This publication describes, for the first time, the high-resolution dataset of the New Zealand Active Faults Database, its intended purpose, and recent improvements.

 "It accompanies the recent public release of the high-resolution fault lines and zones on the webmap at https://data.gns.cri.nz/af/.

 "I am immensely proud of what the team has achieved.

 "The data are not new, but a pressing need to raise awareness of the high-resolution dataset and make it freely available in a single source has meant we prioritised this work.

 "It is expected the dataset will be useful for homeowners, councils, hazard planners, infrastructure managers, geotechnical practitioners and researchers to better understand the potential location of surface fault ruptures during future large earthquakes, at a relevant scale.

 "Knowing where New Zealand’s active faults are located can help people make informed decisions about where to build and make existing infrastructure more resilient to the effects of earthquakes.

 "Although this publication marks a major milestone for the dataset, this work is by no means complete as we continue to map faults in detail and discover new ones using lidar data recently collected across much of New Zealand.