Land-record plans
Land records often create the strongest bridge between a named historical block and current cadastral geography.
Follow references, not visual resemblance
A court order may cite an ML plan. A later title may cite a DP. A public-works notice may give an SO plan or legal description. Following that chain is more reliable than drawing a polygon around something that looks similar on an old map.
Use:
Plan types
ML, DP, SO and LT plans have different roles and periods. Preserve the full plan prefix/number as the identifier.
GIS digitising
If you digitise from a plan, store:
plan_ref
plan_date
source_repository
georef_method
feature_interpretation
location_confidence
Never overwrite current LINZ parcel geometry with the historic digitisation.
Last reviewed: 26 August 2026