About Us

Māori Maps helps to connect Māori descendants with their marae, and enable visitors to make appropriate contact with these centres of culture - in particular, linking Māori youth with their ancestral identity.
Te Potiki National Trust, a charitable company, founded in 2007 by Dr Paul Tapsell, administers Māori Maps. Paul is a professor at Australian National University and Lincoln University (NZ) as well as a Principal of Takarangi. He remains the founding chair of Te Potiki's board of directors.

The other directors are Dr Christine Woods (professor, Faculty of Business & Economics at the University of Auckland), Dr Dee Sciascia (senior research officer, AUT University), Paul Voigt (business consultant, Nikau Pacific). Long serving kaihautū (executive director) Peter Dowling (publisher, Oratia Media) stepped down late 2022, and is succeeded by Rob Parsons.

The Advisory Board’s first chair (2008-2011) was former Governor Geneeral Tā Paul Reeves (GCMG, GCVO, QSO), supported by Te Aue Davis (CNZM, OBE), Tā Prof. Mason Durie (ONZ, KNZM) and Prof. Ngāpare Hopa (MNZM). The second chair was Tā Mason (2011-2015) before relinquishing the role to Tā Tumu Te Heuheu (KNZM). In 2019 Chief Judge Caren Fox became chair until stepping back to make way for our newly appointed 2026 chair, Bishop Kitohi Pikaahu (ONZM). The current Advisory Board membership comprises Kipa Munroe, Hauiti Hakopa and Rereata Makiha, supported by current patrons Tā Mason and Chief Judge Caren Fox. Past patrons, board members and support staff who have since passed away are Te Aue Davis, Tā Tumu, Ngāpare Hopa, Renata Tane and Ike Reti. 

Since 2011 Hirini Tane, kaiwhakahaere (manager), has assist the Directors by overseeing day-to-day running of Māori Maps. Website development and mapping is maintained by MadeCurious (originally built by Zest IT, then Orbica). Krzysztof Pfeiffer, an internationally renowned photographer, was jointly responsible for the initial photography and curation of the 780 marae on Maorimaps.com. Original media and content generation of the original site was overseen by Michael Hennessy.

Using this site

Marae are the centres of Māori identity, marking the home ground and mana of hapū (kin groups) and whānau (families). A marae is both a physical and spiritual location, a collection of buildings and an anchoring to the land, a place where people meet and the community of related people itself.

Use Māori Maps to:

• Search marae by name, hapū, iwi, region
• Click through to view marae page containing a selection of photos, address and contact details, and key information
• Get directions to the marae
• Toggle Māori Land Block layer in the bottom right box to access the Māori Land Online website (Māori Land Court), which applies to all remaining Māori land blocks.

Please contact marae directly with any enquiries, including for accommodation; Māori Maps does not handle marae bookings, and any contact information we have is displayed on the site.