Introduction

The Geospatial field trip is located in and around Christchurch, New Zealand's second largest city. Image: LEARNZ.

The Canterbury earthquakes have had a major effect on the lives of just about everyone in the region and have been tragic for some people. The disruptions to infrastructure, commerce, education, recreation and day to day living have been profound. For many homeowners in the eastern areas and in the hill suburbs damage to land has meant that their homes have become uninhabitable. Many large commercial and historic buildings thoughout the CBD have been damaged and a large number have already been demolished. However, the rebuild is under way and is expected to gather momentum as a new vision for the city is realised.

This field trip is the second of three that will follow the rebuild of Christchurch over the next 3 years looking at the special systems and tools used in the redevelopment of the CBD, public facilities and the suburbs.

Soon after the earthquakes it became apparent that organisations had to work closely together to make rapid repairs to services and begin the process of rebuilding. See how land movement has changed the city and discover how experts are planning to build a new Christchurch. 

Watch the Geospatial Introductory Video - small version (8Mb mp4 file). Large version (20Mb mp4 file).

Look at the Geospatial Preview, a slideshow that gives students an overview of the field trip - PDF (2Mb).

Location

Christchurch city is located on the edge of the Canterbury Plains on the east coast of the South Island. Damage to the city of Christchurch occurred after a series of earthquakes. The first earthquake in September 2010 was centred 40 kilometres west of the city, near the town of Darfield at a depth of 10 kilometres. The damaging aftershock which occurred on 22 February 2011 was centred near Lyttelton, 10 kilometres from the centre of Christchurch at a depth of only five kilometres.

View the LEARNZ Homepage Map for a more detailed map location.