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Start or strengthen an iwi or hapū GIS

Start with what the GIS needs to help people do. Do not begin by buying a platform, collecting every dataset you can find, or trying to design the final system before anyone has used it.

A practical route​

  1. Write down two or three real pieces of mahi the GIS should support this year.
  2. Identify whose knowledge, whenua or responsibilities those pieces of mahi involve.
  3. Identify the people, relationships and existing decision processes connected to any Māori-held information.
  4. Inventory what already exists in folders, spreadsheets, maps, archives and people's working knowledge.
  5. Choose a small technical foundation that the current team can actually maintain.
  6. Complete one useful map or workflow end to end.
  7. Record sources, folder structure, versions, access arrangements and what the next person would need to continue it.
  8. Expand only after the first workflow has proved useful.

Keep the first system small​

A useful first capability might be no more than a well-organised project folder, QGIS or ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Earth for viewing, a GeoPackage or geodatabase, a source register, backups and a clear publishing process.

That is already a GIS capability if it helps the kaupapa and the next person can understand how it works.

The long-term question is not whether the organisation has the most impressive platform. It is whether people retain practical control of the information, can recover the work, move it when necessary and pass the capability on.

Last reviewed: 26 August 2026

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