Attribution, whakapapa and sources for published maps

Attribution is not only a legal credit line at the bottom of a map. It helps preserve the whakapapa of the information: where it came from, what relationship or institution produced it, what it was created for and what context should remain visible when the map travels.

A map that loses that context can appear to speak with authority it never had.

Different sources carry different kinds of authority

A published map may combine:

• Crown or council datasets
• research data
• historical maps and imagery
• Māori Land Court records
• iwi or hapū information
• whānau kōrero
• observations collected during the kaupapa
• derived analysis created by the GIS team

Do not flatten all of these into one generic Source: line if their roles and origins differ.

For example, LINZ may be the source of a cadastral parcel. That does not make LINZ the source of the meaning of the whenua. An iwi-held ingoa wāhi may have its source in whakapapa, local history or research rather than an open-data licence.

The map author is not necessarily the knowledge source

Map by X identifies who prepared the cartography. It does not mean that person or organisation originated every piece of information shown.

Where it matters, distinguish:

• map preparation
• institutional dataset source
• Māori-held source or provenance
• publication context or decision process
• derived analysis

This helps readers understand what kind of claim each part of the map makes.

Minimum information for a published map

A practical minimum includes:

• title and kaupapa or purpose
• map author or publishing organisation
• publication date and version
• key data sources
• important provenance or source relationship where relevant
• limitations or generalisation
• sharing or reuse notes where needed

A scale bar is useful where spatial scale matters. Add other cartographic elements because they help the reader, not because a template says every map must contain them.

Short source notes

For public institutional data, a concise pattern works well:

• publisher, dataset name, version or access date

For example:

• Basemap: LINZ Basemaps, accessed 2026-02-05
• Parcels: Toitū Te Whenua LINZ, NZ Primary Parcels, accessed 2026-02-05
• Flood model: XYZ Regional Council, [model/layer name], version/date

For Māori-held information, the useful note may be different. It might identify an iwi, hapū, archive, plan or kaitiaki role without exposing a knowledge holder or sensitive provenance publicly.

Keep fuller provenance behind the public note

The public map may need a short source note while the project record holds fuller provenance.

Depending on the kaupapa, that record can include:

• how the information came into the project
• the relationship or context under which it is held
• source documents or hui records
• who or what role can revisit the representation later
• reuse or sharing notes
• whether the public representation is generalised
• what supporting kōrero is held elsewhere

Do not expose sensitive names or whakapapa merely in the name of complete metadata.

See Whakapapa of data.

Derived layers need their own provenance

If the GIS team creates a buffer, risk class, suitability score, interpolation or other derived layer, say so.

Examples:

• Generalised from the working source layer for public communication.
• Catchment priorities derived from slope, land cover and local restoration criteria.
• Indicative area prepared for this planning kaupapa; not a mana whenua boundary.

Readers should be able to distinguish observed or source data from interpretation and analysis.

Licensing and tikanga are not the same thing

An open-data licence answers legal questions about reuse of that published dataset. It does not settle every question about context, relationships or later use of Māori information.

Likewise, Māori-held information may not have a conventional copyright or licence statement at all.

For a public release, useful checks include:

• licence requirements for public datasets
• Māori-held source conditions or local context that should remain visible
• whether combining otherwise open sources creates a new inference
• whether open is being mistaken for context-free information

A legal right to copy something and the meaning of the information are different questions.

Ingoa wāhi and language

Names carry provenance too.

Where relevant:

• use correct macrons and locally used spelling
• distinguish official, historical and locally used names where necessary
• do not silently replace a Māori name with the label inherited from a basemap
• keep enough source context to explain why a particular name appears

The Gazetteer can establish official naming status. Local history and whakapapa may come from elsewhere.

A lightweight map note

For a simple output, this can be enough:

• Kaupapa / purpose:
• Prepared by:
• Date / version:
• Sources:
• Provenance / context note:
• Limitations:
• Sharing / reuse:

Keep the public version concise. Keep fuller project records behind it.

Common mistakes

• writing Source: Google instead of naming the underlying data or basemap
• naming the GIS analyst as if they are the source of Māori knowledge
• citing only Crown datasets when the map depends on iwi, hapū or whānau knowledge
• calling a dataset authoritative without explaining what it is authoritative for
• omitting dates and versions
• publishing a derived layer as if it came directly from the source
• treating licence compliance as the whole provenance question
• putting sensitive provenance in public metadata

Before publishing

Check that:

• readers can tell what kind of evidence each important layer represents
• institutional sources are named accurately
• Māori-held provenance is retained at the level suited to the audience
• derived analysis is identified
• dates and versions are visible where they matter
• limitations are stated
• licence obligations are met
• local context has not been replaced by a generic copyright note

What to keep with the map

Internally, keep enough material for the next person to reconstruct the work:

• full source list and links
• download or observation dates
• processing steps
• kaupapa and purpose
• relevant publication decision or context
• contact or kaitiaki role where useful
• access or sharing notes
• final and superseded versions

Good provenance is not bureaucracy. It is how the map remembers where it came from after the people who made it have moved on.

Last reviewed: 26 August 2026

Connect attribution to the wider workflow

Use Provenance and source checking while building the map, Authoritative for what? when describing source roles, and Publishing Māori GIS maps when preparing the audience-facing version.