Town Level GIS Data

Where Can I find Town Level GIS Data?

For town data, TRORC generally requires permission from the town to release the data in the form of a letter or phone call from the town data manager. Data is available free of charge for the ESRI shapefile or coverage format; conversion to other formats incurs a labor charge. Requests can be emailed to Pete Fellows. Data are sent via email, but larger datasets may require a CD and a handling charge. For other town data, please contact Pete Fellows.

Managing Town GIS Data

Towns generally manage two datasets that are of interest to the town and to other groups: tax parcels and road information. Listers are usually in charge of managing the tax parcel data. Road data comes in several flavors and these datasets include address information, road names, and mileage and classes. These data are usually managed by the listers, E911 coordinator, and road commissioner. Before getting GIS, towns should check that their roads data and parcel data are up-to-date.
Roads

There are two sets of road data. Mileage and class information are handled by the road commissioner and address and name information are handled by the E911 coordinator and/or listers.

The road commissioner is required to examine the Town Highway Map, (state aid diagram), and then send any mileage or road class inaccuracies/changes into VTrans in late summer.

The Town Highway Map data can contain inaccuracies and should be checked for completeness. Town officials receive copies of the Town Highway Map every year. They can download a copy from the VTrans Town Highway Maps page.

The E911 coordinator is required to submit address changes or additions as well as road name changes or additions. Below are links to the update forms from the VT E911 Board as well as municipal responsibilities and a list of the municipal coordinators.

All Road and Site Update forms should be sent directly to the E911 Board.

Each Vermonter has the option to keep their name and the street address of their property from being linked in a municipal public record.

E911 Data

E911 Coordinators and others can now download atlases and access GIS software from the E911 Board.

Tax parcels

VT Property Mapping Program 2017-2019 (VCGI & VTrans)

The Vermont Agency of Transportation is providing funding to accomplish the initial creation and update of parcel data over 3 years to create a statewide, consistent, and up-to-date GIS database of parcel boundaries. An ongoing maintenance program led by the Vermont Center for Geographic Information will help to ensure that the data created is updated annually and made available to all via download, web services, and online mapping applications. This page provides information about the effort to develop the data, as well as the maintenance program. Status Map

Listers are charged with managing these data and most towns manage their tax maps differently. Several towns do not have any maps, many have paper or mylar maps, and many have digital data. Once compiled, a digital parcel map can be very helpful in the town office. Using a GIS, the town can link their digital parcel map to the grand list and do abutter notifications and assessment queries directly from the tax maps. Parcel data for towns that have made data available can be downloaded from VCGI.

Sample tax parcel map for Woodstock:


View Larger Map

General Guidelines

Below are a set of guides prepared by TRORC and others. Hopefully, these will provide answers to your initial questions and please contact Pete Fellows at TRORC with additional questions. Adobe Acrobat is required for the download of these files. If you do not have a copy of Adobe Acrobat, you can download it here.

VGIS Municipal Property Mapping Guidelines – These guidelines contain recommended specifications for property mapping programs carried out at the municipal level. They should help ensure that all property is accounted for, as well as accurately identified on the grand list and is translatable into a format that is compatible with Vermont’s Geographic Information System (VGIS). This is not a standard. This is a guideline and should be used as such.

Mass GIS Parcel Guide – A good general reference for getting up to speed on parcel mapping from MassGIS.

TRORC Town GIS Information

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