Synopsis Search - which searches the text of the synopses rma.net has prepared of decisions over the years. Note that these do not cover decisions issued earlier than 1998, nor do they cover procedural decisions with little significance in terms of resource management practice.
All three searches use the same Solr search engine. Thus the operators and wildcards are the same for each search method. For a fuller explanation of these see:
Wildcards
for wildcards and special symbols such as * or , or ()
Advanced
- operators to include ot exclude words, or find them in proximity.
All visitors to the site have access to:
The Summary Search and
The Document Full Text Search. The Synopses Search is only available to those who login.
A printable copy of the Tips, created in Word 2000
Summary Search
rma.net summarize the beginning of all documents. The summary includes:
Parties' names
Court
Composition of Court
(i.e. Judges and Commissioners names)
Legislation
The type of proceeding
Tips
Search by as few words as possible;
Symbols such as * or ? or " or + or - or ~
are used by the search engine as wildcards and special symbols;
Parentheses () are only recognised when in a term surrounded by double quotes - ie "5(2)";
The best fit is returned at the head of the list.
To find: B K TUSTIN, M TUSTIN, J COE, K COE, RENNIE FAMILY TRUST, J McGUIRE &
L McGUIRE v QUEENSTOWN LAKES DISTRICT COUNCIL
Select: one name e.g. McGuire
Type:
McGuire
No results? - try an alternative spelling:
McGuire, MacGuire = M*Guire;
(* is a wildcard)
Type:
M*Guire
Other common mis-spellings include:
Vodafone, Vodaphone = Voda*;
Jaques, Jacques = Ja*ques;
Patterson, Paterson, Pattison = Pat*son;
Mc…, Mac… = M*…;
Documents from the Courts do, occasionally, contain spelling mistakes or errors.
We do not correct them as this could cause further problems.
If a search does not return a result try using an * as shown or use a different keyword.
In the above example "Tustin", "Coe" or "Rennie" are alternatives.
To find: A110/01
Type:
A110/01
No Results? Type:
A110/2001
Too many results? narrow it down a little with
+ or -
To find for a decision involving Telecom and the
Queenstown District Council
Type:
+Telecom +Queenstown
Too many results?
Type:
+Telecom +Queenstown
-Transpower
To find a decision involving a telecommunications company and
the Wellington City Council
Type:
+Wellington Telstra Voda* Telecom
Note that wile this returns a list of all decisions with "Wellington" as a party, those containing the optional terms "Telstra", "Voda*" and "Telecom" are listed first, being the most relevant.
To find a decision involving a telecommunications
company and the Wellington City Council but not involving Transpower
Type:
+Wellington Telstra Voda* Telecom -Transpower
If you are looking for a decision involving Judge Bollard
and the Waitakere City Council
Search for words or phrases occurring within decisions or synopses.
Tips
Search by as few words as possible;
Symbols such as * or ? or " or + or - or ~
are used by the search engine as wildcards and special symbols;
Parentheses () are only recognised when in a term surrounded by double quotes - ie "5(2)";
The best fit is returned at the head of the list.
To find all documents referencing Ngawha Springs
Type:
Ngawha
Select
"Full Text Search"
This will offer several documents
Click on the document you wish to open
To find the actual text use the picture of the binoculars
on the Adobe task bar (rather than the browser's "find")
Type:
Ngawha
To find a decision involving Quarries or Landfills with
effects of noise and dust
Type:
(Note: Quarries has been abbreviated to "quarr*" to include Quarry and Quarries)
+quarr* landfill +effect +noise +dust
Select:
"Full Text Search"
This will offer several documents
Click on the document you wish to open
To find the actual text use the picture of the binoculars on the
Adobe task bar (rather than the browser's "find")
Type:
(Pick one of the words eg. "Effect")
Effect
To find words in a decision involving brackets
eg. Section 5(2) or [2010] (Note: you cannot use [ or ] and ( or ) are only recognised when between quotes)
Type:
Notes:
- Court inconsistencies include:
section 5, s.5, s5, s 5, s. 5
"Section 5(2)"
2010
Note: Any handwritten text or numbers and any text overwritten by a stamp or handwriting will
not be in a readable format.
In addition, some decisions have been scanned from very poor quality photocopies.
These often contain portions of text that is not in a readable format.
Nonetheless, the vast bulk of the text on over 116,000 pages (as at February 2011) is
available for searching.
Searching the synopses follows the same pattern, but can be more useful in narrowing down the results for a particular search. Return to Top
Wildcard Search
Wildcard
Description
?
Question.
Specifies any single alphanumeric character.
*
Asterisk.
Specifies zero or more alphanumeric characters.
~
Tithe.
Used for fuzzy searching. For example
roam~ searches for words like roam, roams, foam, foams Note: While this may be useful for searching for words with variable spelling, it may produce unexpected results.
Note: You cannot use any of these wildcards as the first character of a search.
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Advanced Search Terms
Concept operators
+
Selects documents that contain all of the search elements you precede with a +.
+green +red
"space"
Operates to make the word optional in whatever it is located in search term. Examples
+green red : green must be present but red may be
green red : either term may be present
-
Used to exclude documents that contain the specified word.
+green -red : green must be present but must not contain red
Proximity operator
"word1 word2" ~integer
Selects documents containing specified search terms.
The integer value determines the proximity - the number of words within each other the terms are.
"green red" ~10 : green and red must be within 5 words of each other.
A printable copy of the Tips, created in Word 2000
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