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CallsignsπŸ”—

TAK.NZ uses a standardised callsign prefix schema so every track on the Common Operating Picture is immediately identifiable by organisation, and optionally by region or sub-unit.

SchemaπŸ”—

Domestic NZ organisations:

[ORG]-[REGION]-[SUFFIX]

Foreign partner organisations:

[COUNTRY]-[FUNCTION]-[SUFFIX]
Component Required Description
ORG Mandatory Organisation prefix (see table below). All domestic callsigns must begin with this prefix.
REGION Optional Regional identifier derived from ISO 3166-2:NZ (country prefix omitted).
SUFFIX Mandatory Individual or unit identifier. Format is determined by each organisation (full name, initials, radio ID, badge number, etc.).
COUNTRY (foreign) Mandatory ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country code for foreign partners (e.g. AUS, USA).
FUNCTION (foreign) Mandatory Standardised function abbreviation (see table below).

The hyphen (-) is the only permitted separator between all components β€” no underscores or spaces.

Organisation prefixes (domestic)πŸ”—

Organisation Prefix
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) FENZ
New Zealand Police NZP
Hato Hone St John / Wellington Free Ambulance AMBU
Air Ambulance & Rescue Helicopter RHT
National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) NEMA
Land Search and Rescue NZ (LandSAR) LSAR
Health New Zealand (Te Whatu Ora) HNZ
New Zealand Red Cross NZRC
Coastguard New Zealand CGRD
New Zealand Customs Service CUST

Function codes (foreign partners)πŸ”—

Function Code Covers
Fire FIRE Fire brigades, wildfire crews
Police / Law Enforcement POL Police, border force, federal agents
Military MIL Army, Navy, Air Force, National Guard
Medical / Ambulance MED Paramedics, field hospitals, medical teams
Search and Rescue SAR Search and rescue teams
Maritime MAR Coast guard, maritime safety
Civil Defence / Emergency Management CDEM FEMA equivalents, state emergency services
Logistics / Support LOG Supply, transport, engineering support

Regional identifiers (optional, domestic)πŸ”—

Regions use the official ISO 3166-2:NZ subdivision codes, with the NZ- country prefix omitted since it's redundant in a NZ-only context:

Region Code
Northland NTL
Auckland AUK
Waikato WKO
Bay of Plenty BOP
Gisborne GIS
Hawke's Bay HKB
Taranaki TKI
ManawatΕ«-Whanganui MWT
Wellington WGN
Tasman TAS

Regional identifiers are optional and at each organisation's discretion β€” not every organisation uses them.

ExamplesπŸ”—

Domestic callsignsπŸ”—

Callsign Interpretation
FENZ-STL-JSmith FENZ, Southland, individual J. Smith
FENZ-AUK-01 FENZ, Auckland, unit 01
FENZ-JSmith FENZ, no region specified, individual J. Smith
NZP-WGN-Badge4521 NZ Police, Wellington, badge number 4521
LSAR-CAN-TeamA LandSAR, Canterbury, Team A
RHT-AUK-Westpac1 Rescue Helicopter, Auckland, Westpac 1
NZDF-INT-LiaisonA NZDF intelligence liaison (embedded role)
NZP-CORR-OfficerB Corrections NZ officer operating under Police command
VND-AcmeCorp-Tech1 Vendor, Acme Corp, technician 1
NZTA-STL-Downer01 Road Network Operations, Southland, Downer contractor unit 1

Foreign partner callsignsπŸ”—

Callsign Interpretation
AUS-FIRE-NSWRFS-Unit1 Australian, fire function, NSW Rural Fire Service, Unit 1
AUS-FIRE-Smith Australian firefighter, Smith
AUS-MIL-Jones Australian military, Jones
USA-MIL-Williams US military, Williams
AUS-POL-AFP-Badge123 Australian law enforcement, Australian Federal Police, badge 123
AUS-MAR-AMSA-Vessel1 Australian maritime, AMSA, Vessel 1
GBR-MED-Medic1 British medical personnel, Medic 1

Rules and guidanceπŸ”—

Mandatory prefix. Every callsign must begin with the organisation prefix (domestic) or country code (foreign). Tracks without a recognised prefix should be treated as misconfigured and flagged for correction.

Hyphen separator. The hyphen (-) is the only permitted separator between components.

Suffix format. Each organisation determines its own suffix format:

  • Full surname: JSmith
  • Initials: JS
  • Radio or badge ID: Badge4521
  • Unit or callsign number: 01, Alpha1

Keep callsigns concise. TAK displays callsigns on the map and in track lists. Long callsigns get truncated on smaller screens β€” aim for no more than 20 characters total where possible.

Multi-organisation personnel. Where someone holds roles in more than one organisation (e.g. a St John paramedic who is also a LandSAR volunteer), use the prefix for the role you're performing during the current incident, not your primary employer.

Embedded and liaison roles. Personnel operating under another organisation's command use that organisation's prefix with a sub-identifier indicating their origin:

  • NZIC liaison embedded with NZDF: NZDF-INT-[suffix]
  • Corrections NZ officer under Police command: NZP-CORR-[suffix]

NZTA prefix applies to all road network operators. The NZTA prefix represents road network operations as a whole, not Waka Kotahi employees specifically β€” contracted maintenance and alliance partners (Downer, Milford Road Alliance, Fulton Hogan, and others) all use it.

Foreign partner colour assignment. Foreign partners share the functional colour of the NZ agency role they're performing β€” AUS-FIRE- tracks appear in Red alongside FENZ, AUS-MIL- tracks appear in Brown alongside NZDF. The callsign prefix identifies nationality; colour identifies function. Foreign partners are never assigned the White (vendor) colour.

Foreign partners operate under NZ command. When foreign partners support a NZ agency, they're operationally subordinate to that agency's incident command β€” the shared functional colour reflects this.

Vendor sub-prefixes. Vendors supporting a specific organisation identify both their vendor status and the organisation they support:

  • VND-FENZ-[suffix] for a vendor embedded with FENZ
  • VND-[CompanyName]-[suffix] for a vendor supporting TAK.NZ infrastructure directly

Country codes. Use ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 codes for foreign partner countries: AUS (Australia), USA (United States), GBR (United Kingdom), CAN (Canada), FJI (Fiji), PNG (Papua New Guinea), WSM (Samoa), etc.