How-to: Deep dive into maps and filtering

9/9/2026

DataHub contains a large and diverse catalogue of environmental datasets. To help you quickly find the information you need, it offers a range of mapping and filtering tools that allow you to search by location, parameter, time period, and more.

This ‘How-to’ walks through the key features available and provides practical tips for narrowing down datasets relevant to your area or topic of interest.

1) Find a relevant Dataset using Maps:

DataHub has two useful map-based options to filter and group datasets that meet you criteria. Both can be found in the filter section on the left of the webpage under ‘View Type’.

1a) View Type: List (Location Search)

The Location Search feature allows you to identify datasets near a specific location.

Simply place a pin on the map at your point of interest, and DataHub will display all relevant data products located within a 60 km radius. Matching datasets will appear in the results list on the right-hand side of the page.

This is particularly useful when you are interested in data from a specific area but do not know the names of nearby stations or monitoring sites.

1b) View Type: Map

The Map View provides a larger interactive map that allows datasets to be explored in their geographic context.This view enables you to:

  • Zoom to areas of interest.
  • Explore the spatial distribution of datasets.
  • Compare monitoring locations and datasets relative to one another.
  • Identify nearby stations and points of interest.
  • Map symbols are displayed as follows:

Blue pins represent individual monitoring locations. A single location may contain multiple parameters, such as rainfall, temperature, or water quality measurements.

Green circles represent clustered locations. The number displayed indicates how many locations are grouped together. Zooming in will separate these clusters into individual monitoring sites.

2) Find a relevant Dataset using filters:

The filter panel on the left-hand side of the DataHub interface allows you to refine search results based on specific criteria such as dataset type, parameter, location, or time period.

Rather than scrolling through large numbers of records, filters can quickly narrow the catalogue and map view to the datasets most relevant to your needs.

Each data product contains a range of searchable metadata fields that support both individual dataset discovery and grouping of related datasets (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Example of the searchable metadata found on each product as viewed in the ‘View Type: List’.

Available filter functions depend on the data category, and include:

Search

Performs a free text search of all the information contained in the product descriptions and metadata (Figure 4).

This allows you to search for:

  • Station names
  • Dataset titles
  • Keywords
  • Geographic information
  • Coordinates

Figure 4: The search filter is being used to search for all datasets with ‘Arthurs’ in it’s description or metadata.

Time (From - To)

Search for datasets that match the user defined time period (Figure 5). Two search options are available with different search window that are defined as follows:

  • Full coverage – Returns datasets whose entire period of record falls within the selected date range.
  • Partial Overlap – Returns datasets that overlap any part of the selected date range, including those that begin before or end after the specified period.

Figure 5: Example of two datasets with time periods the partially overlap with the user defined period along with other filter criteria (e.g. search)

Station

Allows datasets to be searched by station name using an autocomplete search function. Enter either a full station name or part of a name, and DataHub will suggest matching locations (Figure 6).

Figure 6: An example use of the ‘Station’ filter to search for ll locations with Auckland in the name.

Agent no.

Allows you to search using a station's unique numerical identifier (also known as the Station ID). Autocomplete functionality helps locate matching stations, and multiple agent numbers can be selected simultaneously (Figure 7).

Figure 7: Example of the ‘Agentno’ filter being used with autocomplete and multiple numbers being selected.

Region

Select datasets in one single or multiple regions. Allowing for simple aggregation of datasets to compare rainfall from stations in Northland and Southland for example.

Parameter

Select single or multiple parameters of interest (e.g. temperature, rain, wind). Note that some parameters are not available at all temporal resolutions. If a parameter is unavailable go down the aggregation chain, i.e monthly then daily, hourly to 10 minute resolutions.

Product specific filters

Many products include additional filters tailored to a particular dataset type or model output (Figure 8).These filters can be used to:

  • Select specific model scenarios.
  • Restrict results to particular output variables.
  • Focus on subsets of larger datasets.
  • Refine searches based on product-specific attributes.

If you have any questions or comments please get in touch via the DataHub Enquiries page found here.

Figure 8: Example of product-specific filtering being combined with regional filtering to identify datasets covering larger specific spatial areas and specific model output subsets.