Story perspectives

Google Maps Adds Maori Pronunciation Voice, Guardianship Retained

7/2/2026

Summary

Google Launches Maori

Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Maori and Google launched a voice that pronounces Maori place names on Maps, with the commission retaining data guardianship.
The rollout began with cities, towns and select streets, with a wider release planned.
A 2017 Vodafone campaign gathered over 60,000 corrections of mispronounced names, informing the project.
Maori, New Zealand’s second-most spoken language, grew 15% in speakers from 2018 to 2023.

Summary

Google Secures Maori

The 2023 Memorandum of Understanding secures Maori data sovereignty and sets a governance plan for pronunciation data.
A kaitiakitanga framework and steering group will let Maori scholars access the lexical dataset and oversee its stewardship.
Google’s AI Principles and Maori data sovereignty guided the TTS model using New Zealand Geographic Board pronunciation rules.
The rollout is the second initiative under the 2023 MOU, showing a continued partnership between Google and Te Taura Whiri.

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Google Launches Maori

Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Maori and Google launched a voice that pronounces Maori place names on Maps, with the commission retaining data guardianship.
The rollout began with cities, towns and select streets, with a wider release planned.
A 2017 Vodafone campaign gathered over 60,000 corrections of mispronounced names, informing the project.
Maori, New Zealand’s second-most spoken language, grew 15% in speakers from 2018 to 2023.

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