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Māori Maps shortlisted for World Summit Awards
Auckland/Tāmaki-makaurau
1 August / 1 Here-turi-kōkā
2013 11.00 a.m
Māori Maps shortlisted for World Summit Awards
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 wellbeing 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 Aucklandbased 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.
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