Matawhenua: a Māori Map for Aotearoa with Māori maps, iwi maps, hapū maps, and Māori GIS
Matawhenua at maps.maorigis.nz is a browser-only Māori Map and Māori GIS web app for Aotearoa New Zealand. It is designed for practical mapping work that needs strong local control, fast 3D viewing, reliable public reference layers, and local-only saved features that stay in the browser unless you choose to export them.
This makes Matawhenua useful for iwi maps, hapū maps, Māori land maps, marae maps, place-based research, whenua planning, kaitiaki workflows, local site records, and general Māori GIS work where privacy, speed, simple access, and data sovereignty matter. The app is built so the user retains control and ownership of what they create.
Data sovereignty and user data ownership
Core principleMatawhenua is built around a simple principle: the user owns the data they create. Notes, places, paths, areas, and other saved features stay in that browser on that device unless the user chooses to export them. The app does not claim ownership over user-created data, does not send local saved features to a backend, and does not use cookies, analytics, or tracking.
That matters for Māori GIS, iwi maps, hapū maps, whenua records, and local planning work. Sensitive context often sits alongside public map layers. Matawhenua is designed so people can use public basemaps and public reference layers while keeping their own locally created map data under their own control.
- User-created data is owned by the user.
- User-created data stays in the browser unless exported by the user.
- No cookies, analytics, or tracking code are used.
- No backend database stores local saved features.
- Public services are used only to draw basemaps and reference data.
What the app does
Browser onlyMāori maps in one place
Explore Māori place names, Māori land blocks, marae, maunga, awa, pā sites, parcels, and other public reference layers in one 3D web map.
Iwi maps and hapū maps
Search and view iwi and hapū reference areas and centres, compare them with terrain and public layers, and share the current map view with others.
Local saved features
Create Place, Path, and Area records directly in the browser. Saved features stay on the device unless exported as GeoJSON, CSV, or KML.
Who Matawhenua is for
Aotearoa mapping- Iwi, hapū, Māori land trusts, kaitiaki, marae teams, researchers, planners, and analysts who need Māori maps that are practical and easy to use.
- People who want iwi maps and hapū maps in a simple web app without installing desktop GIS software.
- Users who need Māori GIS tools that support local review, story gathering, field planning, whenua understanding, and public reference lookup.
Privacy, local control, and data sovereignty
User-owned data- User-created features are stored in localStorage in the browser on that device, under the user’s control.
- Matawhenua does not use cookies, analytics, or tracking code.
- No backend is required for local saved features, imports, exports, or shareable view links, so local data ownership stays with the user.
- Data only leaves the browser when a user chooses to export it or when the app requests public basemap and reference services.
This approach helps keep the app useful for Māori GIS work where data sovereignty, local control, user data ownership, privacy, and a simple browser-only setup are important.
Key capability
3D Māori GIS- 3D map view using LINZ basemaps and terrain
- Māori place-name search
- Iwi maps and hapū maps reference search
- Māori land blocks
- Marae mapping
- Maunga and awa reference layers
- Pā sites and public heritage-style layers
- Saved feature workflow for Place, Path, and Area
- GeoJSON, CSV, and KML export
- Shareable view links for current map state
- Mobile-friendly layout
- Cloudflare Pages deployment
Questions people often ask
Helpful overviewWhat is Matawhenua?
Matawhenua is a browser-only Māori maps and Māori GIS app for Aotearoa. It supports iwi maps, hapū maps, Māori land maps, marae maps, 3D terrain, public reference layers, and local-only saved features.
Does Matawhenua send my saved features to a server?
No. Saved features stay in the browser on that device unless you export them yourself.
What kinds of searches is it built for?
The app is designed around Māori maps, iwi maps, hapū maps, Māori place names, Māori land blocks, marae, maunga, awa, and other practical Aotearoa reference mapping.
Version history
Release notesThis page tracks the stable rollback baseline and the incremental updates made from it.
v119
Merged the previous in-app About content into this single public About page, removed the duplicate About page button path, and strengthened the page for SEO with richer keyword-aligned copy, FAQ content, and improved structured data.
v114
Added a visible About page button in the main toolbar so the public About and version history page was easier to find from the app.
v113
Added a crawlable About and version history page with stronger content for Māori maps, iwi maps, hapū maps, Māori GIS, privacy, public data sources, and release notes.
v112
Improved SEO metadata for searches such as Māori Maps, iwi maps, hapū maps, and Māori GIS. Strengthened titles, descriptions, Open Graph, Twitter metadata, manifest text, and structured data.
v111
Added Share view so links restore current centre, zoom, pitch, bearing, basemap, terrain source, vertical exaggeration, labels, and visible reference layers while keeping local saved features on the device only.
v110
Fixed a runtime issue affecting hover and popups by declaring missing hover-state variables used by hover clearing and popup opening logic. This restored click popups, hover, and Add to saved.
v109
Improved interaction reliability in 3D by widening hit detection, including label layers in interaction checks, removing the interaction zoom gate, and strengthening the Add to saved popup path.
v108
Reworked hover and popup handling to use map-level hit detection rather than relying on fragile per-layer bindings that could fail after style reloads and layer rebuilds.
v107
Completed a broader quality pass with saved-feature sort and filter controls, hide and show state, mobile layout improvements, top toolbar cleanup, and lightweight remote-layer refresh guards.
v106
Improved popup and hover consistency, added cleaner source labels and field names, filtered technical fields and raw URLs more aggressively, reduced hover flicker, and improved search ranking for saved features and in-view results.
v105
Added a Help section listing the public data and map service URLs used by Matawhenua.
v104
Removed cookie and tracking behaviour from the app shell refresh logic, confirmed that no analytics scripts were present, and kept localStorage only for local user data and settings.
v103
Replaced Google Fonts with a local sans-serif stack, removed 2D edit references and dead 2D mode code, normalised popup and hover colours, filtered URL-style popup values, and optimised the social-share image.
v102
Stable rollback baseline used as the source of truth for further development. Browser-only static app with local-only saved features, Cloudflare Pages readiness, LINZ basemaps, public reference layers, search, popups, hover, import, export, and mobile layout.