Whatcom County GIS Metadata - Parcels
Metadata:
- Identification_Information:
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- Citation:
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- Citation_Information:
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- Originator: Whatcom County GIS
- Publication_Date: Unpublished Material
- Title: Whatcom County GIS Metadata - Parcels
- Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: Map
- Series_Information:
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- Series_Name: none
- Issue_Identification: none
- Publication_Information:
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- Publication_Place: Whatcom County
- Publisher: none
- Description:
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- Abstract:
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Parcels within Whatcom County, based on Whatcom County Assessor's Tax-Parcel Maps. The parcel boundaries date from 1995-1996.
- Purpose:
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Used to identify ownership, value, acreage, landuse, etc... for parcels in Whatcom County. The Tax-Parcel Id number is used to link the GIS coverage to the Assessor's Database.
- Supplemental_Information:
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The parcels coverage is actually 28 separate coverages. Each coverage contains the same attribute structure. Each coverage covers a single Township in the Public Land Survey (PLS) grid for Western Whatcom County.
- Time_Period_of_Content:
- Status:
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- Progress: Complete
- Maintenance_and_Update_Frequency: Irregular
- Geographic: Western Whatcom County
- Spatial_Domain:
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- Bounding_Coordinates:
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- West_Bounding_Coordinate: -123.333
- East_Bounding_Coordinate: -120.655
- North_Bounding_Coordinate: 49.003
- South_Bounding_Coordinate: 48.626
- Description:
- Keywords:
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- Theme:
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- Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: None
- Theme_Keyword: parcels
- Theme_Keyword: property ownership
- Place:
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- Place_Keyword_Thesaurus: None
- Place_Keyword: Washington
- Place_Keyword: Whatcom County
- Stratum:
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- Stratum_Keyword_Thesaurus: None
- Temporal:
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- Temporal_Keyword_Thesaurus: None
- Access_Constraints: None
- Use_Constraints: None
- Point_of_Contact:
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- Contact_Information:
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- Contact_Person_Primary:
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- Contact_Person: Chris Behee
- Contact_Organization: Whatcom County Planning and Development Services - GIS
- Contact_Organization_Primary:
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- Contact_Organization: Whatcom County Planning and Development Services - GIS
- Contact_Person: Chris Behee
- Contact_Position: Planner II
- Contact_Address:
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- Address_Type: Mailing Address
- Address: Northwest Annex, Suite A
- Address: 5280 Northwest Drive
- Address: Bellingham, WA 98226-9099
- City: Bellingham
- State_or_Province: WA
- Postal_Code: 98226-9094
- Country: USA
- Contact_Voice_Telephone: (360) 676-6907
- Contact_TDD/TTY_Telephone: Unavailable
- Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: (360) 738-2493
- Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: cbehee@co.whatcom.wa.us
- Hours_of_Service: 8:00 A.M. TO 5:00 P.M MONDAY THRU FRIDAY
- Contact_Instructions: none
- Data_Set_Credit: Chris Behee
- Native_Data_Set_Environment: UNIX-Arc/Info
- Data_Quality_Information:
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- Attribute_Accuracy:
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- Attribute_Accuracy_Report:
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The parcel coverages have been "rubber-sheeted" to fit the PLS section lines. It is difficult to assess the accuracy beyond the section lines because the original maps were not tied to any particular coordinate system. A rough estimate would place most parcels within 50 to 100 feet of their true location, however errors larger than 100 feet are entirely possible.
- Completeness_Report:
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The coverage is complete up to 1995-96. Any new platting, subdivision, segregations, aggregation, or lot-line adjustments occuring since 1996 have not been recorded on this coverage.
- Positional_Accuracy:
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- Horizontal_Positional_Accuracy:
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- Horizontal_Positional_Accuracy_Report:
- Horizontal_Positional_Accuracy:
- Vertical_Positional_Accuracy:
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- Vertical_Positional_Accuracy_Report: Not Applicable
- Lineage:
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- Process_Step:
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- Process_Description:
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Hard-copy section maps at an approximate scale of 1:4800 were digitized, using the 4 section corners, and sometimes the center point of each section as control. These control points (tics) were used to "project" each section into UTM coordinates in Arc/Info. Once in Arc/Info, each section was "rubber-sheeted" in ArcEdit to fit the PLS grid. The sections were then attributed with label points, and each parcel was assigned the tax-id number from the Assessor's section maps. After creating topologically correct polygons, each section was edgematched with other sections to create full Townships (36 sections per township in most cases). These townships are the current form of each coverage.
- Process_Date: 19960000
- Spatial_Data_Organization_Information:
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- Direct_Spatial_Reference_Method: Vector
- Spatial_Reference_Information:
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- Horizontal_Coordinate_System_Definition:
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- Planar:
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- Grid_Coordinate_System:
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- Grid_Coordinate_System_Name: Universal Transverse Mercator(UTM)
- Universal_Transverse_Mercator:
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- UTM_Zone_Number: 10
- Transverse_Mercator:
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- False_Easting: -5000000
- Geodetic_Model:
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- Horizontal_Datum_Name: North American Datum of 1927
- Ellipsoid_Name: Clarke 1866
- Vertical_Coordinate_System_Definition:
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- Altitude_System_Definition:
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- Altitude_Datum_Name: National Geodedic Vertical Datum of 1929
- Altitude_Distance_Units: Meters
- Altitude_Encoding_Method: Attribute Values
- Entity_and_Attribute_Information:
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- Detailed_Description:
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- Entity_Type:
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- Entity_Type_Label: poly
- Entity_Type_Definition: area of polygon in coverage units
- Entity_Type_Definition_Source: user generated
- Attribute:
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- Attribute_Label: area
- Attribute_Definition: input width=4, output width=12, type=floating point, decimal=3
- Attribute_Definition_Source: user generated
- Entity_Type:
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- Entity_Type_Label: poly
- Entity_Type_Definition: length of polygon perimeter in coverage units
- Entity_Type_Definition_Source: user generated
- Attribute:
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- Attribute_Label: perimeter
- Attribute_Definition: input width=4, output width=12, type=floating point, decimal=3
- Attribute_Definition_Source: user generated
- Entity_Type:
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- Entity_Type_Label: poly
- Entity_Type_Definition: system assigned coverage map feature ID
- Entity_Type_Definition_Source: user generated
- Attribute:
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- Attribute_Label: T****#
- Attribute_Definition: input width=4, output width=5, type=binary
- Attribute_Definition_Source: user generated
- Entity_Type:
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- Entity_Type_Label: poly
- Entity_Type_Definition: system/user assigned coverage map feature ID
- Entity_Type_Definition_Source: user generated
- Attribute:
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- Attribute_Label: T****-ID
- Attribute_Definition: input width=4, output width=5, type=binary
- Attribute_Definition_Source: user generated
- Entity_Type:
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- Entity_Type_Label: poly
- Entity_Type_Definition:
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Whatcom County Assessor's Geocode. This 12 digit code is the Tax-id number assigned to each parcel by the Assessor's Office. This code is a unique identifier of the following form: The first 6 digits are the parcels Township, Range, and Section numbers. For example, Township 39 North, Range 3 East, Section 31 would be 390331. The second 6 digits are the parcels unique xy coordinate within that particular section. The Assessor divides each section into a cartesian grid measuring 600 x 600 in the x and y axis. Using this grid, the southwest corner of each section is always 0,0 the center of each section is always 300,300 and the northeast corner of each section is always 600,600. A complete geocode might look like this: 390331245456. This parcel would be located somewhere in the northwest 1/4 of Section 31 of Township 39 North Range 3 East.
- Entity_Type_Definition_Source: user generated
- Attribute:
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- Attribute_Label: wcagcode
- Attribute_Definition: input width=4, output width=12, type=floating point, decimal=3
- Attribute_Definition_Source: user generated
- Entity_Type:
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- Entity_Type_Label: poly
- Entity_Type_Definition:
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The 4 digit extension field for each tax-id number. These 4 digits are usually = 0000. However, if the parcel has something like a Senior Citizen taxation exemption, or a mineral interest it may have an extension number assigned. Other examples would be for condominiums, apartments, and mobile home parks where each site, or unit has the same tax-id number, but the extension field increments by 1 for each unit (0001, 0002, 0003, etc.).
- Entity_Type_Definition_Source: user generated
- Attribute:
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- Attribute_Label: ext
- Attribute_Definition: input width=4, output width=5, type=character
- Attribute_Definition_Source: user generated
- Entity_Type:
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- Entity_Type_Label: poly
- Entity_Type_Definition:
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The block number assigned to parcels that are part of a plat. This number is usually associated with plats in urban areas. Currently the only parcels with block numbers assigned are some of the parcels in the City of Bellingham.
- Entity_Type_Definition_Source: user generated
- Attribute:
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- Attribute_Label: block
- Attribute_Definition: input width=3, output width=3, type=character
- Attribute_Definition_Source: user generated
- Entity_Type:
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- Entity_Type_Label: poly
- Entity_Type_Definition:
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The lot number assigned to parcels that are part of a plat. Currently none of the parcels in the GIS coverages have lot numbers assigned to them.
- Entity_Type_Definition_Source: user generated
- Attribute:
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- Attribute_Label: lot
- Attribute_Definition: input width=3, output width=3, type=character
- Attribute_Definition_Source: user generated
- Entity_Type:
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- Entity_Type_Label: poly
- Entity_Type_Definition:
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The Township Range and Section of each Parcel. This field identifes the true section the parcel is located in. The Tax-id number sometimes indicates the wrong section for cases where parcels straddle a section line, or are taxed based on an adjacent property in another section.
- Entity_Type_Definition_Source: user generated
- Attribute:
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- Attribute_Label: trs
- Attribute_Definition: input width=3, output width=3, type=character
- Attribute_Definition_Source: user generated
- Entity_Type:
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- Entity_Type_Label: poly
- Entity_Type_Definition:
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This 2 digit code corresponds to the type of polygon/parcel as it was coded by the analyst digitizing each section. Used to sort out confusing arrangements of parcels, and for coding purposes. Examples of types of polygons that are coded would be Nooksack River Channel, Old River Channel, Government Meander Channel, Gravel Bars, Tidelands, Right of Way, Easements, Lakes, Ponds, and other non-coded polygons.
- Entity_Type_Definition_Source: user generated
- Attribute:
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- Attribute_Label: polytype
- Attribute_Definition: input width=8, output width=8 type=character
- Attribute_Definition_Source: user generated
- Entity_Type:
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- Entity_Type_Label: poly
- Entity_Type_Definition:
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ACRES = a calculated field created by multiplying the area * .0002471054
- Entity_Type_Definition_Source: user generated
- Attribute:
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- Attribute_Label: acres
- Attribute_Definition: input width=4, output width=12, type=floating point, decimal=3
- Attribute_Definition_Source: user generated
- Overview_Description:
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- Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:
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The parcels coverage is actually 28 separate coverages. Each coverage contains the same attribute structure. Each coverage covers a single Township in the Public Land Survey (PLS) grid for Western Whatcom County. The coverage names are as follows: T3701 (Township 37 North, Range 1 East) T3702 (Township 37 North, Range 2 East) T3703 (Township 37 North, Range 3 East) T3704 (Township 37 North, Range 4 East) T3705 (Township 37 North, Range 5 East) T3706 (Township 37 North, Range 6 East) T3801 (Township 38 North, Range 1 East) T3802 (Township 38 North, Range 2 East) T3803 (Township 38 North, Range 3 East) T3804 (Township 38 North, Range 4 East) T3805 (Township 38 North, Range 5 East) T3806 (Township 38 North, Range 6 East) T3951 (Township 39 North, Range 1 West) T3901 (Township 39 North, Range 1 East) T3902 (Township 39 North, Range 2 East) T3903 (Township 39 North, Range 3 East) T3904 (Township 39 North, Range 4 East) T3905 (Township 39 North, Range 5 East) T3906 (Township 39 North, Range 6 East) T3907 (Township 39 North, Range 7 East) T4053 (Township 40 North, Range 3 West) T4051 (Township 40 North, Range 1 West) T4001 (Township 40 North, Range 1 East) T4002 (Township 40 North, Range 2 East) T4003 (Township 40 North, Range 3 East) T4004 (Township 40 North, Range 4 East) T4005 (Township 40 North, Range 5 East) T4006 (Township 40 North, Range 6 East) T4153 (Township 41 North, Range 3 West) T4151 (Township 41 North, Range 1 West) T4101 (Township 41 North, Range 1 East) T4102 (Township 41 North, Range 2 East) T4103 (Township 41 North, Range 3 East) T4104 (Township 41 North, Range 4 East) T4105 (Township 41 North, Range 5 East) T4106 (Township 41 North, Range 6 East)
- Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation: Whatcom County Assesor
- Distribution_Information:
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- Distributor:
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- Contact_Information:
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- Contact_Person_Primary:
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- Contact_Person: Chris Behee
- Contact_Organization: Whatcom County Planning and Development Services - GIS
- Contact_Organization_Primary:
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- Contact_Organization: Whatcom County Planning and Development Services - GIS
- Contact_Person: Chris Behee
- Contact_Position: Planner II
- Contact_Address:
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- Address_Type: Mailing Address
- Address: Northwest Annex, Suite A
- Address: 5280 Northwest Drive
- Address: Bellingham, WA 98226-9099
- City: Bellingham
- State_or_Province: WA
- Postal_Code: 98226-9094
- Country: USA
- Contact_Voice_Telephone: (360) 676-6907
- Contact_TDD/TTY_Telephone: Unavailable
- Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: (360) 738-2493
- Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: cbehee@co.whatcom.wa.us
- Hours_of_Service: 8:00 A.M. TO 5:00 P.M MONDAY THRU FRIDAY
- Contact_Instructions: none
- Distribution_Liability:
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Use of Whatcom County's GIS Data Implies The User's Aggrement with The Following Statement: Whatcom County disclaims any warranty of merchantibility or warranty of fitness of this map for any particular purpose, either express or implied. No representation or warranty is made concerning the accuracy, currancy, completeness, or quality of data depicted on this map. Any user of this map assumes all responsibility for the use thereof, and further agrees to hold Whatcom County harmless from and against any damage, loss, or liability arising from any use of this map.
- Custom_Order_Process:
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Contact Whatcom County Planning and Development Services - GIS, fee for labor $55/hr (1 hr min.) for any file manipulation other than copying.
- Metadata_Reference_Information:
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- Metadata_Date: 19980422
- Metadata_Review_Date: 19980422
- Metadata_Contact:
- Metadata_Standard_Name: FGDC Content Standards For Digital Geospatial Metadata
- Metadata_Standard_Version: 1995
- Metadata_Security_Information:
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- Metadata_Security_Classification_System: None
- Metadata_Security_Classification: Unclassified
- Metadata_Security_Handling_Description: None
Generated by mp on Fri Oct 23 08:43:45 1998
