Māori GIS training and learning

Different audiences need different entry points. A rangatahi trying GIS for the first time does not need the same pathway as an experienced GIS analyst beginning cultural-mapping research or an iwi planner looking for a particular dataset.

Rangatahi and first-time GIS users

Start with Rangatahi and GIS, then work through the QGIS practical course. The course uses Aotearoa examples rather than generic training datasets and leads into the worked examples.

For demonstration-based learning, use Videos and presentations.

Iwi and hapū practitioners

The Ngā Poutama Matawhenua programme provides recorded practical Māori GIS wānanga.

Pair a recording with the matching subject page so it becomes a repeatable workflow. For example, an imagery session can lead into Imagery, an awa session into Taiao data, and a document/AI session into Local AI.

A hapū setting up its own GIS should also watch He Kete Mātauranga and use Starting an iwi or hapū GIS.

Taiao and field teams

Use Field GIS for collection tools, KoboToolbox field work for form-based collection and Taiao data for national environmental context.

Then look at Ngā Kaitiaki o Ngā Wai Māori for a real hapū-led example combining water monitoring, fish surveys, catchments and environmental storytelling.

Cultural mapping study

The University of Waikato currently offers GEOGY302 Cultural Mapping as a 300-level online paper in 2026. Its description focuses on geographic representations of local stories, communities, knowledges, histories, practices and connections to place.

This is useful for people who want a formal academic cultural-mapping pathway rather than only software training. It also provides a bridge between GIS practice, social/cultural geography and community-based mapping methods.

Treaty, place-name and historical researchers

Use Archives to map, Historical research, Place names and Local AI. The Papers and research page provides deeper reading on cultural mapping and landscape research.

Planners and council GIS practitioners

People who already know GIS may get more value from the Māori-led project examples than another introductory software tutorial. Start with Te Kete Kōrero o Ōhinemutu, Te Ao Māori in Coastal Risk Assessments, Working with whānau and Authoritative for what?.

Experienced GIS practitioners

Skip the basics when they are already familiar. Use Māori land data, Property and cadastre, NZ GIS reference, Data services and APIs, Imagery, LiDAR and elevation and the Māori-led project examples.

For ArcGIS users working in nonprofit Māori organisations, see the ArcGIS nonprofit pathway.

Historical training network

The 2017 and 2018 Indigenous Mapping Wānanga and the current Ngā Poutama programme show a long-running practical training lineage in Aotearoa. See He Whare Hangarau Māori and Indigenous Mapping Waananga 2018.

The useful lesson for capability programmes is continuity: build reusable exercises, recordings, data packs and people who can teach others rather than treating each wānanga as an isolated event.

Last reviewed: 26 August 2026