About Rico
Rico is a software platform used across both the applicant and council sides of the resource consent process. It enables planners to streamline and improve the quality of planning assessments, reports, and applications. Rico is used to:
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Prepare resource consent applications (typically by planning consultants)
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Process resource consents (typically by councils)
To support this, Rico integrates relevant planning documents (Plans) and spatial data (GIS), which are otherwise manually sourced and inserted into reports—often adding time and risk of error.
What Data We Use
We use publicly available planning and GIS information to enhance the usability and efficiency of planning workflows. We do not claim ownership over this information and make it available purely for operational use within Rico.
Plans
We structure and tag content from district and regional plans into a machine-readable format for use in assessments. This includes:
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Objectives, policies, rules, and other provisions
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Relevant explanatory notes
These provisions are only those that are operative or have legal effect (we do not track provisions at earlier stages of plan change process as these are changeable and addressed in Rico as part of a qualitative assessment).
GIS
Rico connects directly to council GIS systems to retrieve and display spatial data (e.g. zones, overlays, features). This data is pulled on demand, meaning:
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It is not stored on Rico’s servers
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It reflects the most current data available at the time of access
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A timestamp is provided so users know when the data was retrieved
Approach to Plan Information
Respecting Councils as Data Originators
Although plan content is public, we notify relevant councils of our intent to use it and welcome any feedback or concerns. This ensures transparency and goodwill with councils as the original authors of planning instruments.
Accuracy and Maintenance
Rico manages tens of thousands of plan provisions. While we strive for the highest standards, perfect accuracy is not always possible due to the nature of plan updates. Our target accuracy is 99.9%.
We maintain internal processes to ensure the integrity of our plan data, including:
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Weekly monitoring of plan change web pages
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Subscription to council update emails
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Direct engagement with policy teams (where possible)
Plan changes are logged, reviewed, and implemented. A full audit trail is kept for every plan loaded into Rico, including:
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Source and date of original load
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Record of subsequent updates
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Documents affected and changes made
This is available to customers on request for auditing and quality assurance purposes.
User Responsibilities and Limitations
Scope of Data Provided
Rico does not provide an exhaustive or authoritative source of plan content. We offer provisions and notes relevant to assessments, and direct users to original source documents throughout the platform.
Responsibility for Use
Per our standard Terms of Use (some customers may have contract specific provisions to a similar effect):
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Users are fully responsible for the accuracy and completeness of their reports and applications created using Rico.
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Per the above, local authorities bear no liability for plan information sourced from their plans and made available via Rico.
Source Awareness
We encourage users to remain familiar with source planning documents. Rico includes links to original plans to support user verification and confidence.
Approach to GIS Information
GIS data in Rico is:
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Accessed directly from council systems (never stored)
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Time-stamped to show when it was retrieved
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Monitored for changes in layer structure or access methods
Where we detect GIS service changes (e.g. URLs, schema adjustments), we respond promptly to update our integrations and maintain service reliability.
Raising Issues or Feedback
If a council or user identifies an issue with data accuracy or wishes to raise concerns:
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Contact us via live chat or support@rico.nz
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We welcome suggestions to improve data coverage and accuracy