Cadastral

Cadastral data is the information about rights and interest in land. Cadastral data may also be known as real estate data, parcel information, or tax parcel information. There are many legal and historical nuances surrounding the management of cadastral information. The Cadastral NSDI/MSDI simplifies these subtleties by providing cadastral information in different components, cadastral reference (GCDB PLSS in Montana), parcels, and related coincident geometry (trust lands, stipulations, subsurface rights, boundaries, etc) which all should carry a core set of information to support identified business process needs. Montana Cadastral Framework is built primarily upon the measurement based cadastral reference of the Geographic Coordinate Database (GCDB) maintained by the BLM, with tax parcels as defined by the Dept. of Revenue. The Framework also carries an increasing amount of related and vertically integrated data such as Stewardship data, county and state boundaries, and state trust lands. Even with these additions, there is a vast amount of cadastral related data not integrated into the framework at this time.

History of Framework

The Montana Cadastral Framework is one of the oldest ongoing MSDI efforts. In 1998 established the effort by hiring a project manager to explore the concept, nd put together a project plan, to collect and maintain tax parcel data statewide, in a standardized manner. The tax parcel framework was "completed" (its really never done) in 2003. Working with our partners in the Department of Revenue (DOR) and nine counties the tax parcels are maintained, integrated into a statewide database monthly, and linked to the DOR CAMA database. However, tax parcels are only a subset of the cadastral data family, and as the data base matures, new data like state and county boundaries have been vertically integrated. There is almost an infinite amount of cadastral data such as water rights, trust lands, conservation easements, that needs to be included in the future.

A history of the initial mapping process can be is availble for more information.

Status of Framework

Theme "complete" definition - Cadastral information is never "complete" as it changes as the rights and interests on the land change. Complete for MSDI purposes implies for each individual feature class in the database, the data is complete statewide and updates from theme or sub-theme partners can be integrated with minimal processing.

Current status -Currently GCDB is complete and updated as of June, 2008; Tax Parcels are complete and updated as of September 2008; Conservation Easements are complete and updated as of September 2008; Stewardship is 95 % complete and adjusted to GCDB except for Flathead and Missoula Counties; CAMA data from DOR has not been updated since January 2008 because of formatting differences in the ORION system.

Scheduled enhancements -Enhanced cadastral website in 2009; CAMA web-services in 2009, continued GCDB enhancement projects, State Trust Lands as a feature class in 2009; Missoula and Flathead counties linked to the newest GCDB in 2009.

Theme needs:

Stable funding is needed for a federated approach to data integration and enhancement of the Cadastral layer. A request has been made to the legislature for general funds to support the Base Map Service Center. If this funding is not received MLIA grant funds will be necessary to continue to advance this theme. Responsible integration of a Statewide Cadastre costs approximately $100,000 per year.
Additional federal funds may be required to continue the GCDB enhancement program and to start collection of subsurface mineral ownership.
Better data transfer methodology that would improve update times. A web-based transaction system may assist if adoption of a standardized data model by data partners seems unworkable. Long-distance versioned editing may also be a solution and needs additional investigation.

Stewardship Contact Information

Theme Steward

Department of Administration, ITSD
Base Map Service Center
910 Helena Ave, Second Floor 2
Helena, MT 59620

Cadastral Framework Theme Lead

Stu Kirkpatrick
Department of Administration, ITSD
Base Map Service Center
910 Helena Ave, Second Floor 2
Helena, MT 59620
Fax: 406-444-1887
Phone: 406-444-9013
E-mail: skirkpatrick@mt.gov

Cadastral Database Administrator

Keith Blount
Department of Administration, ITSD
GIS Bureau
101 North Rodney St, STE 2
Helena, MT 59620-0115
Fax: 406-444-1255
Phone: 406-444-9891
E-mail: kblount@mt.gov

Theme Lead's Corner

October 3, 2008

Welcome to the Montana Cadastral Framework - a site intended for users who would like to be informed about "All Things Cadastral".

This month's featured link Adjusting Data to GCDB features best practice recommendations for adjusting GIS data to the GCDB. At the Base Map Service Center we have been adjusting cadastral data to accuracy enhanced GCDB for quite some time. However we never really had the time to sit down and explain the procedures for doing this. Because we thought that this methodology holds so much promise for vertically integrating numerous GIS features, especially boundary data, that are wholly or partially coincident with the Public Land Survey System, we contracted with DJ&A P.C. to document the practice that was initiated by our Cadastral Database Administrator Keith Blount. R.J. Zimmer, a licensed surveyor, has prepared two documents, a how-to guide in pdf format and a more extensive look at the procedure in PowerPoint available at the link above. Mr. Zimmer will be presenting 2 back-to-back workshops on this methodology at the MAGIP Technical Session in Great Falls on October 29th, 2008 in Great Falls. We encourage you to register for these workshops and gain some hands-on practice in implementing this procedure.

~ Stu Kirkpatrick