50 Victoria Street
Private Bag 6995
Wellington 6141
New Zealand
T 64 4 894 5400
F 64 4 894 6100
www.nzta.govt.nz
31 October 2023
S Zeng
[FYI request #23630 email]
REF: OIA-13547
Dear S Zeng
Request made under the Official Information Act 1982
Thank you for your email renewing your 29 July 2023 request for the fol owing information under the
Official Information Act 1982 (the Act):
I would like to request the most recent National Land Transport (Road) Noise Map in
geodatabase format. Specifically, the ESRI geodatabase mentioned as output in 6.0 in
this report, or the latest version since the report's release:
https://www.nzta.govt.nz/assets/Highways-Information-Portal/Technical-disciplines/Noiseand-
vibration/Research-and-information/Other-research/national-land-transport-roadnoise-
map-2019-05-16.pdf
I would also prefer the map be released along with other supplemental information
through the NZTA's Open Data Portal https://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/open-dataportal/.
Though if it wil slow down the release of this data, please send it to me instead.
Your original request was deemed as outside the principles of the Act as, in accordance with Section
12(2) of the Act, it had not been specified with due particularity. On 5 September 2023 you provided
the following clarification:
…I intend to perform exploratory analysis on the data, including the noise pollution effect of
different types of transport infrastructure. I reserve the right to share any findings with the wider
public. I am requesting the information for all of New Zealand, though I am more interested in
Auckland. I also personally live in an area with significant traffic noise, and want to know if this
issue is recognised by NZTA model ing, and what other areas are affected by the issue.
As mentioned in our notice of extension on 3 October 2023, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency is still
waiting on the 2019 noise contour map data to be transferred from our contractor. However, this data
wil soon be superseded by the upcoming release of the 2023 Social Cost of Noise (SCON) report and
new noise contour maps being prepared in association with this report. While Waka Kotahi has the
data for these maps, further work is needed to present these in a publicly digestible format along with
supporting documentation. Waka Kotahi expects the report and associated maps to be made publicly
available by mid to late December 2023.
As updated noise contour maps wil soon be publicly available, I am refusing your request under
section 18(d) of the Act. This section provides for refusal when the information requested is or wil
soon be publicly available.
Under section 28 of the Act, you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review my decision to refuse
this request. The contact details for the Ombudsman can be located at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz.
If you would like to discuss this reply with Waka Kotahi or seek an update on the availability of the
2023 SCON data, please contact us by email to [NZTA request email].
Yours sincerely
Vanessa Browne
National Manager Programme and Standards
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