Use the below documents to troubleshoot and navigate the Underground Asset Register.
Please note – as we’re continuously improving the tool, the help guides can get out of date quite quickly! We endeavour to keep them updated but if there’s anything you’ve spotted please let us know.
If you experience anything that isn’t covered in these documents we would love to hear from you through the form at the bottom of this page. Please upload a relevant screenshot of the problem.
Click here to download a PDF guide for a detailed user experience
Click here to view this one-page for a quick start guide
Click here to view recommendations on how to take useful site records
Prefer to watch a video? Check out our how-to clips for the desktop and mobile versions of the tool below:
Use the below documents to troubleshoot and navigate the Underground Asset Register.
Please note – as we’re continuously improving the tool, the help guides can get out of date quite quickly! We endeavour to keep them updated but if there’s anything you’ve spotted please let us know.
If you experience anything that isn’t covered in these documents we would love to hear from you through the form at the bottom of this page. Please upload a relevant screenshot of the problem.
Prefer to watch a video? Check out our how-to clips for the desktop and mobile versions of the tool below:
Desktop how-to guides:
Mobile device how-to guides:
If your council subscribes to the Underground Asset Register, everyone in the region benefits. Contractors, utility asset owners and corridor managers have access to better tools to make informed decisions.
The NZUAR has many features that benefit councils, with more in development. Some key highlights:
Below are some of the wider flow-on benefits for councils joining the NZUAR to better manage underground infrastructure:
Better safety and reduced risk: Access to accurate subsurface data that can be updated to highlight risks helps to prevent future damage during excavations, lowering the risk of injuries and service disruptions.
Improved asset management and project planning: Better visibility of assets supports both short and long-term project planning and management of assets and helps councils streamline collaboration across teams and contractors.
Centralised data access: Councils can view integrated data from utilities across the region in one platform, making it easier to coordinate works and better manage the corridor.
Aligns with national standards: The UAR supports compliance with the NZ Utilities Advisory Group (NZUAG) Code of Practice and aligns with the infrastructure transparency goals set by the Te Waihanga | New Zealand Infrastructure Commission.
The UAR is open to all users who have a role or stakeholder interest in asset management or the delivery of projects – infrastructure, commercial, housing etc. We don’t provide access to the general public, media, or advocacy groups (unless approved by a major stakeholder within a region).
There’s a Terms of Use section on the website which provides restrictions on what users can do with data from the NZUAR (which is, to use it for the benefit of their excavation project, but not to re-publish).
We want the UAR to be used as widely as possible by those with a genuine interest in infrastructure planning and minimising community disruption.
Click here to sign up for your free account. You can sign up for ‘General User’ access, which will allow you to view assets on the map, query an area of interest for your project and submit site records. If your organisation owns assets on the map, you can sign up for ‘Asset Manager’ access, which allows you to view assets on the map, submit AOI queries and site records, but you can also manage data sets for your organisation and provide feedback on site records.
Nothing, for most users!
The NZUAR works on an ‘anchor subscriber’ basis. That means if there is a subscriber in your region already, then it’s free for you to use and provide data. An anchor subscriber is usually a council, Road Controlling Authority (RCA) or alliance.
In some cases, a subscribing RCA may decide to charge a nominal amount to cover the tool through the permit to dig process.
For more information about our pricing and our subscriber model, contact us at support@nzuar.org
The NZUAR is not currently mandated, but it’s a public good that we highly recommend.
In the areas where the NZUAR is used we can tell you that stakeholders are strongly encouraging as many people and organisations as possible to participate by loading assets, querying their project areas, and uploading findings.
This creates a virtuous network effect – where the more people who add and use data, the more valuable the system becomes to all users. Over time this creates a critical mass of users and data – at which point you’ll wonder how you ever managed without it!
Before we get to that point though, it’s up to your local Road Controlling Authority (RCA) to decide if using the NZUAR is voluntary, advised or expected.
If you want to know which cities are using the NZUAR or if your local RCA is planning to use it, just email support@nzuar.org and we’ll let you know.
Nope!
Access is instant. When you query the map to find out what assets may be present you will get an immediate response from the register. This is particularly important in emergency situations when you need to act immediately.
We have data showing several classes of things:
Not always – that’s where you come in!
Part of the reason why the Underground Asset Register exists is because we know that the location data isn’t always accurate. The UAR provides site record functionality to enable user feedback on asset locations and conditions to be sent back to the asset owner. In this way, we are trying to improve the location data – but that will take time.
Accordingly, you must treat this map data as indicative. You must follow all the normal precautions and procedures when you are working with underground assets.
You must consult with suitably qualified personnel and there is further guidance available here:
In future we plan to be able to show accuracy statements for each of our data sets which will help clarify how reliable each data set is.
We are working with corridor managers, utility owners and contractors using site records to capture feedback to improve the location of assets. You may see site records on the map which show where there are potential concerns around assets location and condition.
Yes!
If you draw an area of interest, you can then select the ‘view operators’ panel.
This shows you the utilities working in a region – not just the ones in your area of interest.
This is useful if you need a comprehensive contact list and is especially handy if you are out of town or working across regional boundaries.
There are several ways to see contact details:
Sometimes the underground lines connect to surface assets which may not be shown on the map. If you have any questions about the presence of an asset, please check with the utility operator.
Often connections to private property are not mapped comprehensively – the mapping is most accurate for assets in the road corridor. You may see valves or endpoints that don’t appear to be visibly connected to the network – these endpoints indicate that there is an unmapped connection present so be careful!
There can also be private leased lines that are not directly connected to the utilities own network. This is most common in telecommunications.
Storm water assets may connect to swales or soak pits or may exist as isolated channels for diverting rainwater away from a road.
When you draw an ‘area of interest’, you can expand the utility dropdown accordion (see below). You can hover over the dataset to see a link. Clicking on that link will open a metadata panel with more information.
You can also click on the layers view to select assets on the map, when you drill into an asset there is a clickable link that will open the metadata panel to show more information about the source of that asset.
Not always.
GPS accuracy on devices can vary from 3-10m and sometimes more depending on weather conditions and line of sight to GNSS satellites.
Be careful in urban areas and under trees as GPS accuracy can often be poor; you may need to manually adjust your location using the cues in the aerial imagery basemap to find your location more accurately.
Not currently.
We’re trying to show many different utilities on the map and it’s difficult to show too many things without the map becoming difficult to read. We are working on options for showing more complex symbology for individual utilities, so please watch this space.
We’ve chosen colours that are widely used in NZ for surface-marking and duct colours. There is no official standard and colour choices vary across providers and regions. We’ve tried to select colours that fit with guidance and common marking practice.
We’ve tried to select colours to make this as accessible as possible for different users. It’s tricky to show more than a few utilities without needing to use colours such as Red / Green and Blue / Yellow, which can be challenging to distinguish.
If you have trouble distinguishing any utilities on the map, try turning on and off individual utilities to understand the assets present in an area. Another option is to try a different base map to enhance the contrast (e.g., dark basemap to highlight gas).
A site record is a feature in UAR which enables users to upload photos and comments of their excavation findings at the exact location, to show others where they found something underground that is either not where it should be, unidentified, or seems hazardous.
This helps to protect future crews from nasty surprises and provides a useful record to close the feedback loop with asset owners (especially if their assets aren’t where they should be).
If you find a hazard or risk when excavating, or something you don’t recognise or were not expecting to find – then please capture this in a site record. Please include photos with a measure or reference object to show the scale as well as wider angle shots to help locate the same point again. This is especially important for underground assets that may be quickly reburied before the owner has a chance to get to them and rectify any problems.
If you find something and report it, then other map users will be able to work more safely, and we can use your feedback to let asset owners and the corridor manager know so it can be addressed.
Site records provided by UAR users are a valuable source of information about the underground environment. We share these with the corridor managers and utility companies to help identify and resolve any concerns that may be raised.
Types of site records you may see in the NZUAR:
Nope!
We value getting feedback, and we understand that it’s difficult to make an accurate assessment of a site without having the time and resources to fully investigate it.
The intention of the site record is to help make the underground maps better over time. These are intended to be quick and easy to capture, because that means less impact on your crew.
There is a trade-off here; sometimes a site record may be less useful or may not have all the information an asset owner needs to investigate. In that case then they (or we) may contact you to ask further questions about the site record – but again, this is based on reasonable endeavours. If we make it too hard to capture site records, then people won’t provide us with feedback.
Yes!
Site record: If you click into the site record you created on the map, there is a delete button at the bottom of the info page.
Area of interest (AOI): You can find your saved areas of interest under ‘My Records’ in the left-hand panel. Click the saved AOI you would like to delete, then hit the orange ‘Actions’ drop-down button to find the delete option.
Yes!
We’ve optimised the map display so that on small screens (<1000 pixels wide) you can still use the UAR (it swaps from using horizontal panels to vertical panels to make better use of the smaller screen). There are useful features that make it easy to navigate to your location and to see assets around you in a 50-metre circle.
You can also capture site records using your phone to take images and capture your location.
We use OpenStreetMap (OSM) – which we rate highly. It’s the Wikipedia of the mapping world, with data contributions from a huge community. Here’s some of the benefits:
Our default map is Carto Positron which is a monochrome map designed to not be distracting. This helps to emphasise the asset lines.
You can also select the Open Street Map base map which is more colourful and can sometimes show more information.
We also have a visual base map showing aerial images sourced from Land information New Zealand. This is useful for seeing where you are in the real world and this gives you a better view of the actual road widths.
Yes!
In the ‘Layers’ menu on the left-hand panel, you can see a list of buttons for utility asset types (e.g. gas, electric, communications etc.,) that you can turn on and off to target which asset types you would like to see on the map. This includes the option to see survey marks and site records.
Soon!
This functionality is in our development pipeline, but not yet live.
We don’t currently offer a data extract service – this is planned, however we need to agree this with our data providers.
Yes!
NZUAR uses OpenStreetMap (OSM) which is a free editable crowdsourced map of the world. If you want to edit something in the base map head to www.openstreetmap.org. There you can sign up for an OSM account and edit the map yourself, or you can post a note on the map to share with the OSM community, who’ll update on your behalf.
We work closely with organisations to make it easy to load data and get teams familiar with how the system works. For those viewing the data, we offer demos and training – but the tool is intuitive and map-based, so many users find their way around easily. Helpful resources are also available on our website here.
The most time-consuming part is onboarding your data, but we aim to make it as smooth as possible. It’s easiest when organisations nominate a champion to work with us and have access to key groups like infrastructure, transport and corridor management teams. It also helps if your asset data is already geospatially mapped and easy to locate. After a couple of meetings, we’re usually ready to get started.
We know good partnerships take time – so why not request free access and explore the platform at your own pace? When you’re ready to take the next step, just reach out.
Our technical team can work closely with yours to identify upload options for your data. Don’t worry about the format or quality of your asset data – we’ll work with you to find a means of upload that works for you.
We can load data from APIs such as ArcGIS ESRI Rest interfaces, RAMM Reporting URLs or from static files such as shapefiles, file geodatabases and geopackages. APIs mean less work to extract and share files. We will work with you to find a solution that fits with your security and operational requirements.
You can check when asset data was last published to the UAR by clicking into the metadata for the asset you’re interested in.
The publication date will be available at the bottom of the metadata panel.
NZUAR is able to provide different security levels for your data, which restricts visibility to other users. Read more about each level of security available in UAR to asset owners here.
Get in touch! We have a friendly helpdesk who can support you with any issues and include any good ideas for features and functionality in our backlog for development: support@nzuar.org.
