Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
You may use this work for commercial purposes.
You must attribute the creator in your own works.
This dataset was first added to Stats NZ Geographic Data Service on 05 Dec 2022.
This dataset is the definitive version of the annually released statistical area 3 boundaries as at 1 January 2023, defined by Stats NZ and concorded to higher geographies. This version contains 929 statistical 3 areas.
Statistical area 3 (SA3) is a new output geography, introduced in 2023, that allows aggregations of population data between the SA3geography and territorial authority geography.
This dataset is the definitive version of statistical area 3 (SA3) boundaries concorded to higher geographies for 2023 as defined by Stats NZ. This version contains 929 SA3s.
This statistical area 3 higher geographies file is a correspondence, or concordance, which relates SA3s to larger geographic areas or 'higher geographies'.
The higher geography contained in this concordance is: territorial authority (TA).
For more information please refer to the Statistical standard for geographic areas 2023.
For more information please refer to the Statistical standard for geographic areas 2023.
Generalised version
This generalised version has been simplified for rapid drawing and is designed for thematic or web mapping purposes.
Macrons
Names are provided with and without tohutō/macrons. The column name for those without macrons is suffixed ‘ascii’.
Digital data
Digital boundary data became freely available on 1 July 2007.
To download geographic classifications in table formats such as CSV please use Ariā
| Layer ID | 111235 |
|---|---|
| Data type | Vector multipolygon | Feature count | 929 (incl. 4 with empty or null geometries) |
| Services | Vector Query API, Web Feature Service (WFS), Catalog Service (CS-W), data.govt.nz Atom Feed |
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
You may use this work for commercial purposes.
You must attribute the creator in your own works.
This dataset was first added to Stats NZ Geographic Data Service on 01 Dec 2022.
This dataset is the definitive of the annually released meshblock boundaries as at 1 January 2023 as defined by Stats NZ (the custodian), clipped to the coastline. This clipped version has been created for cartographic purposes and so does not fully represent the official full extent boundaries. This version contains 57,539 meshblocks.
Stats NZ 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 Stats NZ. A meshblock is a defined geographic area, which can vary in size from part of a city block to a large area of rural land. The optimal size for a meshblock is 30–60 dwellings (containing approximately 60–120 residents).
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 (EEZ) and is digitised to the 12-mile (19.3km) limit. Meshblocks are added together to build up larger geographic areas such as statistical area 1 (SA1), statistical area 2 (SA2), statistical area 3 (SA3), and urban rural (UR). They are also used to define electoral districts, territorial authorities, and regional councils.
Meshblock boundaries generally follow road centrelines, cadastral property boundaries, or topographical features such as rivers. Expanses of water in the form of lakes and inlets are defined separately from land.
Meshblock maintenance
Meshblock boundaries are amended by:
Reasons for meshblock splits and nudges can include:
·to maintain meshblock criteria rules.
·to improve the size balance of meshblocks in areas where there has been population growth
·to maintain alignment to cadastre and other geographic features.
·Stats NZ requests for boundary changes so that statistical geography boundaries can be moved
·external requests for boundary changes so that administrative or electoral boundaries can be moved
·to separate land and water. Mainland, inland water, islands, inlets, and oceanic are defined separately
Meshblock changes are made throughout the year. A major release is made at 1 January each year with ad hoc releases available to users at other times.
While meshblock boundaries are continually under review, 'freezes' on changes to the boundaries are applied periodically. Such 'freezes' are imposed at the time of population censuses and during periods of intense electoral activity, for example, prior and during general and local body elections.
Meshblock numbering
Meshblocks are not named and have seven-digit codes.
When meshblocks are split, each new meshblock is given a new code. The original meshblock codes no longer exist within that version and future versions of the meshblock classification. Meshblock codes do not change when a meshblock boundary is nudged.
Meshblocks that existed prior to 2015 and have not changed are numbered from 0000100 to 3210003. Meshblocks created from 2015 onwards are numbered from 4000000.
Digitised and non-digitised meshblocks
The digital geographic boundaries are defined and maintained by Stats NZ.
Meshblocks cover the land area of New Zealand, the water area to the 12mile limit, the Chatham Islands, Kermadec Islands, sub-Antarctic islands, offshore oil rigs, and Ross Dependency. The following 16 meshblocks are not held in digitised form.
Meshblock / Location (statistical area 2 name)
For more information please refer to the Statistical standard for geographic areas 2023.
Generalised version
This generalised version has been simplified for rapid drawing and is designed for thematic or web mapping purposes.
Digital data
Digital boundary data became freely available on 1 July 2007.
To download geographic classifications in table formats such as CSV please use Ariā
| Layer ID | 111228 |
|---|---|
| Data type | Vector multipolygon | Feature count | 57539 (incl. 16 with empty or null geometries) |
| Services | Vector Query API, Web Feature Service (WFS), Catalog Service (CS-W), data.govt.nz Atom Feed |
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
You may use this work for commercial purposes.
You must attribute the creator in your own works.
This dataset was first added to Stats NZ Geographic Data Service on 05 Dec 2022.
This dataset is the definitive set of statistical area 1 (SA1) boundaries concorded to higher geographies for 2023. This version contains 33,164 SA1s, including 16 with empty or null geometries (non-digitised SA1s).
SA1 is an output geography that allows the release of more detailed information about population characteristics than is available at the meshblock level.
Built by joining meshblocks, SA1s have an ideal size range of 100–200 residents, and a maximum population of about 500. This is to minimise suppression of population data in multivariate statistics tables.
This SA1 higher geographies 2023 file is a correspondence, or concordance, which relates SA1s to larger geographic areas or 'higher geographies'. The higher geographies contained in this concordance are: statistical area 2 (SA22023), statistical area 3 (SA32023), urban rural (UR2023), and urban rural indicator (IUR2023), urban accessibility indicator (IUA), functional urban area (FUA), indicator functional urban area (IFUA) and functional urban area type (TFUA), territorial authority (TA2023), and regional council (REGC2023). The geography urban accessibility indicator (IUA), was first published in 2020 and added to this concordance in 2022.
For more information please refer to the Statistical standard for geographic areas 2023.
Generalised version
This generalised version has been simplified for rapid drawing and is designed for thematic or web mapping purposes.
Macrons
Names are provided with and without tohutō/macrons. The column name for those without macrons is suffixed ‘ascii’.
Digital data
Digital boundary data became freely available on 1 July 2007.
To download geographic classifications in table formats such as CSV please use Ariā
| Layer ID | 111237 |
|---|---|
| Data type | Vector multipolygon | Feature count | 33164 (incl. 16 with empty or null geometries) |
| Services | Vector Query API, Web Feature Service (WFS), Catalog Service (CS-W), data.govt.nz Atom Feed |
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
You may use this work for commercial purposes.
You must attribute the creator in your own works.
This dataset was first added to Stats NZ Geographic Data Service on 02 Dec 2021.
This dataset is the definitive set of annually released meshblock boundaries for 2022 as defined by Stats NZ (the custodian). This version contains 56,982 meshblocks.
Stats NZ maintains an annual meshblock geography 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 Stats NZ. 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 statistical area 1 (SA1), statistical area 2 (SA2), and urban rural. They are also used to define electoral districts, territorial authorities, and regional councils.
The following 16 meshblocks are outside the 12-mile limit and are not held in digitised form: 0016901, 0016902, 1588000, 3166401, 3166402, 3166600, 3166710, 3166711, 3195000, 3196001, 3196002, 3196003, 3196004, 3196005, 3196006, 3196007.
This generalised version has been simplified for rapid drawing and is designed for thematic or web mapping purposes.
Digital boundary data became freely available on 1 July 2007.
The meshblock classification can also be downloaded from the Stats NZ classification and concordance tool Ariā.
| Layer ID | 106729 |
|---|---|
| Data type | Vector multipolygon | Feature count | 56982 (incl. 16 with empty or null geometries) |
| Services | Vector Query API, Web Feature Service (WFS), Catalog Service (CS-W), data.govt.nz Atom Feed |
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
You may use this work for commercial purposes.
You must attribute the creator in your own works.
This dataset was first added to Stats NZ Geographic Data Service on 01 Dec 2022.
This dataset is the definitive version of the annually released meshblock boundaries concorded to higher geographies as at 1 January 2023. This version contains 57,539 meshblocks, including 16 with empty or null geometries (non-digitised meshblocks).
Statistical geographies introduced since 2018 are:
2018: statistical area 1 (SA1), statistical area 2 (SA2), urban rural (UR), urban rural indicator (IUR) as part of the Statistical Standard for Geographic Areas 2018 (SSGA18) which replaced the 1992 New Zealand Standard Areas Classification (NZSAC92),
2020: urban accessibility indicator (IUA),
2021: functional urban area (FUA), functional urban area indicator (IFUA), functional urban area type (TFUA),
2023: statistical area 3 (SA3).
The higher geographies contained in this concordance are: meshblock (MB), landwater (LANDWATER),
statistical area 1 (SA1),
statistical area 2 (SA2),
statistical area 3 (SA3),
urban rural (UR), urban rural indicator (IUR), urban accessibility indicator (IUA),
functional urban area (FUA), functional urban area indicator (IFUA), functional urban area type (TFUA),
territorial authority (TA), territorial authority and local board (TALB),
regional council (REGC), constituency (CON), Māori constituency (MCON),
ward (WARD), Māori ward (MWARD),
community board (CB), subdivision (TASUB).
For more information please refer to the Statistical standard for geographic areas 2023.
A link to the Geographic Areas Table 2022 can be found here.
High definition version
This high definition (HD) version is the most detailed geometry, suitable for use in GIS for geometric analysis operations and for the computation of areas, centroids and other metrics. The HD version is aligned to the LINZ
Macrons
Names are provided with and without tohutō/macrons. The column name for those without macrons is suffixed ‘ascii’.
Digital data
Digital boundary data became freely available on 1 July 2007.
| Layer ID | 111225 |
|---|---|
| Data type | Vector multipolygon | Feature count | 57539 (incl. 16 with empty or null geometries) |
| Services | Vector Query API, Web Feature Service (WFS), Catalog Service (CS-W), data.govt.nz Atom Feed |
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
You may use this work for commercial purposes.
You must attribute the creator in your own works.
This dataset was first added to Stats NZ Geographic Data Service on 01 Dec 2022.
Statistical area 3 (SA3) is a new output geography, introduced in 2023, that allows aggregations of population data between the SA2 geography and territorial authority geography.
This dataset is the definitive version of the annually released statistical area 3 (SA3) boundaries as at 1 January 2023 as defined by Stats NZ. This version contains 929 SA3s, including 4 non-digitised SA3s.
The SA3 geography aims to meet three purposes:
SA3s in major, large, and medium urban areas were created by combining SA2s to approximate suburbs as delineated in the Fire and Emergency NZ (FENZ) Localities dataset. Some of the resulting SA3s have very large populations.
Outside of major, large, and medium urban areas, SA3s generally have populations of 5,000–10,000. These SA3s may represent either a single small urban area, a combination of small urban areas and their surrounding rural SA2s, or a combination of rural SA2s.
Zero or nominal population SA3s
To minimise the amount of unsuppressed data that can be provided in multivariate statistical tables, SA2s with fewer than 1,000 residents are combined with other SA2s wherever possible to reach the 1,000 SA3 population target. However, there are still a number of SA3s with zero or nominal populations.
Small population SA2s designed to maintain alignment between territorial authority and regional council geographies are merged with other SA2s to reach the 5,000–10,000 SA3 population target. These merges mean that some SA3s do not align with regional council boundaries but are aligned to territorial authority.
Small population island SA2s are included in their adjacent land-based SA3.
Island SA2s outside territorial authority or region are the same in the SA3 geography.
Inland water SA2s are aggregated and named by territorial authority, as in the urban rural classification.
Inlet SA2s are aggregated and named by territorial authority or regional council where the water area is outside the territorial authority.
Oceanic SA2s translate directly to SA3s as they are already aggregated to regional council.
The 16 non-digitised SA2s are aggregated to the following 4 non-digitised SA3s (SA3 code; SA3 name):
70001; Oceanic outside region, 70002; Oceanic oil rigs, 70003; Islands outside region, 70004; Ross Dependency outside region.
SA3 numbering and naming
Each SA3 is a single geographic entity with a name and a numeric code. The name refers to a suburb,recognised place name, or portion of a territorial authority. In some instances where place names are the same or very similar, the SA3s are differentiated by their territorial authority, for example, Hillcrest (Hamilton City) and Hillcrest (Rotorua District).
SA3 codes have five digits. North Island SA3 codes start with a 5, South Island SA3 codes start with a 6 and non-digitised SA3 codes start with a 7. They are numbered approximately north to south within their respective territorial authorities. When first created in 2023, the last digit of each code was 0. When SA3 boundaries change in future, only the last digit of the code will change to ensure the north-south pattern is maintained.
For more information please refer to the Statistical standard for geographic areas 2023.
Clipped version
This clipped version has been created for cartographic purposes and so does not fully represent the official full extent boundaries.
Macrons
Names are provided with and without tohutō/macrons. The column name for those without macrons is suffixed ‘ascii’.
Digital data
Digital boundary data became freely available on 1 July 2007.
To download geographic classifications in table formats such as CSV please use Ariā
| Layer ID | 111204 |
|---|---|
| Data type | Vector multipolygon | Feature count | 873 |
| Services | Vector Query API, Web Feature Service (WFS), Catalog Service (CS-W), data.govt.nz Atom Feed |
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
You may use this work for commercial purposes.
You must attribute the creator in your own works.
This dataset was first added to Stats NZ Geographic Data Service on 01 Dec 2022.
This dataset is the definitive version of the annually released meshblock boundaries concorded to higher geographies as at 1 January 2023. This version contains 57,539 meshblocks, including 16 with empty or null geometries (non-digitised meshblocks).
Statistical geographies introduced since 2018 are:
2018: statistical area 1 (SA1), statistical area 2 (SA2), urban rural (UR), urban rural indicator (IUR) as part of the Statistical Standard for Geographic Areas 2018 (SSGA18) which replaced the 1992 New Zealand Standard Areas Classification (NZSAC92),
2020: urban accessibility indicator (IUA),
2021: functional urban area (FUA), functional urban area indicator (IFUA), functional urban area type (TFUA),
2023: statistical area 3 (SA3).
The higher geographies contained in this concordance are: meshblock (MB), landwater (LANDWATER),
statistical area 1 (SA1),
statistical area 2 (SA2),
statistical area 3 (SA3),
urban rural (UR), urban rural indicator (IUR), urban accessibility indicator (IUA),
functional urban area (FUA), functional urban area indicator (IFUA), functional urban area type (TFUA),
territorial authority (TA), territorial authority and local board (TALB),
regional council (REGC), constituency (CON), Māori constituency (MCON),
ward (WARD), Māori ward (MWARD),
community board (CB), subdivision (TASUB).
For more information please refer to the Statistical standard for geographic areas 2023.
A link to the Geographic Areas Table 2023 can be found here.
Generalised version
This generalised version has been simplified for rapid drawing and is designed for thematic or web mapping purposes.
Macrons
Names are provided with and without tohutō/macrons. The column name for those without macrons is suffixed ‘ascii’.
Digital data
Digital boundary data became freely available on 1 July 2007.
| Layer ID | 111224 |
|---|---|
| Data type | Vector multipolygon | Feature count | 57539 (incl. 16 with empty or null geometries) |
| Services | Vector Query API, Web Feature Service (WFS), Catalog Service (CS-W), data.govt.nz Atom Feed |
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
You may use this work for commercial purposes.
You must attribute the creator in your own works.
This dataset was last updated on Stats NZ Geographic Data Service on 07 May 2021.
This dataset is the definitive set of annually released meshblock boundaries for 2021 as defined by Stats NZ. This version contains 53,598 meshblocks.
Stats NZ maintains an annual meshblock geography 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 Stats NZ. 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 statistical area 1 (SA1), statistical area 2 (SA2), and urban rural. They are also used to define electoral districts, territorial authorities, and regional councils.
The following 16 meshblocks are outside the 12 mile limit and are not held in digitised form: 0016901, 0016902, 1588000, 3166401, 3166402, 3166600, 3166710, 3166711, 3195000, 3196001, 3196002, 3196003, 3196004, 3196005, 3196006, 3196007.
This generalised version has been simplified for rapid drawing and is designed for thematic or web mapping purposes.
Digital boundary data became freely available on 1 July 2007.
The meshblock classification can also be downloaded from the Stats NZ classification and concordance tool Ariā.
| Layer ID | 105176 |
|---|---|
| Data type | Vector multipolygon | Feature count | 53598 (incl. 16 with empty or null geometries) |
| Services | Vector Query API, Web Feature Service (WFS), Catalog Service (CS-W), data.govt.nz Atom Feed |
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
You may use this work for commercial purposes.
You must attribute the creator in your own works.
This dataset was first added to Stats NZ Geographic Data Service on 01 Dec 2022.
Statistical area 3 (SA3) is a new output geography, introduced in 2023, that allows aggregations of population data between the SA2 geography and territorial authority geography.
This dataset is the definitive version of the annually released statistical area 3 (SA3) boundaries as at 1 January 2023 as defined by Stats NZ. This version contains 929 SA3s, including 4 non-digitised SA3s.
The SA3 geography aims to meet three purposes:
approximate suburbs in major, large, and medium urban areas,
in predominantly rural areas, provide geographical areas that are larger in area and population size than SA2s but smaller than territorial authorities,
minimise data suppression.
SA3s in major, large, and medium urban areas were created by combining SA2s to approximate suburbs as delineated in the Fire and Emergency NZ (FENZ) Localities dataset. Some of the resulting SA3s have very large populations.
Outside of major, large, and medium urban areas, SA3s generally have populations of 5,000–10,000. These SA3s may represent either a single small urban area, a combination of small urban areas and their surrounding rural SA2s, or a combination of rural SA2s.
Zero or nominal population SA3s
To minimise the amount of unsuppressed data that can be provided in multivariate statistical tables, SA2s with fewer than 1,000 residents are combined with other SA2s wherever possible to reach the 1,000 SA3 population target. However, there are still a number of SA3s with zero or nominal populations.
Small population SA2s designed to maintain alignment between territorial authority and regional council geographies are merged with other SA2s to reach the 5,000–10,000 SA3 population target. These merges mean that some SA3s do not align with regional council boundaries but are aligned to territorial authority.
Small population island SA2s are included in their adjacent land-based SA3.
Island SA2s outside territorial authority or region are the same in the SA3 geography.
Inland water SA2s are aggregated and named by territorial authority, as in the urban rural classification.
Inlet SA2s are aggregated and named by territorial authority or regional council where the water area is outside the territorial authority.
Oceanic SA2s translate directly to SA3s as they are already aggregated to regional council.
The 16 non-digitised SA2s are aggregated to the following 4 non-digitised SA3s (SA3 code; SA3 name):
70001; Oceanic outside region, 70002; Oceanic oil rigs, 70003; Islands outside region, 70004; Ross Dependency outside region.
SA3 numbering and naming
Each SA3 is a single geographic entity with a name and a numeric code. The name refers to a suburb,recognised place name, or portion of a territorial authority. In some instances where place names are the same or very similar, the SA3s are differentiated by their territorial authority, for example, Hillcrest (Hamilton City) and Hillcrest (Rotorua District).
SA3 codes have five digits. North Island SA3 codes start with a 5, South Island SA3 codes start with a 6 and non-digitised SA3 codes start with a 7. They are numbered approximately north to south within their respective territorial authorities. When first created in 2023, the last digit of each code was 0. When SA3 boundaries change in future, only the last digit of the code will change to ensure the north-south pattern is maintained.
For more information please refer to the Statistical standard for geographic areas 2023.
Generalised version
This generalised version has been simplified for rapid drawing and is designed for thematic or web mapping purposes.
Macrons
Names are provided with and without tohutō/macrons. The column name for those without macrons is suffixed ‘ascii’.
Digital data
Digital boundary data became freely available on 1 July 2007.
To download geographic classifications in table formats such as CSV please use Ariā
| Layer ID | 111202 |
|---|---|
| Data type | Vector multipolygon | Feature count | 929 (incl. 4 with empty or null geometries) |
| Services | Vector Query API, Web Feature Service (WFS), Catalog Service (CS-W), data.govt.nz Atom Feed |
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
You may use this work for commercial purposes.
You must attribute the creator in your own works.
This dataset was first added to Stats NZ Geographic Data Service on 02 Dec 2021.
This dataset is the definitive set of annually released statistical area 1 (SA1) boundaries concorded to higher geographies for 2022 as defined by Stats NZ. This version contains 29,913 SA1s including 16 with empty or null geometries (non-digitised SA1s).
This SA1 higher geographies 2022 file is a correspondence, or concordance, which relates SA1s to larger geographic areas or 'higher geographies'. The higher geographies contained in this concordance are: regional council (REGC2022), statistical area 2 (SA22022), territorial authority (TA2022), urban rural (UR2022), urban rural indicator (IUR2022), and urban accessibility indicator (IUA2022). The following geographies were introduced in 2018: statistical area 1 (SA1), statistical area 2 (SA2), urban rural (UR), and urban rural indicator (IUR) as part of the Statistical Standard for Geographic Areas 2018 (SSGA18) which replaced the 1992 New Zealand Standard Areas Classification (NZSAC92). The urban accessibility indicator (IUA), which measures the degree of urban influence New Zealand's urban areas have on surrounding rural areas, was first added to this correspondence in 2021.
Higher geography names are provided with and without tohutō/macrons, as applicable. Column names for those without macrons are suffixed ‘ascii’. For further information on individual higher geographies, refer to each geography’s metadata.
This generalised version has been simplified for rapid drawing and is designed for thematic or web mapping purposes.
Digital boundary data became freely available on 1 July 2007.
| Layer ID | 106730 |
|---|---|
| Data type | Vector multipolygon | Feature count | 29913 (incl. 16 with empty or null geometries) |
| Services | Vector Query API, Web Feature Service (WFS), Catalog Service (CS-W), data.govt.nz Atom Feed |