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When funding ends

A GIS project is not sustainable merely because it launches successfully. The harder test is whether the organisation can still open, understand, administer and migrate the information after the grant, contract or original project team has ended.

Ask before launch​

  • Who pays for the licences next year?
  • Who owns the cloud account?
  • Who renews the domain?
  • Who answers user questions?
  • Who applies security updates?
  • Who can restore a backup?
  • Can the full data be exported?
  • Are attachments and metadata included?
  • Can a StoryMap or web app be reconstructed?
  • What happens if the consultant is unavailable?
  • What becomes the archival record?

If the answers are unknown, the project is not ready for close-out.

Web applications are harder to preserve than datasets​

A shapefile or GeoPackage can often be opened years later with another GIS. A web application may depend on:

  • hosted layers
  • identity
  • JavaScript frameworks
  • vendor APIs
  • subscriptions
  • basemaps
  • URLs
  • custom code
  • configuration

Preservation should therefore include underlying data and documentation, not only the live application.

Close-out package​

For a significant project, create a handover package containing:

  • authoritative spatial data
  • open or well-documented export formats
  • attachments
  • metadata and source register
  • data dictionary/schema
  • approved publication derivatives
  • account ownership record
  • administrators
  • backup and restore instructions
  • source code/configuration where relevant
  • supplier contacts
  • licence and renewal information
  • unresolved risks
  • archive location

Decide what stops​

Not every project needs to remain a live service forever.

Possible end states include:

  • continue as a funded operational service
  • reduce to a simpler internal system
  • archive the authoritative data and close the web app
  • transfer ownership to another authorised Māori organisation
  • preserve public static outputs while retiring interactive features
  • delete information whose authorised purpose has ended

Planning closure can be a sign of good governance rather than failure.

Do not inherit unaffordable infrastructure​

A funded project can accidentally leave a hapū with:

  • enterprise software
  • custom integrations
  • specialist databases
  • recurring cloud bills
  • support contracts

that it never had the resources to operate.

The receiving organisation should understand the continuing total cost before accepting the architecture.

Research gap​

Published Māori GIS case literature rarely follows projects five, ten or twenty years after initial funding. This is a major evidence gap. The absence of published failures should not be misread as evidence that systems always survive.

See What we still do not know.

Last verified: 16 August 2026

Keep the kaupapa usable after the project​

For iwi, hapū and taiao programmes, the useful test is whether the whenua, environmental or historical GIS can continue in a smaller sustainable form after project funding ends. Ten-year cost models helps expose the operating cost, while GIS succession covers the people and knowledge needed to carry the mahi forward.

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