MEDIA RELEASE

25 March 2011

LINZ releases post Christchurch earthquake aerial imagery to public.

Media and the public can now access the same aerial imagery of Christchurch that Police, Civil Defence, and other emergency responders have been using to assess damage to the area.

The imagery of the city was taken on 24 February, and clearly shows the extent of the damage from the 22 February quake.

As the country’s national mapping agency, Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) is coordinating the release of this imagery on behalf of the Crown, on the authority of the National Controller.

Civil Defence National Controller, John Hamilton, commissioned the aerial images to help inform the work of the Christchurch Response Centre (CRC).

LINZ has released the imagery under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand license. This means anyone is free to copy, distribute, and adapt the imagery so long as it is attributed to the Crown.

The imagery was collected by New Zealand Aerial Mapping (NZAM) flying at 1,600m above the ground using a Vexcel UCXp large format digital aerial camera.

“It’s important to remember that this imagery is a snapshot of the way Christchurch looked a couple of days after the earthquake. It’s good that this information is now available to all of New Zealand and the world.” says Geoff Howard, New Zealand’s Chief Topographer.

To access the 24 February aerial imagery, please visit our website.

ENDS

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