City councillors were introduced to the world's first QR coded book at Monday's Projects and Monitoring Committee.

The book, written by Te Puna author Tommy Kapai - T is for Tauranga - contains QR coded panels on each page, making the book a multi-format teaching resource for anyone with a laptop, iPhone, iPad and androids.

Whaiwhakaata Tangitu, 7, wtih Merivale Community general manager Graham Cameron and Te Puna author Tommy Kapai.

QR is short for Quick Response as it can be quickly read by a cellphone. Unlike barcodes QR can store more information, including url links, geo coordinates, and text.

The other key feature of QR Codes is that instead of requiring a chunky hand-held scanner to scan them they will be readable by modern Smartphones.

The cellphone needs a QR code reader, an app Tommy told councillors any six-year-old could download.

T is for Tauranga takes an alphabetical tour through the Western Bay of Plenty, its locations and history.

The QR codes open the small book into a teaching resource linking to sites giving descriptions of the area's people places and history.

The book also contains a map of the sites where the photos used to illustrate the book were taken. The 200km journey takes five hours, says Tommy.

'I now this will be a wonderful resource for schools,” saysTommy.

T is for Tauranga is available from Z service stations.

Tommy is also working on ‘A is for Auckland'. He's also got in mind A is for Aotearoa.