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CoastSnap

Help us monitor our changing coast!

coast snap on phone

At BOPRC, we aim to monitor beach health and coastal change, engage communities, and increase community understanding of coastal change to build climate resilience! To do this, we have partnered with CoastSnap.

CoastSnap is a global citizen science network that turns the phones in our pockets into powerful coastal change monitoring tools, designed by the Water Research Laboratory at the University of New South Wales.

For our pilot programme, we have installed a CoastSnap station at the Waihī Beach Lifeguard Services Building.

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It is easy to contribute to coastal monitoring. Visit our CoastSnap station at the Deck Cafe of the Waihī Beach Lifeguard Services to get involved!

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Download the CoastSnap | SPOTTERON app now from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store and create an account to get started.

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1. Snap

In the CoastSnap app, select Waihī Beach Station.

Place your phone in the cradle and take a landscape photo with no zoom or filter.

2. Share

Complete the ‘update spot’ form in the app and click save.

Can’t download the app?

Email your CoastSnap photo to coastsnap@boprc.govt.nz with ‘Waihi Beach Lifeguards’ as the subject or scan the QR code on the station. Include the time and date in the email if not sent immediately.

By using your smartphone and our CoastSnap photo cradles, you can capture the beach state at a single point in time. Together, we can build a time series of images that helps us to monitor how climate change, storms, currents, waves, tides, vegetation and sediment supply influence our beaches.

The information from your snaps will be used to monitor, understand, and adapt to coastal changes.

View CoastSnap photos from around the world.

The photos that you submit will be compiled to create a stabilised time-lapse video to show how the beach changes over time. Watch this space!

The Waihī Beach Lifeguard Services have been helping keep swimmers safe since 1936. Nowadays, they continue to play a critical role in the community as a base for summer patrols, base for Search & Rescue (SAR), training centre and community hub. Their ability to deliver these services is challenged by coastal inundation.

In May 2023, the club reached out to Regional Council and applied for funding to support adaptation planning. This set in motion a series of workshops to produce a community-led adaptation plan that will help ensure the club is more resilient in the future.

Read more about the journey they took to better understand the climate challenges they will face and what changes they can implement to ensure the delivery of their patrolling and SAR services.

CoastSnap will empower the Waihī Beach Lifeguards understand the changes happing to their beach and may support adaptation decisions in future.