IGIC Cadastral, Boundaries, PLSS

Workgroup

Project - New Authoritative GIS County Boundary

Lorraine Wright (Chair)Indiana Department of Environmental ManagementOffice of Land QualityScience Services BranchGIS and Engineering Section

Comments and suggestions welcome(317) 234-0618lwright@idem.IN.gov

IGIC website: www.igic.org

Workgroup website:http://igic.org/committees/cadboundplss.html

Building a New Authoritative GIS County Boundary

Layer for Indiana Based on County Data and County Participation

GIS County Boundary Workgroup Participants

Lorraine Wright - IDEM

Michael Stevenson - Gibson, Co Surveyors Asso.Rick Hill - IGS, INMAPBryan Catlin - MarionSteve Hook - NobleShaun Scholer - WayneDave Estes - AllenJohn Howe - Gibson

Phil Worrall - IGIC

Jim Milburn - HancockRobert Muller – State Land OfficeJason Coyle - ISPLSRyan Swingley –Seiler InstrumentsJim Sparks – IN GIO

Gunty Allen - Wayne

Cadastral, Boundaries, PLSS Workgroup Projects

•Tie C

ard Project – P

LSS

S

urveyor Tie Card Layer

(INM

AP

)

•N

ew G

IS C

ounty Boundary -

Point, Line, and P

olygon Layers

•G

overnment Land O

ffice (G

LO) R

ecords –

(Federal, State, &

County

Records linked in G

IS)

Tie Card Pilot Project

• Grid Points• Statewide Grid Point Naming Convention• Scanned Tie Cards• Renaming Software (need Adobe Reader)• Database Table (Access)

– automatically created when using Renaming Software• Database included Tie Card hyperlink• Click on map hyperlink and see scanned Tie Card pop-up• Training materials on website along with a video step by step

Components

• Grid Point File Naming Convention (approximate section corner and section division corners )

– IN02_T23NR06E03_08

– State Name and Principal Meridian – IN02 – Township Number – T23 – Township Direction – N – Range Number – R06 – Range Direction – E – Section – 03 – Grid Number – 08 (Grid numbering system begins with 00 in

upper left hand of section and ends in 80, bottom left corner)

Tie Card Project

Developed Statewide Grid Point Naming Convention

Grid Points are numbered00-80 in each section

Approximation of ¼, ¼, ¼ corners

Tie Card Project

NW NE

SW SEComputer generatedpoints

Grid point representationof section and¼ corner

Grid Point numbers(00, 04, 08,36, 40, 44,72, 76, 80)

IN02_T23NR06E03_08

NW Corner NE Corner

SW Corner SE Corner

Tie Card Project

IN02_T23NR06E03_80

IN02_T23NR06E10_08

Building a New Authoritative GIS County Boundary

Layer for Indiana Based on County Data and County Participation

New Authoritative GIS County Boundary

• Need for new GIS County Boundary• Design/process - Template• Development of [pilots]

– Allen, Gibson, Marion, Noble, and Wayne• Develop process for maintenance of a new GIS

County Boundary layer for the IndianaMap

New GIS County Boundary - Why?

• Need to match GIS data across counties by using a common boundary– Federal GIS data mandates (use standards)– State GIS data efforts are to have seamless data across county boundaries– County 911 calls – across adjacent counties– Match Boundaries – across adjacent counties

• Civil Township• County Boundary• Parcel Boundary (adjoining counties)• PLSS Boundaries• Street/Centerlines• Other

GIS County Boundary LayersDesign/Process

• Inventory – Different Scales– Census – Newberry Library– INDOT– IGS– 92 Individual County Boundaries– Southern Indiana Boundary

• Court case, coordinates on paper, DNR created shapefile– Northern Indiana Boundary Retracement Survey

• Ongoing• Need better accuracy – state-wide

County Boundary – Identified Laws/References (Design/Process)

Sources for County Boundary Legal Descriptions• Indiana laws – IN Revised Statute 1852 (multiple counties), follow

changes– IC 36-2-1-1 - Names of counties

Sec. 1. Indiana is divided into the ninety-two (92) counties named in this section. The boundaries of these counties existing on August 31, 1981, remain in effect until changed in the manner prescribed by section 2 of this chapter…

• County Boundaries Book– Legal references for county boundary descriptions– Published in 1933

• Newberry Library– History of Indiana Counties– Historical and current Indiana boundary shapefiles– Individual County Boundary Chronologies through 1981

• Individual County Surveyor Offices

Developed a Disclaimer

Location of the points in this GIS County Boundary Layer are approximate and should not be used for surveying and are NOT APPROVED by a COUNTY SURVEYOR for surveying purposes. Contact the County Surveyor’s Office when conducting research for surveying.

GIS County Boundary LayersDesign/Process

GIS County BoundaryDesign/Process

• County Boundary With Point Features Developed First – Acquire County Boundary legal descriptions– Identify PLSS corners and section lines that define boundary– Associate the legal information to the boundary points

• Best available OR Grid Points– Use County Boundary Template (available to counties)

• for documenting data collection process– Counties can use best available data to create boundary or use

the Grid Points – Counties decide– Develop line and polygon layers

• New GIS County Boundary– Best available boundaries will be on IndianaMap as County

Boundaries become available

Legal Description Call State Name Conv.

Northeast Corner of Section 15, T17N, R5E IN02_T17NR05E15_08 Beg

Southeast Corner of Section 34, T17N, R5E IN02_T17NR05E34_80

GIS County BoundaryDesign/Process

• Developed Template for New GIS County Boundary– Attributes– Structure (still refining)

• Need to be able to change GIS boundary points if GIS data is improved (documentation)

• New GIS County Boundary • Use best available data • Adjacent Counties to determine best common

boundary line• Communication between the County Surveyor

and GIS staff - important part of this process • New GIS County Boundary Template will be

available for Counties • Counties can import County Data into Template

GIS County BoundaryDesign/Process

GIS County BoundaryDesign/Process

• Template Attributes being refined for• Field length• Field type

• Maintenance procedures • Still to be worked out

GIS County BoundaryDesign/Process

• Better quality GIS County Boundary’s improve quality of associated layers

• PLSS, TR Section, Civil Township, other

• Pilot Counties: Allen, Gibson, Marion, Noble, and Wayne County

IGIC Cadastral, Boundaries, PLSS Workgroup

Working with Surveying Community Participants• Indiana Geographic Information Council (IGIC) –

– federal, state, county, local, private• Indiana Society of Professional Land Surveyors (ISPLS)• Office of the Indiana State Geodetic Advisor• Indiana County Surveyor’s Association• Indiana Geological Survey• Private Companies

Boundaries, Cadastral and PLSS Workgroup

• http://www.igic.org/committees/cadboundplss.html

Lorraine Wright (Chair)Indiana Department of Environmental ManagementOffice of Land QualityScience Services BranchGIS and Engineering Section

(317) 234-0618lwright@idem.IN.gov