Te Potiki National
Trust has welcomed its nomination as a finalist in the World Summit Awards for
the Māori Maps website, www.maorimaps.com.
Communications and Information Technology
Minister Amy Adams yesterday congratulated Te Potiki National Trust and the
seven other New Zealand organisations that have made the finals in the global
World Summit Awards for creativity and innovation in ICT.
“It is great to see New Zealand projects of this
calibre being recognised on the world stage. It is particularly important that
we celebrate and encourage the high level of innovation and creativity that we
have in this country,” Ms Adams said.
Te Potiki National
Trust Chairperson Paora Tapsell said this recognition was reward for the hard
work of its largely voluntary team.
Over the past five
years, Māori Maps has created a digital database of marae locations, photographs
and information to assist Māori
descendants, as well as visitors, in connecting with the more than 750
ancestral marae in New Zealand.
“This unexpected
honour will help to promote our message about how unique our marae are in the
world, and how important they are for the identity and well-being of present
and future generations of Māori.”
He thanked the Trust’s volunteers and supporters
for their faith in the project.
Key backing for Māori Maps has come from The Tindall Foundation, the
University of Otago, the University of Auckland, the Foundation for Research,
Science and Technology, and several community trusts.
The www.maorimaps.com
website, based on Google Maps, lets users navigate by a range of filters to
locate marae – and now lists about 98% of the ancestral marae around the
country.
The site is designed
and hosted by Auckland-based Zest Media, and managed by the Trust’s Online Producer,
Mike Hennessy.
Te Potiki National
Trust is now adding archival photos and taonga links to the site, and working
to complete translation of all content into Te Reo Māori.
Note: Oratia Media, publisher of Libro International books, is a supporter of Te Potiki National Trust and Peter acts as its kaihautu/chief executive.
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