Using the LakeSPI Web Reporting Tools

LakeSPI (Lake Submerged Plant Indicators) is a lake information and management tool used to assess and report on the ecological condition of New Zealand Lakes.  This page should help you use the LakeSPI web reporting portal to find and view all available LakeSPI results

For information on how to use these results for regional and national reporting, see reports.

On the Home page you will see a side search bar and a main workspace divided into tabs for the different summary views of the LakeSPI results: Map, Table, Chart and National Status.

LakeSPI Search Panel

The search panel allows you to select which lakes you want shown in the summary views.

Only lakes where LakeSPI information is available will be shown in the search results. Hint: If you want to see all lakes with LakeSPI information available, search leaving all search options blank.

Lake Name
You can type a name directly, or type part of a name and be prompted for matching names. You can select multiple lake names by separating lake names with a comma e.g. Pretty Lake, Lake Coleridge.
FENZ#
Freshwater Ecosystems of NZ (FENZ) Number
Lake Type
The geomorphological origin of the lake: Dune, Glacial, Landslide etc.
Region
The New Zealand region
Lake size
Large, medium and small lakes
Lake Max Depth
Enter the maximum depth in metres
Lake SPI Categories
Lakes are classified according to the value of the LakeSPI Index: non-vegetated, poor, moderate, high and excellent.
lakespi-search-panel

LakeSPI Summary Views

Map

The Map view shows all of the surveyed lakes matching the search filter on a map of New Zealand. Each lake is colour coded according to the LakeSPI Condition.

You can pan and zoom into the map, click on lake markers to find out more about each lake, and link through to the full lake report.

lakespi-map-view

Table

The Table view shows the selected lakes along with details of the Lake Status, Date of last survey, and small bar charts for the LakeSPI Indices.

You can sort the table by clicking on any of the column headings, so for example you can list the lakes by date of last survey, or by invasive species index. The default sort order is by descending LakeSPI Index.

Click on the lake name to see the full report for that lake.

lakespi-table-view

Chart

The Chart view contains a pie chart showing the relative proportion of each LakeSPI condition type: non-vegetated, poor, moderate, high and excellent

Try selecting different lake origins such as Glacial or Volcanic, or different regions such as Northland or Southland to get an idea of the overall quality of the lakes.

lakespi-chart-view

National Status

The National Status view shows where each selected lake sits in comparison to all other New Zealand lakes, where LakeSPI results are available. It graphs only the most recent LakeSPI results for a lake and plots the Native Condition and Invasive Impact indices next to the overall LakeSPI Index.

This National Status report is not interactive, but will update as you change the search filter.

lakespi-rankings-view

More information can be found on the main NIWA website: http://www.niwa.co.nz/our-science/freshwater/tools/lakespi