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Working with mana whenua and rohe without hard boundaries

GIS likes crisp polygons. Relationships to place do not always behave that way.

A rohe may be represented differently depending on whether the mahi concerns an awa, historical travel, environmental responsibility, a Treaty process, planning, mahinga kai or another kaupapa. Overlap does not have to be treated as an error in the data.

Choose a representation that fits the question​

Conceptual flow

No single option is automatically more Māori. They are different GIS devices for different questions.

Representation patterns​

PatternUseful whenWhat to make visible
overlapping polygonsseveral relationships need an area representationoverlap rather than forced exclusivity
corridoran awa, coast, route or access relationship organises the geographyconnectivity and direction
points plus kōreronamed places carry the important evidencesource and narrative rather than enclosing boundary
seasonal layeruse or activity changes through the yeartime period and activity
historical snapshotsrelationships or source evidence differ by perioddate and source of each representation
indicative extentevidence supports a broad area but not a precise lineuncertainty in styling and legend
networkrelationships among places matter more than enclosed areaconnections, without pretending a line measures whakapapa

Overlapping areas​

Where polygons are useful, overlap can be shown directly with transparent fills, patterns or separate layers. Do not dissolve the overlap merely because a GIS operation expects mutually exclusive areas.

Awa, coast and routes​

For taiao or resilience mahi, the organising geography may be an awa, catchment, coastline or ara. The Awa, wetlands, coast and moana page shows how several representations of the same awa can sit in one project.

Place-to-place mapping​

Some research works better as connected places such as maunga, awa, pā, kāinga, marae, mahinga kai and ara tawhito. A sequence or journey can communicate spatial relationships without enclosing them inside one boundary.

For historical work see Archives to map and Historical Māori maps.

Time matters​

If a relationship varies by season, activity or historical period, use separate layers, a time field or a series of maps. A timeless polygon can hide important change.

Public administrative representations​

Te Kāhui Māngai provides mapped areas for particular administrative and Treaty-related purposes and notes that areas can be indicative and overlapping. Treat those layers as source representations with a stated purpose rather than silently renaming an area of interest to an iwi boundary.

Legends and metadata​

Wording can prevent an indicative geometry looking more certain than it is. Examples include:

  • Indicative area prepared for this project, not a cadastral boundary.
  • Several overlapping source representations are shown.
  • Extent interpreted from historical source dated 1898.
  • Generalised locality rather than exact geometry.

Record source, date, purpose, scale and known limitations with the layer.

Use Cartography and map communication for styling and Authoritative for what? for source interpretation.

Last reviewed: 26 August 2026

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