Point in the right direction

[Anonymous User]

I can see I am severely overmatched in my knowledge level here...lol.  Is there a good place to go for lower level questions until I have earned my stripes?  Don't want to waste anyone's time with overly simplistic questions.  Thanks!

[KristalWalsh]

What's the question? We all have to start somewhere. The key is to post within the community to the right group and be as specific as possible. Shoot from the hip. 🙂

[Anonymous User]

Hi Kristal,

So I have several ideas for using GIS but I want to start with the more simple idea...to get my feet wet again after years of not using ArcGis.

I am wondering if it would be possible to use ArcGis to sort through county data with regards to land parcels.  Most counties have a GIS system available but with limited capability so specific searches are labor intense.  I want to be able to pull parcels based on specific characteristics within the county provided data...not sure if I can but seems like I should be able to. So I have several issues:

1)  Still trying to figure out how to get access to the data (parcel polygons and associated data).  All the information is there but there is typically a very narrow way to access it. I used to know how to locate data but frankly it has been a long time and I don't remember where to look and what I am looking for.  I assume counties must use some shared data because it would seem too labor intensive otherwise.

2)  Then I wonder how I can set up my project to either include or exclude parcels that either have or do not have specific associated data (ie. all parcels owned by people outside of the sate)

I feel like this should be a good exercise for me be productive as well as relearn some of the ArcGis processes.

Thoughts?

[KristalWalsh]

Peacedog69, sounds like you have a big project here and from the sound of it a very process-intensive one. I would start with one county, one state and maybe one where you have access to the parcel data to define your workflow.  Some states like Florida have county parcel data available on ArcGIS Hub here at https://hub.arcgis.com/datasets/ufl::geoplan-statewide-parcel-data-in-florida-2019.  Just remember that these are very large datasets.  Some state and federal agencies of course work directly with counties and have arrangements to receive parcel updates so depending on the purpose of your project, that may be an avenue.  You can use “Select by attribute” to identify the field you are interested in and then export those to a new dataset. This might help with later processing or mapping. You could also use a “definition query” to exclude parcels from your analysis.  I hope this helps. Not sure if you’re using ArcGIS Pro or ArcMap but definitely dive into Pro if you’re just getting your feet wet again. Good luck!  

[JoeBorgione]

What agency curates the parcel data for your area of interest?  Do they have parcels in a GIS format?  For the county in which I live, the Recorder's office has it.  However, (at least here) they charge private entities for the data. 

The parcel data I have access to contains owner address information, so it's a fairly simple query to get just those out of state owners.

[Anonymous User]

Hey Joe,

Thanks for the response. I’m in Illinois and most of the counties around here (Wisconsin, Indiana & Iowa) offer free access to their GIS map viewers and so I can get basically the same info you can. One or two want you to pay for access. However in their viewers you can only search limited ways. Many counties use Esri but others do not but all are in very similar formats.
I just keep thinking that if I can figure the data source and download it I should be able to create a project that excludes all properties that are held by in-state owners leaving just out-of-state owned property. Then I can start adding other layers and see how they correlate with those properties.

Make any sense?

[Anonymous User]

So I have found lots of open data that could really enhance my project like waterways, flood planes, roads and county borders but still need to find my core data for this project.  There are mapping apps out there (onX hunting app for example) that utilize data showing individual ownership parcels. This is the data I want to find. Since most counties that I have found (at least in the Midwest) offer this data for free on their websites via access to their own provided viewers, I would assume that raw data is available somewhere as well...I just can’t find it. 

Does anyone know what type of files I should be looking for or where I should be looking?

Thanks!! 

[JoeBorgione]

Viewing data and downloading it are two entirely different things; our county has a free viewer too.  I can assure that the hunting app you mention did not get that data for free.