Stats NZ CON2016_HD_Clipped is the high definition set of regional council constituency boundaries for 2016, clipped to the coastline for cartographic purposes, as defined by the regional councils and Local Government Commission but maintained by Statistics New Zealand (the custodian).Constituencies are established under the Local Electoral Act 2001 and result from the division of a region for electoral purposes.Constituencies are divisions of regional council areas. They are defined at meshblock level, and do not coincide with area units. They are created, based on population, to be the voting areas within councils. Constituencies are required to reflect communities of interest. Their boundaries, so far as is practicable, coincide with those of territorial authorities or wards. The boundaries of constituencies may be reviewed before each three-yearly local government election. Regional councils must review their representation arrangements at least once every six years. The provisions for such reviews are in the Local Government Act 2002. Constituencies are numbered based on their corresponding regional council. Each constituency has a unique four-digit code. The first two digits represent the regional council that the constituency lies within. The last two digits are sequential and represent the number of constituencies within a regional council. For example, the West Coast Regional Council (12) contains three constituencies, which are coded 1201, 1202, and 1203.Digital boundary data became freely available on 1 July 2007. For further metadata, please refer to the metadata documents on the Stats NZ website: http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/Maps_and_geography/Geographic-areas/digital-boundary-files.aspx#metadata

REGC2016_HD_Clipped is the high definition set of regional councilboundaries for 2016, clipped to the coastline for cartographic purposes, as defined by the Local Government Commission and/or regional councils themselves but maintained by Statistics New Zealand (the custodian). The regional council is the top tier of local government in New Zealand. There are 16 regional councils in New Zealand (defined by Part 1 of Schedule 2 of the Local Government Act 2002). Eleven are governed by an elected regional council, while five are governed by territorial authorities (the second tier of local government), who also perform the functions of a regional council and are known as unitary authorities. These unitary authorities are Auckland Council, Nelson City Council, and Gisborne, Tasman, and Marlborough District Councils. The Chatham Islands Council also performs some of the functions of a regional council, but is not strictly a unitary authority. Unitary authorities act as regional councils for legislative purposes. Regional councils are responsible for administrating many environmental and transport matters, such as land transport planning and harbour navigation and safety.Regional councils were established in 1989 after the abolition of the 22 local government regions. The Local Government Act 2002 requires the boundaries of regions to conform, as far as possible, to one or more water catchments. When determining regional boundaries, the Local Government Commission considered regional communities of interest when selecting which water catchments to include in a region. It also considered factors such as natural resource management, land use planning, and environmental matters. Some regional council boundaries are coterminous with territorial authority boundaries, but there are several exceptions. An example is Taupo District, which is geographically split between four regions, although most of its area falls within the Waikato Region. Where territorial local authorities straddle regional council boundaries, the affected area is statistically defined by complete Regional council s. In general, however, regional councils contain complete territorial authorities. Auckland Council unitary authority was formed in 2010, under the Local Government (Tamaki Makarau Reorganisation) Act 2009, replacing the Auckland Regional Council and seven territorial authorities.The seaward boundary of any coastal regional council is the twelve-mile New Zealand territorial limit. Regional councils are defined at meshblock and regional council level.Digital boundary data became freely available on 1 July 2007.For further metadata, please refer to the metadata documents on the Stats NZ website: http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/Maps_and_geography/Geographic-areas/digital-boundary-files.aspx#metadata

Note: Local boards fall within the community board classification. See below for more detail. CB2016_HD_Clipped is the high definition set of commmunity boardboundaries, clipped to the coastline for cartographic purposes, for 2016 as defined by the territorial authorities and Local Government Commission but maintained by Statistics New Zealand (the custodian).Community boards are set up under the Local Government Act 2002 and Local Electoral Act 2001. Their purpose is to administer the affairs of communities with populations not less than 1,500 within rural, urban, or metropolitan districts of a territorial authority. A community board’s functions, powers, and duties are delegated at the discretion of its parent territorial authority and these may differ between community boards. Community boards and their boundaries are reviewed in the year before the three-yearly local government elections. Community boards are numbered based on their corresponding territorial authority. Each community board has a unique five-digit number. The first three digits refer to the territorial authority that the community board lies within. The following two digits are sequential, and represent the number of community boards within the territorial authority. For example, Tararua District (041) has two community boards numbered 04101 and 04102. The rest of the district is not represented by a community board and is coded 04199 (Area Outside Community).Some territorial authorities do not have community boards and, if they do, the community boards do not necessarily cover the whole territorial authority area.Local boards also fall within the community board classification. Local boards were introduced as part of the new local government arrangements for Auckland in 2010. Local boards share governance with a council’s governing body and each has complementary responsibilities, guaranteed by legislation. Local boards can propose bylaws and they gather community views on local and regional matters. Local legislation enacted in 2012 allows for the establishment of local boards in areas of new unitary authorities that are predominantly urban and have a population of more than 400,000. The boundaries of local boards cannot be abolished or changed except through a reorganisation process. There are 21 local boards in the Auckland Council.Digital boundary data became freely available on 1 July 2007.For further metadata, please refer to the metadata documents on the Stats NZ website: http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/Maps_and_geography/Geographic-areas/digital-boundary-files.aspx#metadata

TASUB2016_HD_Clipped is the high definition set of territorial authority subdivision boundaries for 2016, clipped to the coastline for cartographic purposes, as defined by the territorial authorities and Local Government Commission but maintained by Statistics New Zealand (the custodian).Subdivisions are set up under the Local Government Act 2002 and Local Electoral Act 2001. A subdivision is a division of a community or local board area for electoral purposes.Subdivisions are defined at meshblock level, and do not coincide with area units. A number of territorial authorities do not have subdivisions, and if they do, the subdivisions do not necessarily cover the whole territorial authority area. Subdivisions nest within community or local boards. Where a community or local board is divided into subdivisions all of the community or local board area must be included in a subdivision.Subdivisions are numbered based on their corresponding territorial authority. Each subdivision has a unique five-digit number. The first three digits refer to the territorial authority that the subdivision lies within. The following two digits are sequential, and represent the number of subdivisions within the territorial authority. For example, Southland District (073) has two subdivisions numbered 07301 and 07302. The rest of the district is not represented by a subdivision and is coded 07399 (Area Outside Subdivision).There was a large increase in the number of subdivisions between 2010 and 2011. This is due to the creation of the Auckland Council to replace Auckland Regional Council and seven territorial authorities in 2010. Twenty-one local boards were established, a number of which contain subdivisions. Digital boundary data became freely available on 1 July 2007.For further metadata, please refer to the metadata documents on the Stats NZ website: http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/Maps_and_geography/Geographic-areas/digital-boundary-files.aspx#metadata

CON2016_HD_Clipped is the high definition set of regional council constituency boundaries for 2016, clipped to the coastline for cartographic purposes, as defined by the regional councils and Local Government Commission but maintained by Statistics New Zealand (the custodian).Constituencies are established under the Local Electoral Act 2001 and result from the division of a region for electoral purposes.Constituencies are divisions of regional council areas. They are defined at meshblock level, and do not coincide with area units. They are created, based on population, to be the voting areas within councils. Constituencies are required to reflect communities of interest. Their boundaries, so far as is practicable, coincide with those of territorial authorities or wards. The boundaries of constituencies may be reviewed before each three-yearly local government election. Regional councils must review their representation arrangements at least once every six years. The provisions for such reviews are in the Local Government Act 2002. Constituencies are numbered based on their corresponding regional council. Each constituency has a unique four-digit code. The first two digits represent the regional council that the constituency lies within. The last two digits are sequential and represent the number of constituencies within a regional council. For example, the West Coast Regional Council (12) contains three constituencies, which are coded 1201, 1202, and 1203.Digital boundary data became freely available on 1 July 2007.For further metadata, please refer to the metadata documents on the Stats NZ website: http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/Maps_and_geography/Geographic-areas/digital-boundary-files.aspx#metadata

MB2016_HD_Clipped is the high definition set of Meshblock boundaries for 2016, clipped to the coastline for cartographic purposes, as defined by Statistics New Zealand.Statistics New Zealand maintains an annual meshblock pattern for collecting and producing statistical data. This allows data to be compared over time. A meshblock is the smallest geographic unit for which statistical data is collected and processed by Statistics New Zealand. A meshblock is defined by a geographic area, which can vary in size from part of a city block to a large area of rural land. Each meshblock borders on another to form a network covering all of New Zealand, including coasts and inlets and extending out to the 200-mile economic zone. Meshblocks are added together to build up larger geographic areas such as area units and urban areas. They are also used to define electoral districts, territorial authorities, and regional councils. There are two ways of amending meshblock boundaries. 1. Splitting is subdividing a meshblock into two or more meshblocks. 2. Nudging is shifting a boundary to a more appropriate position. Reasons for splits and nudges include:· to accommodate changes to local government boundaries, which are required by the Local Government Act 2002 to follow meshblocks for electoral purposes· to accommodate changes to parliamentary electoral boundaries, following each Electoral Representation Commission review after each five-yearly Census of Population and Dwellings· to make changes to statistical boundaries such as area units and urban areas· to enable changes to census collection districts· to improve the size balance of meshblocks in areas where there has been population growth· to separate land and water –eg mainland, islands, inlets, and oceanic are defined separately.· to accommodate requests from other users of the meshblock pattern eg the NZ Police for their station, area, and district boundaries.Meshblock numbering process until 2014 (MB 2014)Meshblocks were allocated a unique seven-digit number. The first five digits were unique, and referred to the original 1976 meshblock code. The two end numbers refer to sequential meshblock splits to the original meshblock. When a meshblock is split the final two digits of the original meshblock number are changed. Exceptions to this rule are a small number of meshblocks where no more numbers in the sequence are available. Accordingly there were some meshblocks in Auckland and Tauranga City starting with 32xxxxx. Statistics New Zealand maintains a concordance file to ensure that boundaries relating to earlier meshblock patterns can also be produced.Meshblock numbering process from 2015 (MB 2015)Due to new technology being introduced for splitting and nudging meshblocks, the process for allocating a unique seven-digit number has changed. New meshblock numbering is approximately sequential. The first meshblock number in this new sequential numbering pattern is 4000000. This differentiates meshblocks split from MB2015 onwards, and allows for a large number of unique seven digit identifiers to be allocated. Now when a meshblock is split it takes on the next available number, rather than following the former process described above. For example, a meshblock numbered 3254000 is split into two meshblocks. Using the new numbering process the system will assign the first available sequential numbers.The digital geographic boundaries are defined by Statistics New Zealand. They are maintained on behalf of Statistics New Zealand by Land Information New Zealand in Landonline using ArcInfo.Meshblocks cover the land area of New Zealand, the water area to the 12-mile limit, the Chatham Islands, Kermadec Islands, sub-Antarctic islands, off-shore oil rigs, and Ross Dependency.Meshblock boundaries generally follow road centre-lines, cadastral property boundaries or topographical features (e.g.rivers). Expanses of water in the form of lakes and inlets are defined separately from land.The annual pattern of digital boundaries is used for the full calendar year from 1 January.Digital boundary data became freely available on 1 July 2007.For further metadata, please refer to the metadata documents on the Stats NZ website: http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/Maps_and_geography/Geographic-areas/digital-boundary-files.aspx#metadata

Smith & Sandwell predicted seafloor topography. http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol277/issue5334/ http://topex.ucsd.edu/WWW_html/mar_topo.html

Stats NZ TA2016_HD_Clipped is the high definition set of territorial authority boundaries for 2016, clipped to the coastline for cartographic purposes, as defined by the Local Government Commission and/or the territorial authorities themselves but maintained by Statistics New Zealand (the custodian). A territorial authority is defined under the Local Government Act 2002 as a city or a district council. There are 67 territorial authorities in New Zealand. This total reflects the amalgamation of the seven territorial authorities (Rodney District, North Shore City, Waitakere City, Auckland City, Manukau City, Papakura District, and Franklin District) into one Auckland Council in 2010.Territorial authorities are the second tier of local government in New Zealand, below regional councils. The 67 territorial authorities comprise 13 city councils including the Auckland council, 53 district councils, and the Chatham Islands Territory. Some territorial authority boundaries are coterminous with regional council boundaries but there are several exceptions. An example is Taupo District, which is split between four regions, although most of its area falls within the Waikato Region. When defining the boundaries of territorial authorities, the Local Government Commission bases considerable weight on the ‘community of interest’. Territorial authorities are defined at meshblock and area unit level. For further metadata, please refer to the metadata documents on the Stats NZ website: http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/Maps_and_geography/Geographic-areas/digital-boundary-files.aspx#metadata

Stats NZ REGC2016_HD_Full is the definitive high definition set of regional council boundaries for 2016 as defined by the Local Government Commission and/or regional councils themselves but maintained by Statistics New Zealand (the custodian). T he regional council is the top tier of local government in New Zealand. There are 16 regional councils in New Zealand (defined by Part 1 of Schedule 2 of the Local Government Act 2002). Eleven are governed by an elected regional council, while five are governed by territorial authorities (the second tier of local government), who also perform the functions of a regional council and are known as unitary authorities. These unitary authorities are Auckland Council, Nelson City Council, and Gisborne, Tasman, and Marlborough District Councils. The Chatham Islands Council also performs some of the functions of a regional council, but is not strictly a unitary authority. Unitary authorities act as regional councils for legislative purposes. Regional councils are responsible for administrating many environmental and transport matters, such as land transport planning and harbour navigation and safety.Regional councils were established in 1989 after the abolition of the 22 local government regions. The Local Government Act 2002 requires the boundaries of regions to conform, as far as possible, to one or more water catchments. When determining regional boundaries, the Local Government Commission considered regional communities of interest when selecting which water catchments to include in a region. It also considered factors such as natural resource management, land use planning, and environmental matters. Some regional council boundaries are coterminous with territorial authority boundaries, but there are several exceptions. An example is Taupo District, which is geographically split between four regions, although most of its area falls within the Waikato Region. Where territorial local authorities straddle regional council boundaries, the affected area is statistically defined by complete Regional council s. In general, however, regional councils contain complete territorial authorities. Auckland Council unitary authority was formed in 2010, under the Local Government (Tamaki Makarau Reorganisation) Act 2009, replacing the Auckland Regional Council and seven territorial authorities.The seaward boundary of any coastal regional council is the twelve-mile New Zealand territorial limit. Regional councils are defined at meshblock and regional council level.Digital boundary data became freely available on 1 July 2007.For further metadata, please refer to the metadata documents on the Stats NZ website: http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/Maps_and_geography/Geographic-areas/digital-boundary-files.aspx#metadata

Stats NZ MCON2016_HD_Clipped is the high definition set of regional council Māori constituency boundaries for 2016, clipped to the coastline for cartographic purposes, as defined by the regional councils and Local Government Commission but maintained by Statistics New Zealand (the custodian).Māori constituencies are established under the Local Electoral Act 2001 and result from the division of a region for electoral purposes.Māori constituencies are divisions of regional council areas. They are created, based on population, to be the voting areas within councils. Māori constituencies are defined at meshblock level, and do not coincide with area units.Classifications exist annually from 2005 to 2016.The boundaries of Māori constituencies may be reviewed before each three-yearly local government election. Regional councils must review their representation arrangements at least once every six years. The provisions for such reviews are contained in the Local Government Act 2002.Māori constituencies are numbered based on their corresponding regional council. Each Māori constituency has a unique four-digit code. The first two digits represent the regional council that the Māori constituency lies within. The last two digits are sequential and represent the number of Māori constituencies within a regional council. For example, the Waikato Regional Council (03) contains two Māori constituencies which are coded 0301 and 0302.In the 2016 classification two regional councils have Māori constituencies: Waikato and Bay of Plenty.Digital boundary data became freely available on 1 July 2007. For further metadata, please refer to the metadata documents on the Stats NZ website: http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/Maps_and_geography/Geographic-areas/digital-boundary-files.aspx#metadata