Layers - Page 5

This dataset is the definitive set of regional council boundaries for 2017 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).

This dataset is the definitive set of territorial authority boundaries for 2017 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.

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.

This dataset is the definitive set of territorial authority subdivision boundaries for 2017 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.

This dataset is the definitive set of urban area boundaries for 2017 as defined by Statistics New Zealand.

Urban areas are statistically defined areas with no administrative or legal basis. Urban area populations are defined internationally as towns with populations of 1,000 or more. The urban area classification is designed to identify concentrated urban or semi-urban settlements without the distortions of administrative boundaries. Urban areas are made up of complete meshblocks and area units. Rural centres are also defined in the urban area field.

This dataset is the definitive set of ward boundaries at 1 January 2017 as defined by the territorial authorities and/or Local Government Commission, but maintained by Statistics New Zealand (the custodian).

Wards were originally set up within any territorial authority with a population of at least 20,000. Wards are defined under the Local Electoral Act 2001 and result from dividing a territorial authority for electoral purposes. The ward system was designed to allow for the recognition of communities within a territorial authority and to increase community involvement in the local government system.

This Meshblock Higher Geographies 2017 (high definition) file is a correspondence, or concordance, which relates meshblocks to larger geographic areas or 'higher geographies'. A high definition version is the highest geographic resolution geometry and is aligned to the LINZ cadastre.
The higher geographies contained in this concordance are: area unit (AU2017), community board (CB2017), constituency (CON2017), Māori constituency (MCON2017), regional council (REGC2017), subdivision (TASUB2017), territorial authority (TA2017), urban area (UA2017) and ward (WARD2017).

Digital boundary data became freely available on 1 July 2007.

For further information on individual higher geographies, refer to their metadata.

Area Unit 2004 is the definitive set of area unit boundaries for 2004 as defined by Statistics New Zealand.