Anyone know of a good source for the parcel polygons in West Virginia?

Question

I've got all the PLSS data for surrounding states, but WV's survey system is based on the old metes and bounds.  I've got polygons for Tax Districts, but I need the next smaller subdivisions, which I think are tax parcels?  It doesn't have to be free, but I want it in a vector format, none of these .tif images of old scanned maps, and I'm trying to get it all in one or several large files, rather than going county by county.  Does anyone have a good source for these?  Thanks a million!!

Zeke · Answer

I used to have this data years ago in a previous job, but can't recall where I got it. Maybe we bought it. Anyway, what I was told is that WV used to have legal descriptions based on the old colonial days, e.g. '300 feet northwest of the big oak tree, then to the southern bend in Yancy Creek', or some such. This wasn't very accurate, and trees fall, streams move, etc. So at some point WV said screw it, measured all their parcels and said 'This is it'. I've been told by surveyors that other new England area states have/had the same problem.

SeanO_Brien · Answer

I can't say I'm familiar with West Virginia GIS Data, but from my experience, there isn't usually an all encompassing parcel dataset available. Counties are usually responsible for their own parcel data, and that's the source you'll usually need to go to. Even a state like Indiana, which has very robust and public GIS dataset isn't 100% inclusive (yet). Some counties don't want to give it up, and some counties are so small in population that they don't even have digital parcel data. There are some exceptions for a region having parcel data, such as the Minneapolis-Saint Paul region which has parcel data for the the 7 county metro area.

I hope someone here can point you in a better direction, but it unfortunately may come down to going county-by-county to get the data you want.