 It has no authority to alter street names, a local body responsibility, or the name of any country.The Board has authority over "official" placenames only, and most placenames, including most towns and cities, ports and bodies of water have not been mentioned in legislation or validated by treaties, and so are not "official".The New Zealand Geographic Board secretariat is part of Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) and provides the Board with administrative and research assistance and advice.