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Mahi pathways

Start with the mahi in front of you. These pathways gather the relevant pages into a practical sequence so you do not need to understand the whole site first.

Choose a pathway​

Start or strengthen an iwi or hapū GIS​

For a new GIS capability, a small team, a one-person function or an existing setup that has grown without much structure.

Map whenua and land questions​

For Māori land, parcels, access, planning, landlocked whenua, sites, rohe and other place-based questions.

Useful extensions: Papakāinga and housing GIS, Landlocked Māori land and Māori land blocks versus parcels.

Map taiao, hazards and environmental change​

For awa, freshwater, coast, climate, hazards, restoration, monitoring and field information.

Continue with Awa, wetlands, coast and moana, Field GIS and the Awa restoration example.

Work with history, Treaty material and ingoa wāhi​

For archives, place names, Māori Land Court material, historical imagery and evidence that needs to be connected back to place.

Continue with Archives to map, Local AI, Georeferencing historical maps and Historical Māori maps.

Map marae assets and resilience​

For buildings, water, wastewater, access, maintenance, field records and practical asset information.

Use Marae emergency mapping for response planning. The Marae GIS page and worked example show practical asset fields and structures directly.

Collect information in the field​

For phones, tablets, offline maps, observations, photographs, assets and forms using QField, Field Maps, Survey123 or KoboToolbox.

Prepare maps for hui and decisions​

For turning GIS work into something people can use in kōrero, planning, governance, wānanga or project decisions. Use Cartography and map communication for the map-making stage.

Prepare information for sharing and publishing​

For making different versions of spatial information for different purposes and audiences, including generalised locations, public maps, partner extracts and working datasets.

Prefer examples to instructions?​

Go straight to Worked examples. The six examples cover papakāinga, marae emergency mapping, historical ingoa wāhi, awa restoration, landlocked whenua and historical change.

Learning the software​

Use the QGIS practical course for a structured eight-exercise pathway or Tools if you are choosing software.

A pattern that runs through the site​

Most useful GIS mahi follows some version of this sequence:

  1. Start with the question, people and place.
  2. Understand the local context and existing knowledge.
  3. Add public and technical sources where they help.
  4. Keep provenance, dates and limitations visible.
  5. Use the simplest tool and analysis that can genuinely help.
  6. Check what the result actually says.
  7. Make a version suited to the purpose and audience.
  8. Store enough context that the next kaimahi can understand and continue the mahi.

The software sits inside that sequence. It does not define it.

Last reviewed: 3 September 2026

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