Geospatial Data Catalogue
Use this page to find a source for a question. Do not begin by downloading everything an agency publishes.
Public and institutional datasets can add useful cadastral, environmental, planning, statistical and historical evidence. They do not become the cultural authority on a place simply because they are official, detailed or easy to download.
Find data by question
| I need to understand... | Start with | Common supporting sources | Check especially |
|---|---|---|---|
| Māori land or whenua context | Māori land, Pātaka Whenua | LINZ parcels, survey plans, council planning/hazards | block vs parcel vs title; record currency |
| official, historical or local ingoa wāhi | Place names, NZ Gazetteer | historical maps, plans, archives, local records | source wording; Name ID; naming authority |
| current aerial imagery | LINZ Data Service / LINZ Basemaps | council imagery | capture date; resolution; mixed-date basemaps |
| historical landscape change | Retrolens, historic LINZ imagery | survey plans, NZMS maps, current imagery | date; alignment; interpretation error |
| terrain, slope or elevation | LINZ elevation and LiDAR | council LiDAR, contours | horizontal and vertical datum; resolution |
| flood, coastal or landslide hazards | relevant regional/city/district council | elevation, GeoNet, Earth Sciences NZ, local observations | scenario; probability; publication date |
| freshwater, catchment or restoration context | council environmental data, MfE Data Service, LRIS | DOC data, river networks, field observations | modelled vs measured data; scale; date |
| council planning or infrastructure information | council map viewer/open-data portal | REST, WMS, WFS, feature services | statutory status; service currency; access method |
| statistical geography | Stats NZ Geographic Data Service | lookup tables and current classifications | boundary vintage; statistical purpose |
| historical records and Treaty research | Historical research | Tribunal, Archives NZ, Papers Past, Gazette, plans | exact page/record; historical context; location confidence |
If the task is broad, start with GIS data for Aotearoa. If it is a practical project, use a Worked example and collect only the sources that project needs.
Five-question source check
Before a layer enters the working project, answer:
- Who created, maintains or holds it?
- What was it created to represent?
- What date, version or capture period does it represent?
- What kind of authority does it have for this question?
- What should not be inferred from it?
Record the answers using the common Provenance and source checking pattern.
National starting points
Land, property, imagery and elevation
| Source | Particularly useful for | Access | Important limitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| LINZ Data Service | parcels, addresses, roads, topography, hydrography, imagery, elevation, place names | download, APIs and web services | each dataset has its own purpose, date and scale |
| LINZ Basemaps | current national aerial and topographic context | browser and tile APIs | a basemap is display context, not a substitute for source metadata |
| Pātaka Whenua | Māori Land Court record context | web search and records | Court records and LINZ cadastral geometry answer different questions |
| Retrolens | historical aerial photography | browser and imagery access | photography needs capture date and alignment checking before measurement |
Toitū Te Whenua describes the LINZ Data Service as its open online service for current land and seabed data, including aerial imagery, elevation, property, boundaries, place names and roads. Use the dataset metadata rather than treating the service as one undifferentiated source.
Place names
| Source | Particularly useful for | Keep with the result |
|---|---|---|
| New Zealand Gazetteer | official and recorded place names | name wording, Name ID, status, source date |
| LINZ place-name GIS layers | checking many names spatially | layer/version plus Gazetteer identifiers where relevant |
| historical plans and maps | earlier spellings and geographic clues | exact source reference and date |
| iwi, hapū or local records | locally held names and meanings | provenance and conditions appropriate to the kaupapa |
Official status is one property of a name. It is not the source of all naming meaning.
Environment and taiao
| Source | Particularly useful for | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| MfE Data Service | national environmental datasets and APIs | check the licence and metadata for each dataset |
| Manaaki Whenua LRIS Portal | land resources, soils, land cover and related research datasets | use the current release rather than an old saved copy |
| DOC maps and data | conservation land, recreation, ecological and other DOC spatial information | DOC notes that service URLs and some open-data content are changing during 2026, so recheck links before building repeatable connections |
| regional council environmental portals | freshwater, coast, hazards and monitoring | often more locally detailed than national layers |
Public environmental data works best alongside local observations, monitoring design and Māori-held knowledge where those are part of the kaupapa.
Statistics
Use the Stats NZ Geographic Data Service for statistical boundaries and geographic tables.
Always record the boundary vintage. Statistical areas are designed for official statistics and should not be presented as rohe, communities of relationship or cultural boundaries merely because they are convenient polygons.
Councils
Councils often hold the most detailed public spatial information for planning, hazards, infrastructure and environmental monitoring.
Use the Council GIS index to find the current public starting point for a council. The downloadable council index is one of the small number of maintained downloads on MāoriGIS.nz because it contains checked real-world service records rather than a blank template.
A practical council-data method is:
- open the council's current public viewer
- identify the actual layer name
- locate the corresponding open-data record or service where available
- read the metadata and statutory context
- record the date, scenario or plan version
- use a download or service connection suited to the task
- retain the provider and layer name even if the service URL later changes
Do not assume that layers with similar names from different councils represent the same model, probability, legal status or update cycle.
Historical evidence
Historical GIS often needs sources that are not delivered as tidy GIS layers.
Useful starting points include:
- Waitangi Tribunal reports and research
- Māori Land Court records and plans
- Archives New Zealand
- Papers Past
- DigitalNZ
- New Zealand Gazette notices
- historic survey plans and NZMS maps
- Retrolens aerial photographs
- local archives and existing iwi, hapū or whānau research collections
Use Historical research and Archives to map. Preserve the exact source wording and page or plan reference before normalising a name or creating geometry.
Choose the access method
| Method | Use it when | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| download | offline work, analysis, editing or a fixed version matters | stale copies; forgotten source/version |
| WMS/WMTS/tiles | display and basemap context | image-only access; mixed update cycles |
| WFS/feature service/API | live vector data or repeatable updates are useful | service changes, performance, schema/version changes |
| web viewer | discovery and visual checking | difficult reproducibility if the underlying dataset is not recorded |
The technical access method is separate from decisions about what Māori-held information belongs in the same environment.
Keep only useful data
A layer belongs in the project when it helps answer the question or explains the context needed to interpret the result.
Before adding another dataset, ask:
- What question will this layer answer?
- Will anyone use it in the analysis or output?
- Does it duplicate another source?
- Could it make the map look more certain than the evidence is?
- Will somebody know why it is here six months from now?
A clean project with five well-understood layers is normally better than a catalogue dumped into QGIS.
Public does not mean consequence-free
Public availability tells you how a source can be accessed. It does not tell you what a new combined map will reveal.
When public data is joined with iwi, hapū or whānau information, consider what new inferences appear, whether the audience needs that level of detail, and whether source context survives the join.
See Inference risk, Māori Data Sovereignty and Publishing.
Source currency
Provider portals, service URLs, datasets and licences change faster than this guide. Treat this page as discovery guidance and check the provider source before formal use or before creating a long-lived live service connection.
For volatile services, store the provider, dataset name and source ID in addition to the URL. That makes a broken endpoint repairable without losing the identity of the source.
Related mahi
- GIS data for Aotearoa
- Provenance and source checking
- Māori land
- Place names and ingoa wāhi
- Historical research
- Worked examples
- Māori GIS Toolkit
Last reviewed: 4 September 2026