Redland City Council interactive mapping: how to use it

Redland City Council's interactive mapping is the free way to see how the Redland City Plan applies to a property. Council runs two tools: Red-e-Map, a web map of City Plan zones and overlays (open it from redland.qld.gov.au/Red-e-Map), and an Interactive Redland City Plan, which has the planning scheme text and maps online. To check a property, search the address, select the lot, then read the zone and the overlays that cover it. This guide shows how to get there, what the overlays mean for buyers on the mainland and the bay islands, and what the maps leave out.

LayeredGeo is not part of Redland City Council or the Queensland Government. Red-e-Map is a free council tool and the right place to start for the zone and overlays that apply to a Redlands Coast property.

How to open the Redland mapping

1. Go to Council's Red-e-Map page. It opens the map viewer, which Council describes as the place to look up zone and overlay information for the Redland City Plan, along with Council infrastructure locations and structures on properties.
2. Council's City Plan documents page lists both the Red-e-maps (Redland City Plan zoning and overlay maps) and the Interactive Redland City Plan. It notes that both need a desktop web browser, so use a computer rather than a phone.
3. If the interactive tools are not loading, the same page has the City Plan as a PDF download and the zoning and overlay maps as separate PDF sheets.

How to find a property

1. Open Red-e-Map and use the search box to enter the street address or lot and plan number, then pick the match.
2. Click the property on the map to read what applies to it. Look for the zone and the list of overlays.
3. Turn layers on and off to see each overlay on its own. Zones are coloured by type and overlays sit on top of them.
4. Look at the neighbouring lots as well as your own. An overlay that stops at the fence still tells you something about the street.

Tip: the exact button names in the viewer can change when Council updates it. If a step does not match what you see, use the search box and the layer list, which work the same way in most council viewers.

What the map shows

The Redland City Plan is the current planning scheme. Council's site lists Version 14 as the current version, which took effect on 10 November 2025, and Council has said it is working on a replacement plan. The mapping shows:

• Zones, such as the residential zones, which set what the land can be used for and roughly what can be built.
• Overlays, which Council describes as layers that identify land with particular values or constraints.

The overlay maps in the City Plan include the ones buyers ask about most:

• Flood and storm tide hazard overlay. The statutory storm tide layer is the 2100 Storm Tide Inundation Area, which assumes a 0.8 metre sea level rise and a 10 percent increase in cyclone intensity. It helps set habitable floor levels for new homes. The 2016 layer, a 1% AEP storm tide under current conditions, is labelled non-statutory. Council also publishes a non-statutory 2070 Storm Tide Map for information only. See Council's storm tide mapping information.
• Coastal protection (erosion prone areas) overlay, which matters for waterfront land and can affect what you can build.
• Bushfire hazard overlay, landslide hazard overlay and heritage overlay.
• Environmental significance overlays, split into Matters of State Environmental Significance and Matters of Local Environmental Significance, plus waterway corridors and wetlands, water resource catchments, airport environs, transport noise corridor, extractive resources and regional infrastructure corridors and substations.

Most overlay maps come as separate mainland and islands sheets. The storm tide mapping is also split between the mainland and the Southern Moreton Bay and North Stradbroke Islands, so if you are looking at Russell, Macleay, Lamb, Karragarra or Coochiemudlo Island, North Stradbroke or the other bay islands, make sure you are on the islands sheet. To compare mapped flood share suburb by suburb, see our Redland flood map by suburb.

What it does not tell you

• It is not a planning certificate or a property report. Red-e-Map is a guide. For an official statement, use Council's property enquiries and searches, which you can find through Council's Online Services, or ring Council on (07) 3829 8999.
• A storm tide overlay is not a flood depth. The overlay says land is inside a mapped area. Council points to a property enquiry or property report through Development.i for the peak storm tide level at a site, and those levels vary along the coastline. Our guide to reading a flood overlay versus actual flood risk explains the difference.
• Creek flooding has its own mapping. Council's creek flood mapping covers regional (riverine) flooding for a 1% AEP event, not local stormwater runoff, and it does not show flow velocity. Land with no overlay can still be hit by drainage problems.
• Ground conditions. Soil reactivity, fill, geology and groundwater are not planning layers, but they drive footing design and slab cost.
• Title matters. Easements, covenants and other interests come from the title and the contract, not the planning map.

Putting the planning layers in one PDF

Red-e-Map is the official source, so start there. If you are comparing several properties, or want the planning layers plus other site data in one document, LayeredGeo's Property Report puts zoning, flood, bushfire, heritage, vegetation and environmental overlays for an address into a single PDF, with a map and a plain-English note for each, alongside contours, registered easements and the water, sewer and stormwater mains the utilities publish. The map preview is free and the PDF is $9. Pop in your address or check out a sample report.

If you are building, a separate geotechnical desktop study covers the geology, soils, indicative soil reactivity range and groundwater for the address. It does not replace a site investigation, which is what decides the site classification.

Common questions

Is Redland City Council's interactive mapping free? Yes. Red-e-Map and the Interactive Redland City Plan are free Council tools. Council notes that both need a desktop web browser.

How do I find the zoning of a property in Redland City? Open Red-e-Map, search the address or lot and plan, and click the property. The map shows the zone and the overlays that cover it, and the Redland City Plan has the rules for each zone.

Does Redland's mapping show storm tide and coastal erosion? Yes. The Flood and storm tide hazard overlay and the Coastal protection (erosion prone areas) overlay are part of the City Plan mapping. They show mapped areas, not a depth at your lot, so ask Council for the property storm tide level.

Is Red-e-Map the same as a planning certificate? No. It is a mapping guide. Council's property enquiries and searches are the way to get official information about a specific property.

LayeredGeo's Property Report pulls together public planning and site data for property due diligence across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, the ACT and Tasmania, so you can understand a place before you commit.

About this article. Published by LayeredGeo and written from the published research cited in the Sources section above. It is general information about how property and ground conditions are assessed in Australia, not engineering, planning, legal or financial advice, and it is not specific to any property. Check anything that matters against the source dataset or a suitably qualified professional before you rely on it. If you spot something wrong, tell us at hello@layeredgeo.com.au and we will fix it.

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