Map navigation
Panning
To pan around the map, click and drag with your mouse, use arrow keys on a keyboard, or turn on the map arrows in the user settings (see ‘User settings’ below). On a touchscreen device you can slide to a new location on the map.
You can navigate beyond New Zealand to its offshore islands and Antarctica.
In the New Zealand view, panning or zooming to Antarctica will switch to the Antarctic view. However currently in the Antarctic view it will not switch to the New Zealand view if you pan up to New Zealand.
You can use the toggle at the top right to switch your view back to New Zealand.
Zooming
To zoom in or out of an area on the map, you can:
- use the scroll wheel on your mouse
- use the + or - buttons at the left of the map
- press the shift key and drag across the area you're interested in
- turn on the zoom-to-area button in the User settings, and drag across the area you're interested in
- double click on the map (only zooms in).
On a touchscreen device you can zoom in and out with 'pinch' and 'expand' motions.
In the user settings you also can turn on the Undo/Redo Pan & Zoom buttons, which appear at the bottom left of the map, and can be used to move back and forth between the locations you have viewed.
Changing map layers and switching between basemaps
Layers
You can add or remove layers, such as the 12 Mile Territorial Sea, by hovering over the 'layers' icon at the top right of the map.
New Zealand view
You can switch between the aerial imagery basemap and Toitū Te Whenua's topographic maps by clicking on the minimap in the bottom right corner
Antarctic view
Select the Antarctica view by using the Switch Location toggle at the top right corner. Selecting a name in Antarctica from your search result will also switch to Antarctic view if you are in New Zealand view (but currently selecting a name in New Zealand from your search results when in Antarctic view won’t switch it back). Note there are some gaps in the Antarctic data.
If there are search results in both New Zealand and Antarctica (for example, for 'glacier'), the map will zoom in or out to show all results without changing the map.
Antarctic Topo50 maps can be turned on and off from the layers icon. These cover Ross Island, McMurdo Dry Valleys, and the Darwin Glacier – Hatherton Glacier region.
Using the search bar
To search for place names
Enter a name (or part of a name) in the 'Search place names' field above the map. For example, you could search for Rocky Creek by entering 'rocky' or 'roc'. If you search for a term like 'rock', your results will include any features classified as a rock, not just those with 'rock' in the name, for example Rhoscolyn Tor.
While you are typing, matching results will appear as a drop-down list. You can click on any name in this list, or hit enter (return) to complete your search with all matching results, which will open the ‘Search results’ panel on the right of the map.
Read more about types of names
Where place names are duplicated they are shown together as one line, with the number of instances of the name in the Gazetteer. Completing your search by hitting enter (return) or clicking the drop down will show all of the duplicated names.
Search results
Search results are listed in alphabetical order. Close matches are listed first, with partial matches at the end of your search results. Official names are in bold.
Select the place you are interested in by clicking on it in the search results or on the map. More information will then be shown in the 'Details' panel (see ‘Details’ panel below) for the place name and the map will zoom to the location.
If there is only one result from your search (for something unique like 'Slickenside'), when completing your search the 'Details' panel for that name will open immediately and the map will zoom to the place. If there are multiple results the map will zoom to the extent of all results, and you will need to select the name you are interested in or refine your search.
Identifying names on the map
Search results on the map
The locations of the places in your search results are shown as coloured points on the map. Up to 500 coloured points will be shown on the map.
If you have more than 500 results, scrolling through the Search Results will change which are shown on the map. However, you may want to refine your search instead.
Highlighting
If you hover your cursor over a point on the map, both the place and its name in the 'Search Results' panel will be highlighted, and the name will appear on the map. Likewise, hovering over place names in the ‘Search results’ will highlight the names on the map.
Showing lines and areas
The lines and areas that are associated with places such as rivers, railways or national parks are hidden when browsing the map. Instead, only a reference point is shown. When you complete a search the lines and polygons for names in the ‘Search Results’ will be shown.
You can click the 'Line/Polygon toggle' (the eye symbol) to show or hide lines and areas.
When you open the ‘Details panel’ for a name that has lines or areas, these will be displayed by default but can be hidden again.
Search by coordinates and grid references
To search by coordinates
You can use 2 formats.
Decimal format
- -43, -176 (commas and spaces)
- -43,-176 (commas, no spaces)
- -43 -176 (space only)
DMS (degrees, minutes, seconds) format
- 43°53'32.39" S 176°31'26.39" W (using degree symbol)
- 43d53'32.39" S 176d31'26.39" W (using 'd' instead of degree symbol)
- 43:53:32.39 S 176:31:26.39 W (using colon to separate values)
To search by a NZTopo50 grid reference (including Chatham Islands)
You can use these formats:
- BN28 702882
- BN28 702 882
This will add a temporary marker to the map.
Note that you cannot currently search using grid references for the offshore island topographic map series or Antarctic topographic maps.
For more information on Topo50 grid references, see the guides on the LINZ Topo50 maps.
Our online coordinate converter lets you convert grid references into other datums and projections, and back again.
Using the Advanced Search
You can narrow down your search by opening the 'Advanced Search' box to filter it by:
- Status – whether a name is official or unofficial
- Feature class/type – feature classes, such as rail, sea or terrain, or more specific types such as scenic reserve or conservation park
- Land District – administrative area
- Region – local authority region
- Territorial Authority – local authority cities, districts and territories.
Setting any of these filters will also affect drop down results when typing in the search bar and browsing results (see ‘Searching by map area and browsing’ below).
Resetting your search or the map
Click on the ‘x’ in the search bar and/or the ‘Clear’ button in Advanced Search to clear the search bar, all search results, filters and any temporary markers from coordinate searches and grid reference searches.
In the New Zealand view, clicking the world button below the scale bar will reset the map to the default view of New Zealand. In the Antarctic view, clicking the world button resets the map to a view of the Ross Sea region in Antarctica.
Searching by map area and browsing
In New Zealand view, coloured points for up to 500 results will be shown on the map when ‘browsing’. The map will show browsing results whenever you have not completed a search and opened the ‘Search Results’ window.
Move around the map to change the results or zoom in to refine the results to the map area (where applicable).
If you enter text in the search bar and/or set filters, but don’t hit enter (return), the text/filters will affect your browsing results.
A message will be shown under the search bar if there are more than 500 results. The first number is the total matches in the entire Gazetteer, the second number the matches in the area on the map.
'Details' panel
The 'Details' panel opens when you select a name:
- from the map
- in the search results panel
- directly from the predictive text drop-down list.
When you select a name, the map will zoom to the place and the 'Details' panel will appear.
The 'Details' panel includes:
- whether the name is official
- the type of feature (for example, an island, rock or scenic reserve)
- a description about its appearance, location and map or chart references
- the history, origin or meaning of the name
- events, such as when a name became official, and sub-events – if the original event was corrected or amended later
- the coordinates in decimal degrees
- other reference information.
You can also click on any other names that the feature has. For example, the details panel for Wanaka includes a link to Pembroke, which Wanaka replaced. For Anchor Island, an original Māori name Pukenui is collected in the Gazetteer.
User settings
Map display
To change how names are displayed in the map window, open the User settings with the cog icon at the top right of the Gazetteer.
You can adjust:
- the line weight (the default is 5, and you can enter a number 1 to 15)
- the colour sliders for search results and for highlights.
Click ‘Apply Styles’ when you are happy with your selection. If you click ‘Reset Styles’ the line weight will reset to 5, search results will be magenta, and highlighted names will be in yellow.
Map tools
You can also turn most of the map tools on and off and reset them to default.
- Pan – arrows for panning around the map
- Reset position – rests the map to default in either map view
- Measure – a tool to measure distance and/or calculate area
- Zoom to area – zooms to an area selected on the map
- Line/Polygon toggle – shows/hides line and polygons (areas) relating to place names
- Undo/Redo Pan & Zoom – buttons to go back and forth between places you have been on the map
Measure tool
If you turn on the measure tool it will appear at the bottom left of the map. Click on the button and ‘Create new measurement’ to start using the tool.
Coordinates will be given for the first point clicked, and from then on, at the last point of your measurement.
Next, click somewhere else to draw a line – the tool will give the distance between the two points.
Click again to continue measuring distance and to start calculating an area. The area will be given between the three points. You can continue clicking points on the map to increase the distance and change the area measured.
At any time, you can copy the coordinates, distances, and areas given by the measuring tool.
You can continue to move the map around while measuring, although you will not be able to select any results on the map. However, if you click ‘Finish measuring’ the measurement will continue to be displayed on the map and you can resume browsing and searching for place names. The measurement results can be hidden/shown by clicking on the green area measurement.
Downloading Gazetteer data
You can download all of the names in the Gazetteer by clicking the 'Download' link in the footer. This will download a CSV file.
A second download link provides just Māori names with macrons as a CSV.
The data is also available from the LINZ Data Service for use in a GIS, and the third link in the ‘Download’ footer, will take you to the NZGB Place Names layer on LDS. There are also separate layers for the lines and polygons included in the Gazetteer.
https://data.linz.govt.nz/layer/51681-nz-place-names-nzgb/
https://data.linz.govt.nz/layer/52423-nz-place-names-lines-nzgb/
https://data.linz.govt.nz/layer/52424-nz-place-names-polygons-nzgb/
Glossary
For a detailed glossary of terms see page 96 of the Frameworks document
For a list of feature types in English and te reo Māori, see the NZGB's features application: New Zealand Geographic Features