Hon Clayton Cosgrove
Minister of Statistics

6 July 2007 Media Statement

Free data tools to help businesses, local government

From today, businesses, local government and community groups can now freely access electronic boundaries for maps that clearly show where relevant government statistics apply, said Statistics Minister Clayton Cosgrove.

These groups are all winners in today’s announcement that Statistics New Zealand’s Digital Boundaries and standard StreetLink files are now available at no cost.

Mr Cosgrove said the Labour-led government is committed to propelling further business growth, and to supporting the work of local and regional councils in their communities.

“Making practical tools like electronic boundaries for existing maps available, removes a barrier to businesses and local authorities using data accurately.”

“Ensuring that quality data and this mapping information are freely available, assists businesses to better identify market opportunities, compare themselves to other businesses and make better investment decisions, no matter where they are and no matter how big or small they are,” Mr Cosgrove said.

Digital Boundaries is an electronic file that allows mapping and geographic information systems to show the boundaries of statistical and administrative areas. From today, Digital Boundaries files will be available for free on CD.

Visualising information in map form can help a company more easily understand such things as market concentrations, catchments for setting franchise areas and for purposes such as choosing outlet locations. It can also help local authorities track changes in their communities, and help determine where facilities are needed.

“Today’s announcement means that whereas it used to cost $3,300 plus GST for the standard five-yearly census pattern, or $25,212 plus GST for the annual detailed file, these files are now available at no cost,” Mr Cosgrove said.

Today’s announcement also covers the standard StreetLink information – an electronic list that relates ranges of addresses to statistical and administrative areas such as meshblock area units or territorial local authority areas. StreetLink is a useful tool that assists business, local and central government planning.

The StreetLink file had cost $6,000 plus GST for first supply. Annual updates were $2,000 plus GST for previous purchasers, or $250 per update for quarterly updates, but from today will be freely available as an emailed file, although individual requests for customised information may still incur a charge.

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BACKGROUND INFORMATION

What is the background to today’s announcement?
Statistics New Zealand has always published summary information across a wide range of statistical areas free of charge as well as more in-depth fee-carrying detailed statistical information.
In May this year, Mr Cosgrove announced that a large range of Statistics New Zealand data and products that have been available at a cost to users in the past will progressively be made freely available starting in the 2007/2008 financial year. Budget 2007 allocated $6 million in operating funding over the next four financial years, plus $2.7 million in capital funding in 2007/08, to progressively make around 250 million pieces of information freely and easily available. This funding covers re-engineering outdated IT systems to ensure that the information is available in a more accessible form on the Internet. This information will be valuable for businesses, local government, communities and the public.

What proportion of services will still be charged for?
A small proportion of information will still incur charges, particularly where the data only has a highly specialised or narrow use.

Why is the government doing this?
This information is being made more accessible to more users to ensure taxpayers get full value from the investment that their governments have made into maintaining official statistics and to promote the Labour-led government’s goal to propel the further economic transformation of the economy.
This initiative is also about giving the information back so that more New Zealanders and New Zealand businesses can make informed decisions to benefit us all – whether it is about local government accessing population information to assist in planning, or helping businesses to analyse potential growth areas that will result in a stronger economy.

What products have become freely available in the wake of today’s announcement?
- Digital Boundaries (available on CD)
- StreetLink information (available as an emailed file)

What are these products and how much has it been costing people to access this information up until now?

Digital Boundaries
- These digital files allow mapping and geographic information systems to show the boundaries of statistical and administrative areas, for example, territorial authorities, urban areas, or area units (which are roughly the size of a suburb).
- Visualising information in map form is becoming a common way of understanding such things as market concentrations, catchments for setting franchise areas, potential market and competition, and for purposes such as choosing outlet locations. Making these files free will reduce the cost of purchasing or operating mapping systems.
- Local authorities will use this to create maps of their communities and to track changes in communities, and set ward and electorate boundaries, or to determine where community parks and facilities may need to be placed.
- The Digital Boundaries File used to cost costs $3,300 plus GST for the standard five-yearly census pattern, or $25,212 plus GST for the annual detailed file. These are now available for free on a CD.

StreetLink Information
- StreetLink relates ranges of addresses to statistical and administrative areas such as meshblock, area unit and territorial local authority.
- It allows businesses to get official statistics for areas that are relevant to their business and customer base. For example, a garden maintenance business can see how many households they have contracts with and then look at the growth potential for each of their operators. Local authorities, for example, can use this information to identify where maintenance contracts start and finish and work out where things such where registered dogs are.
- A standard StreetLink file had cost $6,000 plus GST for first supply. Annual updates were $2,000 plus GST for previous purchasers or $250 per update for quarterly updates. These base product files are now available for free in the form of an emailed file. However, any customisation may incur a charge.

How can people access this new information?
For information about how to access these products please call the Statistics New Zealand Information Centre on 0508 525 525

What are the other products that are going to become freely available and what are the target dates for them becoming free of charge?
- Small Area Population Estimates– August 2007
- Regional and Local Statistics – by end 2007
- Detailed Business Demography Data – by end 2007
- Household Expenditure Data – by end 2007
- Detailed Import/Export Data – mid 2008
- Retail and Wholesale Trade Data – mid 2008
- Economic Time Series – mid 2008
- Migration and Visitor Data – mid 2008
- Redeveloped INFOS Database – mid 2008
- Small Area Population Projections – mid 2008
- Coding Tools for Occupation/Industry – late 2008

What effect does the government expect from this Budget 2007 initiative?
In Australia and in Denmark there were surges in the use of data following similar initiatives to make statistics freely available. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reports data downloads have approximately tripled since they made similar information free in 2005.

What do you expect uptake to be?
A similar upsurge in data uptake is expected in New Zealand. In 2003, for example, Statistics New Zealand made Census information freely available on the Internet and that resulted in a significant increase in public usage from around 250 paying subscribers in 1993 to over 20,000 accesses in the last year alone.

ENDS

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