritime emergency involving the MV Shiling, necessitating immediate response actions without a fully established incident response GIS. Collaborating with Eagle Technology, MNZ improvised a COP using existing tools and ad-hoc solutions, highlighting the critical need for enhanced geospatial capabilities. Lessons learned from this experience emphasized the importance of proactive relationship management, seizing crisis opportunities for technological advancement, and ensuring comprehensive data availability for informed decision-making.
Building on these insights, MNZ partnered with Eagle to deploy Kahupapa, a geospatial COP tailored for maritime incidents. This integrated platform facilitates semi real-time vessel tracking, incident data integration, environmental layers, and weather forecasts, providing decision-makers with a unified view during crises. Future phases of Kahupapa will enhance functionality with specialized tools and further data integration, extending its utility to proactive risk assessment in routine operations. This initiative underscores MNZ's commitment to leveraging geospatial technology for effective crisis management and sustainable maritime governance.

This presentation will outline the improvement of emergency management processes at Nelson City Council since the August 2022 Severe Weather Event, focusing on Rapid Building Assessments and Initial Impact Assessments using ArcGIS Survey123.

The Severe Weather Event in the Nelson Tasman Region in August 2022 presented some challenges including difficulties in the reporting of red, yellow and white placarded properties from rapid building assessments.
This presentation will outline the issues we had in an emergency situation with respect to data management and what improvements have been made since. This includes changes to the way our rapid building assessment data is captured in ArcGIS Survey123 and improvements to how this data is presented using ArcGIS Experience Builder and ArcGIS Dashboards. The development of an initial impact assessment survey was also part of this project. Overall, the changes will provide more efficient data collection and improved reporting of information.