The New Zealand Walking Access Commission will produce a mapping system to make it easier for the public to find legal access routes across private land.

The new software will use existing cadastral records combined with aerial photography and satellite imagery to create a 1:50,000 map of the country showing routes across private land.

Commission chairman John Acland told the New Zealand Herald that the current system is too complicated.

"It's not easy for people to find information on where they can go on publicly-owned land, or who to contact to ask for permission to access privately-owned land,” he said.

The free map will be available online and will be searchable by a number of methods including addresses, place and road names, or spatial searches.

The map database will be interoperable with standard GIS tools and there will be some capability for user interaction so the public can suggest updates to maps.

Users will also be able to view areas showing on the information they need – for example just roads, or just topography, or with landmarks.

Imagery will be updated regularly, according to the Commission.

The commission tendered for the system earlier this year and expects to have it completed by December.