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Taranaki Councils data via eolas

The Taranaki region covers ~130,000 people across Taranaki Regional Council (TRC) and three territorial authorities — New Plymouth, South Taranaki, and Stratford. eolas serves 33 datasets — with Taranaki's defining feature, Mount Taranaki / Egmont, driving significant volcanic-hazard mapping.

If you're doing Taranaki property research, volcanic-hazard work, or coastal-region planning — this is the source.

What's in the catalogue

Council Code Datasets Highlights
New Plymouth District (NPDC) npdc 17 Most comprehensive DP suite + coastal hazards + volcanic hazard + heritage
TRC trc 12 Regional planning + freshwater + coastal management
South Taranaki District (STDC) stdc 4 Basic DP coverage

Standout datasets

  • npdc_dp_operative_volcanic_hazard — Mount Taranaki volcanic-hazard zones in NPDC's operative district plan
  • npdc_dp_operative_fault_hazard — fault-avoidance zones (Cape Egmont fault)
  • npdc_dp_operative_coastal_erosion, npdc_dp_operative_coastal_flooding — coastal hazards (NPDC's coastline is exposed)
  • npdc_dp_operative_devarea — development areas in NPDC's plan
  • trc_*_freshwater_* — water-allocation + freshwater management areas across the ring plain

Browse: eolas.fyi/datasets?source=Taranaki+Councils.

Refresh schedule

Weekly, Wednesday morning NZ time. NPDC + TRC publish via ArcGIS portals.

License

All Taranaki council data is CC-BY 4.0.

Common patterns

Volcanic-hazard exposure (Mt Taranaki)

import geopandas as gpd
from shapely.geometry import Point

pt = gpd.GeoSeries([Point(174.0760, -39.0586)], crs="EPSG:4326")  # central New Plymouth
volcanic = client.taranaki("npdc_dp_operative_volcanic_hazard", as_sf=True)
hit = gpd.sjoin(pt.to_frame("g").set_geometry("g"), volcanic, predicate="within")
print(f"In volcanic-hazard zone: {'YES' if len(hit) else 'no'}")
if len(hit):
    print(f"  Zone: {hit['hazard_zone'].iloc[0]}")

Combined hazard footprint (volcanic + fault + coastal)

import geopandas as gpd
import pandas as pd

layers = [
    "npdc_dp_operative_volcanic_hazard",
    "npdc_dp_operative_fault_hazard",
    "npdc_dp_operative_coastal_erosion",
    "npdc_dp_operative_coastal_flooding",
]
all_hazards = pd.concat([client.taranaki(n, as_sf=True) for n in layers])
print(f"Combined hazard area: {all_hazards.to_crs('EPSG:2193').area.sum() / 1e6:.0f} km²")

Source-specific notes

  • Mt Taranaki is the defining hazard: it's a young, potentially-active stratovolcano. NPDC's volcanic-hazard layers reflect both ash/lahar pathways + lava-flow modelling. Used in consenting for new residential builds in zoned areas.
  • Ring plain dairy + freshwater: TRC's freshwater management overlays are critical for dairy + horticulture consents. The Taranaki ring plain has intensive land use and active water-allocation politics.
  • Coastal exposure: Cape Egmont juts into prevailing south-westerly swells — coastal erosion is real and ongoing. NPDC publishes both operative (currently legal) + proposed (in consultation) coastal-hazard layers.
  • South Taranaki + Stratford: limited current coverage. Both councils publish more via their own portals — on the eolas roadmap to expand.
  • Iwi context: Taranaki iwi data (sites of significance) is being progressively added — check the live catalogue for current status.

Where to find more