Skip to main content

Te Kete Kōrero o Ōhinemutu

Te Kete Kōrero o Ōhinemutu is a particularly useful Aotearoa example because the published research describes a community co-creating a geospatial tool for its own spatial-planning questions.

Who this example helps​

This case is worth reading for:

  • marae and kāinga communities exploring spatial-planning tools
  • planners working with place-based community narratives
  • researchers designing cultural-mapping methods
  • GIS developers thinking about data models and interfaces, not only layers

The current project is also indexed in Māori GIS projects.

The kaupapa​

The project was co-created with Te Manatōpū Hau Kāinga o Ōhinemutu and research partners. Its initial work included mātauranga concerning ngāwhā and the geothermal landscapes central to Ōhinemutu.

The spatial tool was built around community planning questions and local narratives rather than starting from a generic planning database and adding a Māori category later.

That is the main GIS lesson: data-model and interface choices are part of the mapping method.

Several audiences, several views​

Published project material describes different levels of access and detail for different users. For GIS practitioners, this is a practical reminder that public/private is often too crude for a real community system.

A project might need:

  • a public explanation
  • a whānau working view
  • a planning view
  • richer records used by people maintaining the local collection

Those versions can share a technical foundation without being identical products.

See Access and security and Prepare information for sharing.

Open software and local data are separate questions​

The published article notes that software code can be available without publishing the community data with it. That is useful well beyond this project.

An iwi or hapū can reuse open-source software, publish methods or contribute code while keeping its own records in whatever environment supports the kaupapa. Open source describes the software licensing model, not the visibility of every dataset used with it.

Planning and storytelling can occupy the same system​

A community planning tool does not have to separate narrative, place and technical planning evidence into unrelated applications. Cultural stories, geothermal features, planning questions and spatial data can be connected through a designed system.

For planners and council GIS teams, this is a stronger model than treating Māori knowledge as a consultation layer added after the main spatial analysis is finished.

Continue with Working with whānau, Cartography and map communication and StoryMaps and interactive maps.

What to take from the case​

The transferable ideas are:

  • begin with the community's planning questions
  • let narratives and relationships shape the information model
  • design different views for different audiences where useful
  • separate reusable software from place-specific information
  • plan for skills, maintenance and future handover as part of the product

The Ōhinemutu schema itself is not a universal cultural-mapping template.

Sources​

Last reviewed: 26 August 2026

Last updated on