It was formed in April 1987 as a restructuring of the Department of Lands and Survey.
The Department of Lands and Survey was established in 1876 with a wide range of responsibilities, including survey, health and tourist resorts, immigration, Crown lands and roads.
[2][3] In the 1987 restructuring, the Department of Survey and Land Information was set up to provide government civil and military survey mapping and land information services.
Land development activities were placed with a state-owned enterprise.
In July 1996, the Department of Survey and Land Information was itself restructured into Land Information New Zealand, vested with core government land-related regulatory and purchase functions, while the former department's commercial activities were vested with Terralink NZ Ltd, then a state-owned enterprise and now a private company, Terralink International.