New Zealand Gazetteer of Official Geographic Names
The New Zealand Gazetteer of Official Geographic Names (the Gazetteer) is published by the New Zealand Geographic Board Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa (NZGB). The Gazetteer contains all official names for features within the NZGB's jurisdiction. It also contains other types of unofficial name classifications, such as recorded names.
The Gazetteer includes (but is not limited to) the following information for each official name:
- official name or unofficial name
- gazette or statutory reference for official name
- type of feature or place (eg town, mountain, etc)
- positional reference
- feature description (where available)
- feature extent (where available).
Information held in the Gazetteer can be downloaded in .csv format, or from the LINZ Data Service.
Search the Gazetteer here.
Archived Gazetteer spreadsheets
A new interactive Gazetteer was launched on 10 June 2013. It replaced six spreadsheets containing official names for New Zealand places and features, which you can download below. Please note that these spreadsheets are no longer updated by the NZGB. For the latest information on New Zealand place and feature names, please refer to the new Gazetteer.
- New Zealand (xls 2MB) or (PDF 857KB) - updated 13 February 2013
- Offshore islands (xls 166KB) or (PDF 81KB) - updated 22 August 2011
- Railway lines (xls 38KB) or (PDF 44KB) - updated 13 February 2012
- Antarctic (xls 1.65MB) or (PDF 981KB) - updated 25 May 2012
- Crown Protected Area (xls 733KB) or (PDF 314KB) - updated 21 December 2012
- Undersea (xls 145KB) or (PDF 185KB) - updated 14 November 2012
Macrons
A number of official names contain macrons. While the Gazetteer shows the macrons for these names, care needs to be taken to ensure that they are retained when the names are moved between software packages. The NZGB has compiled a list of official names with macrons to assist in mapping, charting, signage, reporting, legislation, or other official documents.
Names not in the Gazetteer
Some New Zealand place and feature names may not be contained in the Gazetteer. However there are a range of other sources of information about geographic names. Get help finding names.
