3D Map New Zealand

3rd July 2026

Beta Online Map now has Waypoints and Tracks

We've just enabled files in the online map. This means that you can mark waypoints, draw routes and record tracks and they will be stored persistently in the browser.

Note this is highly experimental: you should expect to lose saved data at any time. Several features are not expected to work, including snap and "share" (i.e. exporting files). Browser compatibility may be limitted (Safari seems to have more issues than Chrome and Firefox).

Try it here, and do let us know what you think.

30th June 2026

Fixes to Snap Data

One of the new features in version 2.11 was snap-to-trails. It seems that some of the required data files were not available, giving error messages if you attempted to use it in certain parts of the country. I believe that I have now resolved this by uploading the missing files to the server. If anyone sees any further "Download Failed" messages while trying to use the new snap feature, please let me know.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

28th June 2026

Beta Online Map available

We're proud to announce that after a lot of work, 3D Map New Zealand is now available as a web app that can run on any modern web browser, including on Android phones and computers.

This is the same code as the iOS app, but compiled to run inside a web browser.

This current first beta has a subset of the iOS app's functionality, and no doubt lots of bugs. More features will be added, and hopefully bugs will be removed, in future updates.

Version 2.11 Released

An update is now available.

This update adds some significant new features:

While drawing routes, the pencil can now snap to roads and trails on the map. To learn more about this, please see this page from the Topo Maps 2 documentation. The implementation for the New Zealand app is very similar, using vector data from LINZ. One thing to be aware of is that the distinction between roads and "4WD routes" is based on LINZ's categorisation of roads as sealed or not, which may be a bit pessimistic for New Zealand.
The path actions menu has a new "add altitudes" action.
In 3D mode, you can now rotate the map with a two-finger gesture in the obvious way.
A new Map Appearance setting lets you determine whether, in 3D mode, the app tries to hide waypoints, tracks and routes behind any foreground terrain.

As always, any feedback about the changes - or anything else - would be very much appreciated.

2nd April 2026

Updated Maps

I have just updated about 80 of the 1:50,000 maps with new versions from LINZ. (I believe that the differences are very minor in many cases.) If you have version 2.9 of the app - released last week - installed, then the app will discover these updates automatically at some point over the next week, and will show them when you select Update at the top of the Maps screen.

27th March 2026

Version 2.9 Released

An update is now available.

The main change in this update is that the app will now check periodically for updates to the 1:50,000 maps.

There have also been some minor changes to the user intrface, and assorted bug fixes.

As always, any feedback about the changes - or anything else - would be very much appreciated.

8th September 2025

Downloads now come from Auckland

Last week, Amazon Web Services openened a new group of data centres in Auckland. I've now moved all the supporting infrastructure for this app to there, from Sydney. This may make map downloads, and this website, slightly faster (if you're in New Zealand).

Please let me know if you experience any problems that could be side-effects of this change.

12th May 2025

Brief Website Problem

This website was unavailable briefly at the weekend, due to an issue with the renewal of its security certificate. It should be working normally again now. App functionality (i.e. map downloads) would not have been affected. Sorry for the inconvenience.

21st March 2025

Version 2.8 Released

An update is now available. New features include:

The app now includes a Safari extension that can replace links to map websites (e.g. Google Maps, OpenStreetMap) with links that open this app.
New "View In"s are available for Organic Maps and WikiNearby.
The Panorama screen now has a maximum distance setting, to limit views to realistic distances when visibility is imperfect.
When the app runs on a Mac in "Designed for iPad" mode, keyboard-and-mouse-friendly zoom buttons are now shown in photo, panorama and graph screens.
The app's URL handler now accepts a mode parameter to set the map mode (Topo, Imagery or Hybrid). It now works with the custom scheme nz.3dmapapp: as well as the universal link https://3dmapapp.nz/maps.

There have also been assorted bug fixes.

As always, any feedback about the changes - or anything else - would be very much appreciated.

16th February 2025

Version 2.7 Released

An update is now available.

This update adds basic support for the Apple Watch. This doesn't show a map on the watch; rather, it mirrors data including speed, elevation, climb etc. from the iPhone app to the watch display. If you have an Apple Watch we'd love to hear what functionality you would like to see in future; please get in touch.

Other changes in this version include:

The Settings screen has been reorganized into a number of subsections.
When the app runs on a Mac in "Designed for iPad" mode a zoom control is shown in the corner of the window, making it possible to navigate with only a mouse.
A statistics section is now shown at the bottom of the Maps screen, indicating how many maps are installed and how much storage they are occupying.

As always, any feedback about the changes - or anything else - would be very much appreciated.

6th December 2024

Version 2.6 Released

An update is now available.

I have recently updated about 150 of the 1:50,000 maps with new versions from LINZ. (I believe that the differences are very minor in many cases.) In this new version of the app, the Maps screen has a new mode for updating maps. Select Update at the top of that screen and grids will indicate which of your downloaded 1:50,000 maps can be updated (if any).

The built-in 1:250,000 maps and search data have also been updated, again with mostly very minor changes.

There are also some new features:

The search box now accepts coordinates.
You can now prevent the app from sleeping, either unconditionally or only when external power is applied. This could be useful if you have your device in a vehicle mount, or similar.
The blend mode used to combine topos with imagery to create the hybrid map can now be adjusted. See the new Hybrid Map Blend Mode section in the Settings screen.
A "long touch" on the app's icon on your home screen will now offer three shortcuts: you can launch the app showing your current location, start a track recording, or search.
The search screen now remembers your recent searches.
You can now add web links to waypoints, routes, tracks and GPX files.
The app now has a dark mode app icon.

One significant bug has been resolved: previously, tracks and routes could disappear when their metadata was modified. Please update now to resolve this.

As always, any feedback about the changes - or anything else - would be very much appreciated.

(If you're wondering what happened to version 2.5, that number was skipped to keep this app in sync with Topo Maps 2, which got an update that didn't apply to this app.)

8th October 2024

Version 2.4 Released

An update is now available.

The changes in this version are mostly related to panoramas; you can now add photos to panoramas, add labels for visible summits and other features, use a new "Full Rotation" compass mode, and export panorama images as JPEGs.

You can also now choose to show an arrow indicating the direction you're facing, instead of the existing blue spot, to mark your location.

Please let me know if you find any problems, or have any other feedback.

(If you're wondering what happened to version 2.3, that number was skipped to keep this app in sync with Topo Maps 2, which needed a bug fix that this app didn't.)

17th August 2024

Version 2.2 Released

An update is now available.

With this update, it's now possible to link multiple photos to waypoints, tracks and routes, and those photos can now be internet links or be attached to the GPX file.

There are also additions to the "View In" feature making it possible to open Bing Maps and Google Earth.

Please let me know if you find any problems, or have any other feedback.

11th July 2024

Version 2.1 Released

An update is now available.

The main new features in this update are the ability to link photos to waypoints, tracks and routes, and a compass button in the panorama silhouette window.

Please let me know if you find any problems, or have any other feedback.

19th June 2024

Version 2.0 Released

An update is now available. This is primarily a bug-fix update; the significant change to the version number is to bring this app into sync with my US / Canada app Topo Maps 2, with which it shares much code.

As always, please do get in touch if you have any feedback. Thanks!

21st May 2024

Version 1.4 Released

An update is now available with new features including:

You can now filter track recordings, either while recording or afterwards. This should help to make reported distances more reasonable as they will include less jitter.
To reduce confusion when a point has been selected by tapping on the map, the coordinate display at the top of the screen now shows either a crosshairs selection-bubble symbol to indicate whether it is showing screen-centre or selected-point coordinates.
There are new buttons in the Files screen to import and share GPX files.
You can also now copy-and-paste items between GPX files.
Deleted GPX items can be recovered in the new "recently deleted items" section of the Files screen.
Search results can be grouped by region.
There are now more possibilities for customisation of the app's buttons; you can now move buttons between "main" and "more" button areas at the top of the screen, the bottom of the screen, and in the selection popup. There is also a section for buttons that are entirely hidden.
There have been numerous other tweaks to the user interface.
As always, there have been many bug fixes.

Please do get in touch if you have any feedback, especially if you find any new bugs! Thanks.

6th May 2024

Beta Test for Version 1.4

The next update to the app is now in preparation. If you'd like to try out a beta test version of this update, and help to iron out the last few bugs (!), please get in touch now.

28th November 2023

Version 1.3 Released

A new version of the app is now available with new features including:

You can view graphs of altitude and speed for recorded tracks and routes.
You can "fly" along tracks and routes.
You can draw routes on the map.
Measure Mode displays concentric distance rings, and shows the distance and bearing between points on the map.
Bearings can now be shown in mils, and coordinate can be shown in UTM and MGRS formats.
The app will suggest names for waypoints, etc., based on nearby features from its search data and other names that you have recently used.
You can estimate walking times for routes based on distance and climb.

There are also various bug fixes and minor new features. Do please let use know what you think!

10th November 2023

Beta Test for Version 1.3

The next update to the app is now in preparation. If you'd like to try out a beta test version of this update, and help to iron out the last few bugs (!), please get in touch now.

19th June 2023

Version 1.2 Released

Apple have today approved version 1.2 of the app, which is now available to download from the App Store.

This update features a new Panorama Mode. Tap anywhere on the map and then tap the Panorama button. The app will compute the view from this point, and show it in two ways.

Firstly, the app shades the map to indicate what can be seen from the selected viewpoint - or equivalently, from where that point can be seen. So if you select a mountain summit it shows what can be seen from that peak, and from where the peak can be seen. Visible areas are shown normally in colour, and invisible areas are shown in dark monochrome.

Secondly, the app shows a silhouette of the view from that viewpoint. You can pan and zoom this panel, resize it, and expand it to full screen.

A vertical line - a cursor - through the silhouette corresponds to another line on the map itself; you can adjust exactly what is shown by tapping on the gear settings button on the silhouette panel. Distances and altitudes of the features shown on the silhouette can be shown and correlated with the same features on the main map.

I hope you like this new feature; don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions.

1st May 2023

Version 1.1 Released

Apple have today approved version 1.1 of the app, which is now available to download from the App Store.

The new features in this update include:

A new button, "View In", can open Apple Maps, and other apps or websites, to view the area that is currently displayed. To configure which apps and websites are enabled, see the "View In" section of the Settings screen. You can add your own items if you know the right URL format. Let us know if there are particular apps or websites that you'd like to see here.
Support for GPX Routes is improved.
Search is improved. Search patterns will now match any word in the place name, i.e. searching for "Pukaki" will now find "Lake Pukaki". The search results list has two new features: you can group the search results by feature type (i.e. hills, towns, islands...), and you can limit the search to the currently-visible area of the map.
You can now show your photos, from the Photos app, on the map. Tap the "Photos" button and choose whether to show all photos or just favourites. Favourites are shown in yellow.

There are also a few bug fixes and other tweaks.

Do please let us know what you think.

14th April 2023

3D Map New Zealand Version 1.0 Released

Apple have today approved the first version of this new app, which is now available to download from the App Store.

Please let us know what you think of the app - being the very first version there will surely be bugs, so don't hesitate to get in touch to let us know what we need to fix first!