Board documents, policies and standards

Our strategy sets out our goals and objectives and how we will achieve them.

Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa New Zealand Geographic Board (NZGB) is New Zealand’s national place-naming authority. In 2023/24 it has continued its role as the principal adviser to the government on place names, carried out consultations on place names across New Zealand, and published numerous decisions.

Mount Misery to Maungatūtū, Clive River to Te Awa o Mokotūāraro and naming the newly formed lake Lake Te Horonui are just some of the decisions highlighted in the Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa New Zealand Geographic Board 2022/23 Annual Report – available here in both English and te reo Māori.

The 2021/22 annual report of the New Zealand Geographic Board Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa, which aims to secure and celebrate New Zealand’s unique identity through place names.

Presented to the Minister for Land Information as required by section 14 of the New Zealand Geographic Board (Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa) Act 2008.

This document outlines the policies, principles, guidelines, and practices of the New Zealand Geographic Board Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa

The purpose of Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa Māori Language Plan is to be clear about the impact the Board has or can have in relation to language revitalisation.

The NZGB has a function to collect and encourage the use of original Māori place names on official maps and charts. To help it to do this and to encourage Māori participation, the NZGB has developed this Kaupapa which describes ways of engaging with the appropriate Māori.

This Protocol was developed by the NZGB in collaboration with MFAT to encourage other nations to consult with the NZGB before naming undersea features within its area of interest and before submitting a proposal to the Sub-Committee on Undersea Feature Names (SCUFN), who are a group of international experts on naming undersea features.

This policy provides guidance when considering and applying generic terms to geographic names. The primary purpose of the generic term is to describe the feature part of a place name, eg River or Maunga.

This policy specifies the New Zealand Geographic Board’s requirements for place or feature name proposals, including evidence required.