PaceMate

For New Zealand's average-speed zones · Android alpha

Average-speed zones measure your average. PaceMate shows you yours, live.

Point-to-point safety cameras time you between two gates, so a glance at the speedometer can't tell you where you stand. PaceMate alerts you as you approach a zone, tracks your average pace against the limit all the way through, and shows your result at the exit.

Request a beta invite See how it works

Invite-only Android alpha. Open PaceMate before your drive, or tap the approach alert, and it takes it from there.

The problem

Your speedometer shows this second. The zone counts them all.

Average-speed safety cameras measure the time you take to travel between two points and work out your average speed over that section. Enforcement is based on that average, not your speed at any single spot.3

NZTA has confirmed locations for 17 sets of average speed safety cameras. The first, on Matakana Road near Warkworth, is enforced from 1 December 2025.4 NZTA cites crash reductions of 20–50% on routes where average speed cameras are introduced.34

Overtaking, hills and changes of limit all feed into one running average your dash never shows. Some zones mix limits: Kingston ↔ Lowther on SH6 runs through 80 and 100 km/h sections, with a gazetted average limit of 99 km/h.

Your speedometer isn't the number the cameras measure

Car speedometers are allowed to read high: up to 10% + 4 km/h above your true speed.1 Under UNECE Regulation 39, a European standard that applies to many vehicles sold in NZ, a speedometer must never show less than your true speed, so at a true 100 km/h it may read up to 114 km/h.12 Tyre wear and under-inflation can also shift the reading.1

An over-reading speedo errs on the safe side, but it leaves you guessing. PaceMate shows your GPS-measured speed and your running average through the zone, so you know where you actually stand against the limit and can simply hold a steady, legal pace.

How it works

Three moments on every zone

  1. Heads-up before the zone

    About 750 m before the entry gate, when you're travelling at road speed and heading towards it, PaceMate alerts you that a zone is coming up.

  2. Your live pace through it

    From the entry gate, PaceMate times you against the zone's limit and shows how many seconds you are under or over pace, on screen and in the ongoing notification.

  3. Your result at the exit

    At the exit gate you get your average speed, your time through the zone, and whether you finished within the allowed time.

Starting a trip in the alpha: open PaceMate before your drive and it starts timing when you cross the entry gate. If the app is closed, tap the approach alert (or have a passenger tap it) to start tracking.

What you see

Everything you need at a glance, nothing you don't

Live margin

One big number: seconds under or over pace, in green or red. It's the gap between your time so far and the quickest legal time for the distance you've covered.

Live Update notification

On Android 16, your margin, progress through the zone and elapsed time show as a Live Update. On earlier Android versions it's a colour-coded ongoing notification.

Trip history

Your trips are saved with their result: average speed, time through the zone, and whether you were within or over the allowed time.

Knows the zones

Gates, distances and limits come from the official notices, including zones that mix limits along their length.

Coverage

17 official zones in the current alpha

Each zone's gates, distance and average limit are taken from its NZ Gazette notice. Both directions are covered.

Northland

  • Ahipara Kaitaia-Awaroa Rd · 1.9 km · 61 km/h
  • Ahipara ↔ Kaitaia Kaitaia-Awaroa / Pukepoto Rd · 3.5 km · 80

Auckland

  • Warkworth ↔ Matakana Matakana Rd · 4.9 km · 80
  • Dairy Flat Pine Valley Rd · 2.9 km · 80
  • Redvale East Coast Rd · 3.0 km · 80
  • Shamrock Park ↔ Whitford Whitford Rd · 4.2 km · 60
  • Glenbrook Road East Kingseat ↔ Karaka · 6.6 km · 80
  • Glenbrook Road West Glenbrook · 2.7 km · 80

Waikato

  • Pokeno ↔ Mangatawhiri SH2 · 6.8 km · 90

Bay of Plenty

  • Pukehina ↔ Matatā SH2 · 12.5 km · 100
  • Whakarewarewa ↔ Waimangu SH5 · 18.4 km · 100

Hawke's Bay

  • Pakipaki ↔ Te Hauke SH2 · 12.7 km · 100

Manawatū-Whanganui

  • Sanson ↔ Foxton SH1 · 27.4 km · 100

Canterbury

  • Tekapo ↔ Simon's Pass SH8 · 25.5 km · 100
  • Pukaki Tekapo-Twizel Rd · 5.0 km · 100

Otago

  • Allanton ↔ Waihola SH1 · 16.7 km · 99 avg

Southland

  • Kingston ↔ Lowther SH6 · 45.7 km · 99 avg

Figures are zone length and average speed limit in km/h. The alpha also includes one PaceMate test route (Queens Drive, Invercargill) used for field testing; it is not a camera zone, and its results are labelled as test estimates.

Privacy

Your location has one job

PaceMate uses your location to notice when you're approaching a zone and to time your pace through it. It asks for background location so the approach alert can reach you when PaceMate isn't on screen, and so timing keeps going with your screen off once a trip has started.

  • Your pace is calculated on your phone. Your live location is never sent anywhere.
  • Only your completed trip results (zone, times and average speed) are saved to your account, never a trail of where you've been.
  • We never sell your data.

The full detail is in the privacy policy.

Early access

Join the Android beta

PaceMate is an early Android alpha, shared through an invite-only beta on Google Play's internal testing track. It's for people who regularly drive one of the zones above and want to try it on their own route.

Email us with the zone you drive and we'll follow up with an invite.

Email hey@logged.co.nz to join

Please read the beta terms before joining.

Questions

Does it work with the app closed?

Partly, for now. With PaceMate closed you still get the approach alert; tap it and tracking starts. Or open PaceMate before you set off and it starts timing on its own at the entry gate. Fully automatic tracking with the app closed isn't in the alpha yet, and we're working on it.

Is it a speed camera detector?

No. PaceMate only knows the officially published average-speed zones, and it doesn't detect cameras. It's a pace-awareness aid that helps you keep a steady, legal average.

Can I rely on it to stay under the limit?

No. GPS can be inaccurate, and PaceMate can't guarantee your average. You're always responsible for obeying the signed limit and driving to the conditions. Use PaceMate to know where you stand, not as a replacement for your own judgement.

Which phones does it support?

Android only for now. On Android 16 the live pace shows as a Live Update; on earlier versions it's a colour-coded ongoing notification.

What happens to my data?

Pace is worked out on your phone and your live location is never transmitted. See the privacy policy for exactly what's collected and how to delete it.

Sources

  1. Driven Car Guide (NZ), “Why does my speedo read higher than roadside monitors?”
  2. NZ Herald, “Gauging the true accuracy of speedometers”
  3. NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi, “Average speed safety cameras”
  4. NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi, “Average speed safety cameras to be rolled out across the country”