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AGOL Maps and ApplicationsThe difference between web maps and applications (maps and apps) puzzled me at first but a little more exploring on the AGOL site has demystified this a bit.The web map is...
View ArticleParcel Data Sharing and Ice Cream
The discussions about open data sharing, interoperability, and web services continue to build. FGDC has published a new portal and there are new open cloud services every day. What strikes me in...
View ArticleParcel Index
Parcel Index(This is patterned after the Harper Index™ published each month in Harpers magazine)There are approximately 12,000 real estate assessing jurisdictions in the US. This is about 26,000 people...
View ArticleEminent Domain Solution for the Mortgage Crisis
Here is an interesting approach to the mortgage crisis. What if your city was severely affected by the mortgage crisis with many homes going into foreclosure and the resulting property tax revenues...
View ArticleAdd WFS to ArcGIS Arc Map Canvas
Adding Web Feature Services (WFS) to ArcMap is a useful process if you want to find and add data that is not on ArcGIS Online or data that is only provided as a feature service and not a web service or...
View ArticleGeospatial in the Technology Revolution
The January 2014 issue of Harpers has an intriguing article by Jeff Madrick, “The Anti-Economist - The Digital Revolution That Wasn’t”. Mr Madrick restates one of the Adam Smith’s principles; rising...
View ArticleGeospatial Metadata and ITunes
Listening to the remembrances of Pete Seeger this week and being reminded again of how he used music to build communities and reach across ages gave me an idea. What if we used music to date our...
View ArticleMetadata for Aggregated Data Sets
Aggregated or "rolled up" data is a compilation of locally sourced data assembled into a single, often standardized data set. This often occurs at the state level such as state standardized address or...
View ArticlePLSS CadNSDI - What’s in the Database
This is the first of a series of documents that will describe the contents of the PLSS CadNSDI data set.What is the PLSS CadNSDI?The CadNSDI or the Cadastral Publication Data Standard is the cadastral...
View ArticlePLSS CadNSDI - Metadata at a Glance
This is the second of a series of documents that describe the contents of the PLSS CadNSDI data set.The Metadata at a Glance is an unlikely first feature class to select to use but the information in...
View ArticlePLSS CadNSDI – PLSS and CadNSDI Basics
This is the third of a series of documents that describe the contents of the PLSS CadNSDI data set.The Public Land Survey System (PLSS) was first and foremost an inventory of public domain lands...
View ArticlePLSS CadNSDI – PLSS Townships
This is the fourth of a series of documents that describe the contents of the PLSS CadNSDI data set.The PLSS Townships are the primary unit of survey for the PLSS, nominally six miles on a side,...
View ArticlePLSS CadNSDI – PLSS First Division (Sections)
This is the fifth of a series of documents that describe the contents of the PLSS CadNSDI data set.The PLSS First Division is most commonly the Section. Almost all PLSS CadNSDI users will have...
View ArticlePLSS CadNSDI – PLSS Second Division (Aliquot Parts and Government Lots)
This is the sixth of a series of documents that describe the contents of the PLSS CadNSDI data set.The PLSS Second Division is most commonly aliquot parts (areas resulting from equal halving and...
View ArticlePLSS CadNSDI – PLSS Special Surveys (Non-Rectangular Surveys)
This is the seventh of a series of documents that describe the contents of the PLSS CadNSDI data set.PLSS Special Surveys are non-rectangular PLSS surveys. They are deviations from the hierarchical...
View ArticlePLSS CadNSDI – Meandered Water
This is the eighth of a series of documents that describe the contents of the PLSS CadNSDI data set.Meandered water is NOT hydrography. These are areas of water that are defined from meander lines of...
View ArticlePLSS CadNSDI – PLSS Special Surveys - Mineral Surveys
This is the eighth of a series of documents that describe the contents of the PLSS CadNSDI data set.A Mineral Survey is a type of PLSS Special Survey. In the seventh document PLSS Special Surveys,...
View ArticleBounding Rectangles - A Case for Something Better
It’s 2015. Almost 2016. And the best we can do to show the extent of a data set is a bounding rectangle? By their very nature bounding rectangles are not particularly helpful, especially for...
View ArticleThe Parcel Dial Tone
As a bit of background, I come by the telephone/communication analogies historically or maybe genetically. The man on the left in the picture is my dad.He didn’t invent the dial tone. He was a pioneer...
View ArticleParcel Data, Who Needs it
Just about everyone. At a recent parcel gathering there was some discussion about re-discovering which federal agencies need parcel data. As our computing and analysis capability expands so does our...
View ArticleParcel Data – Who Builds It?
Local governments mostly. And often the most local government meaning the town, city, township, or county. In some cases, the state prepares parcel data on behalf of the local government. Parcels and...
View ArticleParcel Data – Who Shares It?
Some local, some state, some not at all. Remember when Google first started and the one liner about them was “if you have it, we want it”. That’s the story for parcel data too.There are lots and lots...
View ArticleParcel Data – Who Aggregates and Distributes It?
Generally state agencies, some regional agencies, and for a fee, a plethora of data vendors. The first step is aggregation, which is the process of taking many locally developed parcel data sets and...
View ArticleParcel Data - Authoritative Source and Fitness for Use
The authoritative source for parcel data depends on what type of parcel data. For tax parcels, the most commonly aggregated and distributed data set, the real estate taxing authority that created them...
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