Māori mapping and GIS publications
This longer reading list supports the shorter audience-led Papers and research guide. The focus is material that can help somebody understand or design real Māori spatial work.
Māori GIS capability and practice
Pacey, H. A. (2005). The benefits and barriers to GIS for Māori. Lincoln University.
An early focused study of Māori GIS, including capability, cost, data access and organisational issues.
Lincoln University Research Archive
Harmsworth, G., Park, M., & Walker, D. (2005). Development and use of GIS for iwi and hapū: Motueka case study. Landcare Research.
A practical iwi/hapū GIS case study useful for environmental and capability programmes.
Manaaki Whenua report
Harmsworth, G. R. (1997). Māori values and GIS: The New Zealand experience. GIS Asia Pacific.
Useful historical context for the early development of Māori GIS practice.
IAPAD scan
Mapping, narrative and landscape
Hakopa, H. (2011). The Paepae: Spatial information technologies and the geography of narratives. University of Otago.
A major Māori spatial-research thesis on narrative, place and spatial technology.
University of Otago research record
Hakopa, H., Jackson, A-M., Mita, N., & Cunningham, C. (2017). Te Koronga: Mapping case studies.
Published in He Whare Hangarau Māori. Useful applied Māori mapping case studies.
Open-access University of Waikato book
Apiti, M. (2017). The Indigenous Mapping Waananga 2017.
Also in He Whare Hangarau Māori. Documents the hands-on Indigenous mapping wānanga and its focus on practical technology choices, Māori GIS networks and capability.
Open-access University of Waikato book
Forster, M., & Meihana, P. (2023). Pouwhenua: Marking and storying the ancestral landscape. Ethical Space, 20(2/3).
Explores Māori naming, marking and storying of tribal landscape as a form of Indigenous and ethical mapping.
Open-access article
Community cultural mapping
Walker, D. P., Dionisio, M. R., Parkinson, L., Kingi, M., & McDonald, R. (2026). Te Kete Kōrero o Ōhinemutu: the story of a cultural mapping tool. AlterNative, 22(1), 124–133.
Documents a community-led geospatial tool supporting spatial planning at Ōhinemutu.
DOI
Matthews, P. (2006). Māori place names and a proposed framework. Onomastica Canadiana, 88, 19–42.
Useful to place-name teams designing naming structures and preserving historical context.
Open-access article
Māori data
Te Mana Raraunga. Māori Data Sovereignty Charter.
A core Māori data reference relevant to spatial storage, access, reuse and organisational systems.
Te Mana Raraunga
Hudson, M., Anderson, T., Dewes, T. K., Temara, P., Whaanga, H., & Roa, T. (2018). He Matapihi ki te Mana Raraunga: Conceptualising Big Data through a Māori lens.
Published in He Whare Hangarau Māori. Useful context for locating GIS inside the wider Māori data environment.
Open-access book
Hudson, M., Farrar, D., & McLean, L. (2016). Tribal data sovereignty: Whakatōhea rights and interests.
A Whakatōhea-focused chapter in Indigenous Data Sovereignty: Toward an Agenda.
ANU Press DOI
Taiao and marine work
Paul-Burke, K. et al. (2020). Mapping Māori knowledge to inform marine management futures. New Zealand Science Review, 76(1–2).
A useful example for taiao and marine teams combining spatial information with Māori knowledge in management work.
Wilkins, D. (2021). GIS mapping tools for wetland projects. In Te Reo o te Repo: Kei Konei Tonu Au, Vol. 2. Manaaki Whenua.
A practical wetland GIS chapter aimed at community and restoration projects.
Manaaki Whenua PDF
Keep following the projects
Research papers are strongest when combined with the projects and people behind them. Continue with Māori GIS projects, Videos and presentations and StoryMaps.
Last reviewed: 26 August 2026