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Working with iwi, hapū and whānau

Begin with the kaupapa​

Iwi, hapū and whānau are not stakeholder groups waiting to be engaged by a GIS project. The kaupapa already sits within whakapapa, histories, whenua, aspirations, responsibilities and relationships.

GIS can support that mahi, but it should not quietly become the centre of it.

Where people are coming into the kaupapa from outside, useful clarity includes:

  • who is involved and in what role
  • how the GIS work came about
  • what the project is expected to contribute
  • what information is being worked with
  • what will remain locally useful when the project ends

The point is not to create a generic engagement process. It is to understand the relationships that already exist around the mahi.

Whakawhanaungatanga is ongoing​

Whakawhanaungatanga is not an introductory workshop before the real work begins. Relationships continue while questions are framed, information is gathered, maps are interpreted and decisions are made.

The tikanga of the people and place provides the context. A GIS team does not need to invent another layer of ceremony around it.

Practical habits can include:

  • working in the places and forums that make sense for the kaupapa
  • learning the names, histories and relationships that matter to the work
  • being clear about uncertainty and technical limits
  • sharing drafts early enough for them to be useful
  • keeping different views visible rather than forcing an early technical consensus

Shared design is more than co-design​

Co-design can still leave an external organisation holding the budget, technical choices and final decision.

A more useful test is whether the kaupapa actually shapes:

  • the question being mapped
  • what knowledge becomes data
  • how whenua, wai, names and relationships are represented
  • which outputs are useful
  • what remains local, shared more widely or outside GIS
  • what capability and infrastructure remain afterwards

The strongest GIS project is not one that merely consulted Māori on a finished technical idea. It is one where the technology follows the kaupapa.

Local knowledge is not just another layer​

Kōrero from kaumātua, kaitiaki, whānau and people who know the whenua is not merely another data source beside a council layer.

It can carry whakapapa, context and different kinds of authority. It may also be better represented through narrative, an archive reference, a broad locality or another form rather than a GIS feature.

Where local knowledge is recorded, useful context includes:

  • provenance and source relationship
  • whether it is an individual recollection, a historical source or a collective position
  • uncertainty or different accounts
  • the kaupapa for which it was recorded
  • the audience for the resulting version

See Whakapapa of data, Things GIS cannot represent well and Historical Māori maps.

Clarify the kaupapa early​

Useful early kōrero can cover:

  • what people are trying to achieve
  • why GIS may or may not help
  • what information already exists
  • what form would be useful for the output
  • what resources, time and skills are realistically available
  • who is likely to carry the mahi after the immediate project

A short written note can help future kaimahi, but the document is there to preserve context, not replace the relationship.

Different histories can sit on the same map​

There is no generic Māori community position.

Iwi, hapū, marae, whānau, trusts, incorporations and Māori organisations can have different histories and relationships to the same place. Interests may overlap. Accounts may differ. GIS does not need to resolve that complexity by drawing a cleaner polygon.

Where views differ, the map can:

  • keep source and context visible
  • use multiple representations where useful
  • show overlapping areas rather than forcing exclusivity
  • record uncertainty instead of hiding it
  • distinguish legal, administrative, historical and locally held geographies

See Mana whenua and rohe without hard boundaries, Whakapapa and mapping and Maps are not neutral.

Reciprocity from the beginning​

A one-way flow of kōrero into an external database followed by a PDF at the end is a weak outcome.

Useful things that can remain from the mahi include:

  • editable maps and data where they are useful
  • reusable formats rather than only locked outputs
  • paired work and practical training
  • documentation another kaimahi can follow
  • workflows that do not depend on one consultant
  • stronger local ability to answer the next question

That is less about returning value after the fact and more about building capability as part of the work itself.

See GIS succession, The one-person GIS and When funding ends.

Manaakitanga works both ways​

Relationships require care from everyone involved. Time, funding, volunteer effort and the demands placed on knowledge holders are all real project constraints.

Good metadata and handover can reduce the need to ask the same people to explain the same material again after staff or suppliers change. That is one practical way GIS administration can support manaakitanga rather than create more work.

Technical and legal limits can also be explained plainly. Respect does not require pretending a platform or dataset can do something it cannot.

Keep the whakapapa of the project​

When a project ends, useful handover can include:

  • current working data and shared outputs
  • source and provenance notes
  • known uncertainties or different accounts
  • account and backup information
  • what remains draft and what is current
  • who knows the kaupapa and can provide context later
  • what future changes would need another kōrero

This helps the next person understand not only where the files are, but why the GIS looks the way it does.

A useful test​

Ask whether the project still makes sense if the technology disappears from the description.

If the story becomes we engaged Māori, collected local knowledge and built a GIS, the project is probably still centred on itself.

A stronger description is closer to: this kaupapa involved particular places, relationships and decisions; GIS was one of the tools used to support the mahi.

Last reviewed: 26 August 2026

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