The New Zealand Geographic Board

The New Zealand Geographic Board Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa (NZGB) is an independent statutory body responsible to the Minister for Land Information, operating under The New Zealand Geographic Board (Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa) Act 2008.

The Surveyor-General (a statutory officer within LINZ) is chairperson (ex-officio) of the New Zealand Geographic Board Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa (NZGB), which comprises nine other members appointed under the New Zealand Geographic Board (Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa) Act 2008.

The NZGB secretariat is located within LINZ and provides the NZGB with administrative support, research assistance and advice.

Current members of the board are Dr Don Grant (chairperson), Ms Sylvia Allan, Tā Tipene O'Regan, Dr Wharehuia Milroy, Mr David Barnes, Dr Kay Booth, Dr Apirana Mahuika, Professor Michael Roche and Mr Geoff Howard.

Members are nominated or recommended by the Federated Mountain Clubs, New Zealand Geographical Society, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, Minister of Māori Affairs, Minister for Land Information and Local Government New Zealand.

Principal functions of the board are to assign official names, to approve recorded names (unofficial names that have appeared in at least two publicly available authoritative publications or databases), to alter official or recorded names (by substituting a new name or correcting its spelling), to discontinue the use of official or recorded names, to investigate and determine the position and extent of a feature whose name is assigned, approved or altered and to review Crown Protected Area name proposals.

These functions can be exercised in relation to the following features within the NZGB jurisdiction: geographic features and places, undersea features, Antarctic features, Crown Protected Areas such as national parks, reserves and so on, treaty of Waitangi settlement names and foreshore and seabed recognition instrument names.

The board's jurisdiction covers the territorial boundaries of New Zealand (12 nautical miles off the coast); offshore islands including the Kermadec, Chatham, Auckland, Antipodes, Campbell, Snares, and Bounty Islands, the continental shelf of New Zealand and the Ross Dependency of Antarctica (including its continental shelf).

In addition to its principal functions, the NZGB may also adopt policies, rules and standards to assist it in carrying out its functions for the spelling and systematic designation of official names, to examine cases of doubtful spelling and determine official spelling appearing on maps and charts, to investigate and determine the priority of discovery of a feature, to collect original Māori names for recording on maps and charts, encourage the use of original Māori names on maps and charts, and to seek advice from Te Taura Whiri I te Reo Māori (Māori Language Commission) on correct orthography of Māori names.

The New Zealand Geographic Board

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The New Zealand Geographic Board

Inside Issue 43

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