Skip to main content

Investigate landlocked whenua and access

Research question: What does the available spatial and documentary evidence show about possible access to a teaching Māori land block, and what still needs legal or historical investigation?

Useful for: whenua Māori owners, trusts, researchers, planners and GIS practitioners preparing an evidence map before specialist advice or deeper record research.

What you will produce​

  • an access-evidence register
  • a QGIS project separating cadastral, formed-road, imagery and historical evidence
  • a map of current and historical access clues
  • numbered evidence references linked to the register
  • a list of unresolved legal, survey and field questions

Working structure​

Create an access_evidence table for recording separate evidence types. It does not determine legal access.

Useful fields include:

evidence_id
source_type
source_reference
source_date
observation
source_statement
interpretation
location_status
notes

Keep cadastral road parcel, formed road, visible track, historical route and legal or documentary evidence as separate evidence types throughout the exercise.

Source and checking​

Record the provider or repository, source reference, date, what the source represents and what it does not establish. Keep observations, source statements and interpretations separate.

Use Provenance and source checking and the Historical research log where plans, court records or archival sources are involved.

The important distinction​

Keep at least four ideas separate:

  1. cadastral road parcel
  2. formed/drivable road
  3. visible track
  4. legal right or practical arrangement for access

These can overlap, but they are not interchangeable.

Step 1: establish the block record​

For real research begin with Pātaka Whenua and record block name, district and relevant current court identifiers or records.

For a teaching exercise use a clearly synthetic block identifier that cannot be mistaken for a current court record.

Add current LINZ parcels as cadastral context. Do not describe a LINZ parcel polygon as the Māori Land Court block unless the sources genuinely establish that relationship.

Step 2: identify cadastral road evidence​

LINZ NZ Primary Parcels includes parcel-intent information and can identify road parcels. Current LINZ WFS guidance provides examples filtering parcel_intent='Road'.

In QGIS, either download a manageable local extract from LINZ Data Service or use a bounded/filtered WFS request. Large nationwide parcel requests can time out, so constrain the area.

Style cadastral road parcels distinctly from formed roads.

Step 3: add current road and address context​

Add current road-centreline or equivalent public transport/access context from an authoritative source. Record the publisher and date.

The existence of a named road or address does not establish that a route reaches the block in a usable way.

Step 4: interpret visible tracks separately​

Inspect current aerial imagery. If a track is clearly visible, digitise it into a separate visible_tracks layer with fields:

track_id
image_source
image_date
interpretation
confidence
notes

Label it visible track from imagery, not access road.

Step 5: compare historical imagery and maps​

Use Retrolens/historical imagery, historic maps or survey plans to see whether routes appeared, disappeared or shifted.

Record each historical source independently. A route visible in 1965 and absent now is useful evidence, but it does not automatically prove a current legal right.

Step 6: add terrain​

Hillshade, contours or slope can explain why practical routes follow particular ridges, valleys or crossings. Terrain can help identify plausible questions for field investigation.

It cannot determine legal access.

Step 7: build the evidence table​

Record one row in access_evidence for each evidence item.

Useful evidence types include:

  • Māori Land Court record
  • cadastral road parcel
  • survey plan reference
  • current formed road
  • visible track
  • historical track
  • gate/bridge observation
  • title/instrument reference
  • unresolved question

Keep observation, source_statement and interpretation in separate fields.

Step 8: make an evidence map​

The map should show:

  • teaching block
  • surrounding parcels
  • cadastral road parcels
  • formed road network
  • visible tracks
  • historical route evidence where it can be located
  • terrain
  • numbered evidence labels linked to the register

Use dashed or otherwise distinct symbology for interpreted/historical routes.

Step 9: write unresolved questions on the map/report​

Examples:

  • Does the road parcel shown on the cadastre correspond to an unformed legal road?
  • Is an easement or other registered interest recorded on a title?
  • Does a Māori Land Court order or historical partition plan describe access?
  • Is the visible track currently usable and by whom?
  • Is a bridge/ford/gate the practical constraint rather than the route itself?

A good GIS investigation makes these questions clearer rather than drawing a single authoritative-looking red line.

Quality checks​

  • Block and parcel identifiers remain distinct.
  • Road parcel and formed road have different symbology.
  • Imagery interpretation includes capture date.
  • Historical route evidence includes source/date.
  • No track is labelled legal access without documentary support.
  • Distances are measured in a suitable projected CRS such as EPSG:2193.
  • The map has an evidence register reference.

What the result means​

The output organises the spatial evidence and identifies where further record, legal, survey or field investigation is most useful.

It does not determine a legal right of access or resolve a boundary dispute.

Continue with Landlocked Māori land, Māori land data, Property and cadastre and Authoritative for what?.

Last reviewed: 4 September 2026

Last updated on