Purpose for the Parcel Standard
Maintaining tax records for a municipality is one of the most important responsibilities of that community’s assessor. Massachusetts’ Bureau of Geographic Information (MassGIS) understands this, and in 2019 established a standard for parcels and associated tax records to ensure accurate data. According to the MassGIS level three parcel standard, the parcel updates have five purposes:
- Provides a framework for assessors to view and maintain data, which can be easily transferred into map products.
- Helps municipal employees establish parcel boundaries to update otherwise inaccurate areas.
- Set up a standard for the parcel boundaries and assessment records to follow to make data consistent across the state, allowing the ability for a community’s records to be merged into the statewide dataset. Gives each parcel a unique identifier as well.
- Ensures that data across the state has minimal errors, contributing to work accuracy in today’s online data-gathering age.
- Sets a standard for documentation for data and updates.
Here at MVPC, our GIS/IT Department works to help twelve of our communities reach these five goals with their assessor’s data, which in turn enables them to meet state standards and maintain accurate records.
Preparing Accurate Data
For each yearly parcel update, assessors gather new survey plans for the lots of their respective community. It is up to the GIS professional to perform the update to use the bearings and distances to produce the new geometry of the lot. Once the shape of the lot is made, the GIS professional would use other details and measurements on the plan, as well as abutting lot lines, to place the it in the correct area. The use of Pictometry gives context to the area and makes it possible for the parcels to be shaped relative to landmarks in the area. Parcels cannot overlap with other lot lines, and there can’t be gaps between them. This is to ensure that all land is properly accounted for.
Once the new parcels are shaped and placed, the tax records need to be formatted. MassGIS has a template in place for the organization of these records to ensure accuracy. Using the records provided by the assessor, the GIS Professional will arrange and format the data by way of the standard and will make sure that enough tax records link together with the parcels using LOC IDs. LOC IDs are coordinates on each parcel that make up their unique IDs. These are the coordinates used by emergency responders to see where calls are coming from when made on an identifiable parcel, making the accuracy of these points paramount. Once this data is properly concatenated, it will be sent to MassGIS for approval.
Use of Parcel Data Once Approved
Approval of the data will ensure that the parcel data is accurate and can be connected to the parcel maps for printing and review. Parcel maps are produced for twelve of our communities once a year, displaying the new lots with their sizes, usually shown in either acres or square feet. Address numbers, lot dimensions and easements are included on these maps as well. Other information that would be shown depending on the community includes open space areas, rail lines and wetlands. Assessors will be sent a digital draft set of maps to review, then will contact the GIS Professional with any updates. Once the assessor is fine with the maps, they will be printed and delivered to them, along with other materials such a lists of LOC IDs and lots that don’t link to any assessment records.
The final step of this process is for MVPC to update the community’s MIMAP (Municipal Information Mapping Access Program) with the latest assessment data. MIMAP is an online portal that can be used to access assessment records, among other information. The municipalities and individuals who use MIMAP for their work will now have the most up-to-date records when completing projecting and gathering information about a municipality’s parcels.
Having a standard for parcels and associated tax records to ensure accurate data is imperative for not just the state updates, but for statewide planning initiatives. By meeting these five standards of MassGIS, the data each community assessor uses to maintain information on the lots is the foundation of most state and community projects.
Resources
To access MIMAP and other applications offered by the GIS/IT Department, visit our GIS Applications page.
To access parcel data from a statewide scale and to view resources provided by MassGIS, visit their Property Tax Parcels page.
References:
MassGIS Standard for Digital Parcel Files, Version 2.1