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Your states GIS mapping? Is it worth your taxpayer $

Xpedition802

New Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2016
Messages
36
Location
Vermont
my home state of Vermonts agency of a natural resources website has a great consolidated mapping tool where you can filter everything imaginable to include high deer/vehicle accident/crossing locations, wintering yards, parcel boundaries, took overlay in sat imagery, ect. I feel a little better of where my tax payer $ go every time I do some refinement scouting. How's your states? For me in this small state doing small parcel scouting, it's a key tool for me to narrow areas to look at and keep areas undisturbed. I go to the town websites to find who owns a parcel and then develop a plan to approach them for permission. Anyone else do the same sort of thing?
 
Most of our counties don't have GIS info available for free, but some do. A lot of the more rural locations still run off physical plat books, which they charge you for.


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Here in VA we have it. Some. Counties overlay property boundaries on satellite images which is very nice. Not sure on taxpayer value. :)

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In Iowa, the GIS information available to the public through the website is not as extensive as yours. Here is a link to our website showing public hunting areas https://programs.iowadnr.gov/maps/huntingatlas/default.html. It is simple and easy to use. I do think it is a great resource for hunters or anyone wishing to explore public land. There is a layer of "LiDar Relief" imagery...this has been a game changer for me for scouting.

In regards to the value of the State collecting/providing this data, I think you would be surprised at how small of a sliver of information this represents in your states GIS database. I looked around your state's website some and see your Natural Resources agency includes a wide array of specialties (fish/wildlife, environmental regulation, forestry). This is a similar setup to Iowa. Knowing what I know about Iowa's GIS database (I have access for my job), the state probably already has the information in their database for numerous reasons. It likely does not cost an extensive amount to provide the info the public. Small investment by the state to provide huge benefit.
 
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