Property addressing is needed for mail, emergency services like fire, police, and ambulance, as well as utilities like power and water. It’s also the basis of New Zealand’s voting system.
Local councils allocate or change property numbers and street names. It’s our job to ensure that the numbering and addresses meets the requirements. We do this by producing addressing standards and guidelines. These require addresses to be unique, to be logical and clear, for odd numbers to be on the left, even on the right – all factors that help avoid confusion.
We also maintain the official national record of all road names and property numbers in New Zealand. We assess all numbering and naming proposals from councils to ensure that they meet the national standards before adding them to the official record.
A range of different organisations use the data making up that national record in the delivery of their services. This data is available for free through the LINZ Data Service.