Detail of a hand-drawn 1978 map of the Makerua Swamp flax mills, with the Manawatū River and handwritten mill names and dates

An introduction

Community
Mapping
Framework

A simple way for community and environmental groups in Aotearoa to record their work on a map as they go, and to show what it has achieved.

Richard Ram · October 2026 · Working draft for discussion

Flaxmills of Makerua Swamp, Ian Matheson, 1978. Manawatū Heritage, CC BY 4.0

01MapLab Framework

What it is

One map of your place, kept up to date by the people doing the work

MapLab brings free public information about a place together with a group's own records, on a map the group owns and can share. It runs on free or very low-cost services.

The map

Your area, in layers

Historical and current aerial photos, tree canopy and contours from LiDAR, flood and council layers, and species sightings, alongside your own records.

The field form

Record it where it happens

A phone form shaped around the group's real jobs: plantings, trap checks, weed patches, sightings. It works without signal.

Sharing

Put the map where people are

Ready-made map views can sit on a website or newsletter, showing just the layers and records that tell the story.

Your records

Owned by the group

Records sit in the group's own Google Sheet, photos in its own storage. Nothing is locked into a subscription.

02What it is
Hand-drawn 1978 map of the Makerua Swamp flax mills along the Manawatū River, with mill names and dates in green
Flaxmills of Makerua Swamp, hand-drawn by Ian Matheson, 1978. Manawatū Heritage, CC BY 4.0

How it fits together

From the field to the map, in four steps

1

Record

A volunteer saves a planting or trap check on their phone, with its place, time and a photo.

2

Store

It lands in the group's spreadsheet; photos are kept in two places.

3

Check

Anything uncertain is flagged, and a coordinator confirms or corrects it.

4

Show

It appears on the map, in shared views, and in what the group reports.

03How it fits together

Collecting data as you go

Good records, without extra paperwork

  • Shaped around the group's work. Each job has its own short form: species planted and how many, trap number and catch, weed and patch size. Available now
  • Names people use. Pick lists show common, Māori and scientific names, with the group's usual species first. Available now
  • Place, time and photo, automatically. The phone's GPS places the record; photos keep their time and location. Available now
  • Works without signal. Records wait on the phone and send themselves later. Available now
  • Help with identification. A photo helper suggests likely species, using the Aotearoa Species Classifier from the University of Waikato. Uncertain records are checked by a coordinator. Available now
Botanical plate of mānuka, a branching shrub covered in small white and pink flowers
Mānuka, Leptospermum scoparium. Sarah Featon, 1889
04Collecting data

An example

A shared map with two layers, and the records behind it

Example map of a 1 km area of Palmerston North showing planting records in green, trap checks in red, a sighting in blue and notable trees in dark green, with a layer legend

Layers shown: our records (plantings green, trap checks red, sightings blue) and notable trees from Palmerston North City Council. Tree canopy is offered in the legend, switched off. The picture uses example records; the live map needs an internet connection.

Example records, as they appear when tapped

PlantingKōwhai × 3
Close-up photo of yellow kōwhai flowers
Species planted
Kōwhai (Sophora microphylla)
Number planted
3
Plant guard fitted?
Yes
By Aroha · 12 Aug 2026, 10:41 am · GPS ±4 m · from a phone
Trap check · Pest or weedTrap T01: Rat
Trap
T01 – DOC200, Sydney St berm
Catch
Rat
Re-baited?
Yes
By Aroha · 19 Aug 2026, 4:05 pm · GPS ±6 m · from a phone
05An example

Reporting

Showing what was done, where and when

Because every record carries a place, a date and a type, a group can answer the questions funders, members and landowners ask, without re-counting from notebooks.

  • Totals by job, species, site and season. The records spreadsheet sorts and filters straight away. Available now
  • Any period on the map. A date filter shows just this season, or just last year. Available now
  • A one-page season summary generated from the records, ready to print or attach to a report. Possible next

Season summary

Jul–Oct 2026
1,240
plants in the ground, 14 species
86
trap checks, 31 catches
212
sightings, 9 needing an ID check
Harakeke310
Karamū220
Mānuka180
Pūrei150
Other 10 species380

Illustration only: the figures are invented to show the kind of summary the records can produce.

06Reporting
Historical aerial photo of the area, black and white
Historical aerial photo
Current aerial photo of the same area, colour
Today

The same place, then and now, from the map's timeline. Aerial photos © Toitū Te Whenua LINZ (CC BY 4.0).

Accountability and resources

Showing how funding and effort were used

  • Evidence that holds up. Each planting or trap check has a who, when and where, often a photo, and a record of any later correction. Available now
  • Before and after. Historical and current aerial photos sit in a timeline, so change can be seen as well as counted. Available now
  • Resources used. A job can also record volunteer hours, plants or bait used, or money spent, so effort can be reported alongside results. Set up per group
  • Follow-up visits. Repeat checks of the same planting site can show survival rates, not just numbers planted. Possible next
07Accountability

Outputs and goals

Tracking progress towards what the group set out to do

Most groups already have goals: a number of plants, a trap line checked weekly, a stream bank cleared of weeds. The records can show progress against them, for the committee or a funding report.

  • Outputs such as plants planted, traps checked and weed patches treated come straight from the records. Available now
  • Goals and progress bars set in the group's settings and shown on the map or a report page. Possible next
  • Trends over time, such as catches per trap check by month, for pest-control groups. Possible next

Goals for 2026

Illustration
Plant 2,000 natives on the stream bank1,240 of 2,000
Check every trap weekly86 of 96 checks
Clear tradescantia from the reserve14 of 22 patches

Illustration only: invented goals and figures.

08Outputs and goals
Botanical plate of pōhutukawa, a leafy branch with crimson brush flowers and buds
Pōhutukawa, Metrosideros excelsa. Sarah Featon, 1889

Motivation and learning

A map people want to add to

  • Seeing your work count. Volunteers see their records appear on the group's map, and the map fills in as a season goes on.
  • Sharing the story. A map view on the group's website or in a newsletter shows the community what has been done, in a way a list of numbers can't.
  • Learning the place. Species lists in te reo Māori, English and scientific names; the photo helper; sightings from iNaturalist NZ; and a historical photo beside today's all invite questions.
  • Schools and new volunteers. A class can record a planting day and find their own trees on the map later. The form explains itself step by step.
09Motivation and learning

Ownership, cost and care

Yours to keep, at little or no cost

Ownership

The group's accounts

The map, records and photos live in the group's own accounts with Google, Cloudflare and GitHub, so the group stays in control if helpers move on.

Cost

Free at community scale

It runs on free tiers. The main optional cost is a web address of the group's own, about NZ$30 a year.

Data

Open data, used properly

Public layers come from LINZ, councils, OpenStreetMap and iNaturalist, each credited under its licence.

Care

Protected and backed up

Changes need the group's code; records are copied weekly and photos are kept in two places. Groups decide what is public, such as names or the locations of sensitive species.

10Ownership, cost and care

Where to from here

Trying it with a group

MapLab is a working pilot covering one square kilometre of Palmerston North. The next step is to try it with one or two groups and shape it around what they actually need.

  • Agree the area and the jobs the group wants to record.
  • Set up the lists and accounts: about a day's work, most of it gathering the public layers for the area.
  • A short session with volunteers, then a few weeks of real use.
  • Review together: what worked, what was missing, and what the group would want to report.

Questions and ideas welcome: Richard Ram

Botanical plate of kōwhai, hanging clusters of yellow flowers with leaves and seed pods
Kōwhai, Sophora tetraptera. Sarah Featon, 1889
11Next steps

Credits

Images and sources

Botanical plates

After Sarah Featon, chromolithographs by Bock & Cousins, from The Art Album of New Zealand Flora, 1889. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. No known copyright restrictions.

Hand-drawn map (cover and slide 3)

Ian Matheson, Flaxmills of Makerua Swamp, 1978. Manawatū Heritage, Ian Matheson City Archives. CC BY 4.0; cropped and resized from the original.

Kōwhai photo (slide 5)

Bernard Spragg, Sophora microphylla (Kowhai), via Wikimedia Commons. CC0 (public domain); cropped.

Aerial photos (slide 7)

Toitū Te Whenua LINZ, historical and current aerial imagery. CC BY 4.0; cropped.

Example map (slide 5)

Street map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Notable trees from Palmerston North City Council. The records shown are examples.

Photo helper

Aotearoa Species Classifier, TAIAO, University of Waikato. CC BY-NC 4.0.

Typeface

Open Sans by Steve Matteson, Google Fonts. SIL Open Font License.

12Credits