ILRIS: surveyor benefits

Land surveyors are the last word in accuracy where geospatial geometry is concerned. Metes and bounds information - dimensions of property boundaries measured to, in relevant cases sub-inch increments - is essential for conveyance of property. But most GIS applications do not require data of this accuracy.

Much of the benefit of a statewide, dynamic cadastral datalayer will accrue at planning scales, where land parcel polygons can be quantified, symbolized and characterized according to the metadata attributes attached to each individual geometry.  

But this shouldn't be taken to mean that surveyors do not have a role in a statewide integrated land records information system. The composite of surveys always needs to be available as an ultimate reference frame for orienting the far inferior quality of planning level parcel data. The coverage area comprising this layer will always be variable and patchy, but if most surveys, registered and otherwise, are made part of a persistent and easily accessed repository, and invaluable resource will exist for spatial analysis and legal interrogation.    

If only this single, simple improvement were made - that all registered surveys are anchored and scaled to Maine's UTM Zone 19 NAD83 meters coordinate system then hosted in this shared reference space as a public, transparent and accessible resource - the experience of land records research in Maine would be fundamentally improved.  

geospatial planning: 2008

The State of Maine is about to embark on a new geographic information systems (GIS) planning process. There will be two primary areas of investigation as this study proceeds. These are

• Updating and enhancing the GeoLibrary Strategic Plan of 2002 to bring it into alignment with the goals of the National States' Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) Fifty States Initiative. Plan update activities will focus on coordination with local governments, academics, and others; development of sustainable funding sources; and cultivation of political champions to grow future geospatial initiatives.
  

• Developing a functional specification for an Integrated Land Records Information System for Maine. This system design will feature a sustainable political and technical architecture that delivers parcel-level data statewide, including content from municipalities, county deed registries and additional public and commercial stakeholders, and will honor or extend existing process and data standards at state and federal levels.

This initiative is primarily funded by the federal government through the US Geological Survey's Federal Geographic Data Committee. The grant application was assembled by the Maine Library of Geographic Information (GeoLibrary) and Maine's Office of GIS and awarded in early 2007.