Māori land data
Māori land research now starts with Pātaka Whenua, the Māori Land Court online portal. It replaced Māori Land Online and is the current electronic court-record service. The older Māori Land Court spatial dataset from 2017 still appears in some GIS services and old tutorials, but it should be treated as a historical snapshot rather than a current national Māori land layer.
That distinction matters because a Māori land block, a LINZ cadastral parcel and a Record of Title can overlap while representing different parts of the land-record system.
Start here
- Pātaka Whenua — find blocks, ownership records, memorials, orders, minutes and plans.
- What happened to the Māori Land Spatial Dataset? — current status of the old GIS dataset and service.
- Block, parcel and title — understand the three geometries/records before joining them.
- From a court record to a map — practical research route from documentary evidence to GIS.
- Compare Māori land with LINZ — overlay block information with current cadastral context.
- Research an old block name — follow names through districts, partitions and historical records.
- Legacy 2017 spatial service — how to recognise and use it as historical evidence.
The current source landscape
| Question | Best first source | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Is there a Māori Land Court block here? | Pātaka Whenua | current court-record search and block map context |
| What orders, memorials or minutes relate to it? | Pātaka Whenua | electronic court record |
| What is the current cadastral framework? | LINZ Data Service | parcels and survey context |
| What does the current registered title say? | LINZ Land Record Search / Landonline | Record of Title and registered interests |
| What did an older block or subdivision look like? | Court plans, historical survey plans, archives | historical evidence requiring interpretation |
Pātaka Whenua is described by Te Puni Kōkiri as the definitive online source for Māori Land Court information. LINZ separately maintains the cadastral survey and land-title systems. Neither source should be silently substituted for the other.
Key official sources
- Pātaka Whenua
- Te Puni Kōkiri: Māori Land Court Online Service
- LINZ: how to search Māori land records
- LINZ Māori land FAQs
- LINZ Data Service
For the broader conceptual difference, see Māori land blocks versus parcels and Whenua mapping.
Last reviewed: 26 August 2026
Who this section is for
This section is designed for whenua Māori owners, trusts, hapū, researchers and GIS practitioners who need to move between court records, block names, parcels, titles, imagery and current landscape context. The Investigating whenua guide joins those sources into one end-to-end pathway.