Dunedin's Baldwin St has reclaimed its record as the world's steepest street after a review of an appeal.
The title was stripped from the Otago street in June 2019 when the record was awarded to Ffordd Pen Llech in Harlech, northern Wales.
The appeal was led by Dunedin surveyor Toby Stoff and he presented a comparative survey of the three-dimensional shapes of the Dunedin street and Ffordd Pen Llech to Guinness World Records.
He found that in order to fairly assess the different shapes of the streets - Baldwin St is straight whereas Ffordd Pen Llech is curved - the steepness must be measured by the central axis, which is the centre line of the road.
The new results from Guinness World Records confirmed Baldwin St has the steeper gradient of 34.8 percent compared with Ffordd Pen Llech's gradient of 28.6 percent.
"Sincere thanks to Guinness World Records for considering our findings. It is important to know that Guinness World Records treats matters like this in a robust and professional manner," Stoff said on the Guinness World Records website.
"The issue of gradient was technical in nature only. There was no bad feeling toward the people of Harlech. I had the great joy of visiting last November. It is a wonderful heritage town full of friendly people."
Guinness World Records editor-in-chief Craig Glenday said he's grateful to Stoff and the Baldwin St appeal team who helped keep their rules for the record up-to-date.
"We're very grateful to the Baldwin Street appeals team, led by surveyor Toby Stoff, for making us aware of a rare gap in our stipulations and we're pleased to see the title return to New Zealand.
"We're also very grateful to the Ffordd Pen Llech team for their application and good humour throughout this process."
