| ArcGIS REST Services Directory | Login |
| Home > services > Human_population (MapServer) | Help | API Reference |
| JSON | SOAP |
A smoothed outline of Aotearoa New Zealand’s coast was used to construct coastal segments of roughly 10 km width (depending on complexity of the coastline), extending out to the 12 nm Territorial Sea limit. Most of New Zealand’s population lives near coastal areas. High population areas are likely to increase levels of pollutants, as well as increased disturbances related to direct human access through development and recreational activities. Human population data from the 2018 Census (Meshblock 2020), which contains data based on electorates varying in size with population density, were used to calculate the total population by the sum of population meshblocks overlapping the 10 km segments. Populations in partially overlapping meshblocks were scaled by the proportion of overlap. Because these segments don’t occur in isolation, a 10 km buffer was used around each coastal segment to capture populations in inland and adjacent coastal areas.
Limitations and Uncertainties:
We recognise that 10 km coastal segments are arbitrary boundaries for the NZ coastline, and further, that we extended all values for each polygon out to the 12 nm Territorial Sea boundary to allow better visualisation of how land-based inputs and population accessibility vary in NZ. This extension seaward is arbitrary, and does not incorporate likely decreasing impacts offshore from the coast. Segments for Stewart Island were not included and for coastlines with large, narrow inlets, such as in Fiordland, segments do not include the inner fiords as this would increase the segment size, making comparisons between segments less consistent. The census only includes people in the country on the night of the census so will capture visitors but not residents in some cases due to travel.
Data source:
Last updated: 10 March 2021
A smoothed outline of Aotearoa New Zealand’s coast was used to construct coastal segments of roughly 10 km width (depending on complexity of the coastline), extending out to the 12 nm Territorial Sea limit. Most of New Zealand’s population lives near coastal areas. High population areas are likely to increase levels of pollutants, as well as increased disturbances related to direct human access through development and recreational activities. Human population data from the 2018 Census (Meshblock 2020), which contains data based on electorates varying in size with population density, were used to calculate the total population by the sum of population meshblocks overlapping the 10 km segments. Populations in partially overlapping meshblocks were scaled by the proportion of overlap. Because these segments don’t occur in isolation, a 10 km buffer was used around each coastal segment to capture populations in inland and adjacent coastal areas.
Limitations and Uncertainties:
We recognise that 10 km coastal segments are arbitrary boundaries for the NZ coastline, and further, that we extended all values for each polygon out to the 12 nm Territorial Sea boundary to allow better visualisation of how land-based inputs and population accessibility vary in NZ. This extension seaward is arbitrary, and does not incorporate likely decreasing impacts offshore from the coast. Segments for Stewart Island were not included and for coastlines with large, narrow inlets, such as in Fiordland, segments do not include the inner fiords as this would increase the segment size, making comparisons between segments less consistent. The census only includes people in the country on the night of the census so will capture visitors but not residents in some cases due to travel.
Data source:
Last updated: 10 March 2021