IMPORTANT
TIP!
This website makes extensive use of the right mouse-button to bring up
additional menus and functionality. For
instance, you need to right-click on
a search result you bring up in the “Results”
pane in order to get to “zoom to”
it.
It is highly recommended to review this entire guide to
understand how this site works!
The Map Contents pane controls what data layers are
shown on the map. *Layers are collected
in under logical groups and you can turn on or off an entire group of
layers by checking or unchecking the group check box. You can also turn on or off individual
layers under a group collection the same way. Also see comment in box
below. If a layer is grayed-out it means that the layer is not
visible at the present scale of the map.
For example, parcel dimensions labels are not visible unless you are
substantially zoomed-in on the map. The layers are “stacked” or grouped in a particular
order that cannot be changed.
Sometimes one layer will obscure another. For example, to get a clean, unrestricted view of
topography, you may need to shut off Zoning, if you had it turned on.
Top expand a layer group, just click on the ‘+’, to
collapse it, hit the ‘-‘ Additionally clicking on ‘+’ at the actual layer, the
map symbol or legend for that layer is revealed. *Some layer groups are not toggled as a group. A few are
designed to be turned on individually. If turning a group on seems to do
nothing, try expanding it to find out if layers are independent, as in
example to the left.
Located in the upper right, the map navigation tools work in a similar
fashion to the navigation tools on the previous WebGIS or other GIS
websites.
From left to right with the icons above, the tools are as follows:
Zoom In…allows the user to draw a rectangle
on the map and zoom in to the extents of that rectangle. The user
can also single-click on the map and zoom in one level.
Zoom Out…allows the user to draw a rectangle
on the map and zoom out an equivalent amount.
The user can also single-click on the map and
zoom out one level.
Pan…Allows the user to slide the map around while
maintaining the same scale.
Full Extent…Zooms the map way out to encompass
the whole city.
Back Extent…Zooms the user back to
the scale and view they were at previously.
Forward Extent…Zooms the user back to a
view they were at before zooming to a Back Extent.
Magnifier…Opens a magnifier window the user
can move around the map to get a zoomed-in view.
Map Identify… Allows the user to
click anywhere on the map and bring up a data window containing data attributes
of every feature underneath the click-point. This will be explained in further
detail a little further down.
Measure…Opens up a dialog window where the
user can pick one of three measurement tools, point coordinates, line distance,
and area calculators. The user can then
draw on the map (either a point, line segments, or a
polygon), end the drawing by double-clicking,
and get the resulting value(s).
Overview Map…Opens up locus map
which can be closed by clicking on the icon again.
More on Map Identify… Allows the user to click anywhere on the map and bring
up a data window containing data attributes of every feature underneath the
click-point. The attributes of the default or topmost data layer is displayed
first but data for all the other layers embedded under the click-point can be
accessed by clicking slightly to the left of the drop-down button. In this
example, Identify is performed on a building within a large parcel with
multiple real estate records. This could be a condominium complex, or a large
commercial parcel with multiple real estate interests. By clicking on the down
arrow in the Identify box, any visible features underneath are revealed in a
list. By then clicking on any one of the visible features found underneath that
ID (in bold), in this case, parcel record RE000006225, the feature attributes
are revealed.
Note the ‘Add to Results’ at the bottom left of the last picture above,
this will select that parcel, and put it in the list of results for later use, download,
printing, etc.
Note that these are the same tool, just named differently depending on
organization. They perform the same function.
Also note that the “
Choosing “Locate Address” or “Place Pin at Address” from
the search options will allow you to search for any address, not just valid
parcel addresses. It accomplished this
by searching the E911 address encoding and not the parcel addresses. It proportions along the street where an
address should fall and puts a red push-pin on the map at that location (see
the below picture). It works similar to
other address finders you may have used on the internet, like MapQuest or
Google Maps.
Once locating an address you will right click and pick
the “Zoom To” option. You may want to further zoom with the zoom in This tool uses the same data submitted to the E911 call
centers.
tool to zoom into that location.
Click on “Find
Parcel by Owner” and a text entry window will open where the user can
enter a name, or even part of the name.
A search of parcel owner data will be conducted and a list of search
results will show up in the “Results” window pane, which is
re-sizeable. Right-click on the search result you want and choose
“zoom to” to make the map go to your parcel.
GETTING THE PARCEL
DATA FROM YOUR RESULTS
When you think you’ve found your result you can hit
the “+”
to the left of it and expand to see all the data associated with your
parcel (see left image). If you want to bring your parcel up on the map you
can right-click your results in and choose “zoom to” from the
menu. The map will then zoom in on
your
FINDING A PARCEL
WHEN YOU KNOW THE ADDRESS OF THE PARCEL
Choose “by Address” from the
links if you want to search by address.
If you aren’t sure of the street number you can just enter the street
name and return a list of all parcels on that street, which you can then scroll
through to find the appropriate parcel.
Remember to leave OFF the street suffix (ST,RD,AV, etc) as
may make the search function improperly.
If you do know the full address of the parcel, you can enter that as
well and get just one result. If you
enter a street number that doesn’t exist on that street you will not get any
results, so sometimes it is easier to just enter the street name.
FINDING A PARCEL
WHEN YOU KNOW THE ASSESSING PARCEL ID NUMBER
Choose “…by
Parcel ID” from the links at the top.
Parcel numbers are at the very least three digits, and dash, and
then three more digits, for example 241-031. However, there can also be three or four
sets of three-digit numbers separated by dashes for some parcels. The user can always enter as many as they
know. The fourth triplet of numbers is used for
Right-clicking with your mouse on a result obtained in the Results pane
will bring up a sub-menu with options to “Zoom to” the parcel, “Pan to” the
parcel, or “Remove” the result from the list.
The top of the Results pane will have a “Clear All” button that will
remove all search results from the Results pane should you want to clean up and
start over.
ONCE AT YOUR
SELECTED PARCEL
When you are zoomed into a parcel you have searched for, it will be
highlighted in blue (or red if you pass your mouse cursor over it). When your mouse is over it you can also click
on the pop-up label to bring up the full data table for the parcel, as shown in
the picture above.
The Identify tool can also accomplish the same thing, except it
can identify and bring up data on anything in the map, not just parcels. For example, if you identified a sewer line
running over a parcel, it would return a pop-up window with the sewer line data
and the parcel data, as well as anything else under the point you clicked. A small arrow at the top of the pop-up box
will let you switch between data tables.
This should give you a basic understanding of how these tools work.
Other search and query tools may be added, and will work in a similar way.
Select
by line (immediately below)
SELECT BY LINE
First get to your subject area by zooming or other locate methods. Then
find this function under “Other Services” or “Selection Tasks” menu.
Line
is completed…
Features
are selected…
Results
process and show up in Results pane…
Simply expand the results by hitting the ‘+’ 
Then
get your data by using the going to print menu, use simple/basic print task.
More on that here.
First you must know the GIS-ID or Parcel ID
of the parcel you want to get abutters from. You can get this by doing a search for parcels.
See that section if you are not sure how to get that information.
So let say for example, you may need to do
a mailing of abutters 500’ surrounding a parcel to be developed. Go to the
‘Other Services’ or ‘Selection Tasks’ menu.
Once you hit ‘Submit’, the task will execute and process the request. It may take a few moments. Then you can retrieve your data. See section below for details.
Layout
Printing below
Basic Print task, Download Data Table
PRINT LAYOUT TO PDF
OR OTHER FORMATS
The Layout Printing Task tool allows the user to make a professional
looking map layout including logos, define scale, disclaimer, ability to add
titles and comments, etc. Export options include JPG (simple image) or PDF.
Map Scale: the map scale expects a ‘cartographic scale’. It is really pretty simple. Since the map units are in feet, multiply the foot number of your desired map scale by 12. For example: 1 inch = 100 feet, so the resulting map scale is 1200. Do not enter in the form of a ratio, ie 1:1200.
Common Engineering Scales, in the examples below the user would the
number below in bold.:
1”=10’ would be a Map Scale of 120 1”=100’ would be a Map Scale of 1200
1”=20’ would be a Map Scale of 240 1”=200’ would be a Map Scale of 2400
1”=40’ would be a Map Scale of 480 1”=500’ would be a Map Scale of 6000
1”=50’ would be a Map Scale of 600 1”=1000’ would be a Map Scale of 12000
Once layout is
generated, it will appear in the ‘Results’ pane. Just click on it to open
and/or download.
Below is an example of a letter size landscape format map.
When you hit the “Print”
button along the top of the Web Application (NOT BROWSER PRINT) you should
be presented with a small print dialog window. In this window you can
rename your map to whatever you like and also decide if you want a small,
medium or large map generated. The
map will be centered on whatever is in your current map view. If you have a parcel you found you also
want to print the data for, all result in your Result pane should show and
be checkable. The records you check
will have their data added to the print page.
The resulting map looks something like this:
or if you checked the box ‘Print results only no map’
you woud see something like this:
When the print button has generated a print page, map or no map, you can
print straight from your browser print function, or you can copy and paste it
into a Word or Excel document. To do that, go up to the Edit menu in your
browser and do a “Select All” to select everything on the page and then hit
“Copy”. Open up Excel and “Paste” it all
in an Excel worksheet. With some minor
moving around and deleting of columns you don’t want, you could get output like
this:
This option has the advantage of letting you place the data listings
from multiple parcels data in a table on one page, also best way to get data in
a spreadsheet for mailing list or what have you.
This website makes extensive use of the right mouse-button to bring up
additional menus and functionality. For
instance, you need to right-click on
a search result you bring up in the “Results”
pane in order to get to “zoom to”
it.
Before starting, be sure you have all
pop-up blockers on your computer turned off. Because pop-up blockers are so
ubiquitous these days, you may have several of them running on your computer at
once in such things as internet explorer, google toolbar, or yahoo
toolbar. They all must be off for
portions of this site to perform properly.
Important
note for users with Microsoft
Internet Explorer 8, this site will require the use of the ‘Compatibility View’ option. After opening the Web 
GIS, click on the
"Compatibility View"
toolbar button (as shown on at left, it is located next to the Refresh button
on the Address Bar.) This only needs to be done once. It will automatically
enable the correct mode the next time you open the web GIS site.
FAQ’s, other
questions or potential issues:
Q. Can I print a map
to scale?
A. Yes. See PRINT
LAYOUT TO PDF
Q. Can download a
list of abutters for printing to a mail merge document?
A. Yes. See BASIC
PRINT / GET DATA
Q. I try to print,
but nothing seems to happen.
A. The print window
is probably prevented from opening by a pop-up blocker. See the note above.
Q. The web site is acting
really weird; it is giving me ‘time-out’ errors, or it seems unresponsive.
A. There is a limit
to the amount of time a particular site can be left open and used, and even
less if it is left idle. Simply click on the Reset, Restart or Start Over link
at the top of the application (named differently on different sites. Also you
may wish to try a different browser if that does not fix the problem. Also see
note at beginning of this section.
Q. The address or
street I enter comes up with no results.
A. It is possible
that the street name may be spelled differently that you entered. Also, the
address may not exist as a parcel record. Say you entered
Q. Can I add my own
graphics to print, say a line, or text directly on the map?
A. This is a function
we hope to add in the future.
Q. I see help topics
here which don’t appear in the web GIS application I am using.
A. Not all sites will
have every tool. And some tools/functions may be added to specific sites which may
not be immediately reflected in this guide. 4
Q. I am still having
issues. Can I contact someone for help?
A. Please use the
‘Email us’ links at the top of the web application. We will do our best to get
back to you in a timely manner, and try to resolve the problem or answer your
questions.