UW Geographic Information Service at the School of Forest Resources

How are we keeping track of all of the information while we are contacting the data producers?

First, we have a database that stores contact information, data status, and communications. We can quickly jump to a data provider by using a web-based interface that looks like the picture below.

Then, we can store and add lots of information about each data provider’s data request methods, current status of GIS, and other pertinent information about their parcel data.

We can then track all communications between a data producing agency or group and anyone working with  our end of the project. This allows multiple people to have the most current information about a data producer if anyone sends an e-mail or calls one of the cooperators on the project.

And, lastly, we printed out a very large map of Washington, showing all 39 counties. Using the old pen and ink method, we have color coded boxes and labels that we fill in as we contact the county, ask for the data, and receive the data. We welcome any suggestions to help us continue to keep all of this information relevant and useful!

Cold calling for parcel data has never been so fun! In an effort to include everyone in this project, we are making a lot of phone calls, sending a lot of e-mails, and spending a lot of time talking about the project. And, surprisingly, it’s pretty fun.

 So far, the response has been pretty positive. Here are some of the most common concerns voiced thus far:

• Increased work for counties to respond to our request — this concern has mostly been alleviated when we explain that we don’t want to add any more work to already overworked departments, thus are solely requesting data as it would normally be distributed to the public.

• Commercial use of list of names — This is a sticky subject for some counties. Luckily, since neither the statewide parcel database project nor the family forest database are using the parcel-related information for commercial purposes, this concern is less of a problem at this time. If the completed statewide parcel layer is to be shared with other members of the Parcel Framework Management Group, it may be necessary for each agency or cooperator to individually sign license agreements with the counties which require the agreements.

• Non-GIS data — We recognize that multiple counties in Washington do not currently have (or use) a GIS to store and manage parcel-related data. One of the goals of this project is to document parcel data producers’ current status in relation to GIS and to garner more support for counties to build, update, and maintain GIS data. In the event that a county does not have GIS, we have a method that can extract estimated location of the parcel to the Range or Section from the tabular data (Assessor’s tax rolls).

As of today, September 24, we have received data from 11 counties (although 2 of the counties are only partially received — meaning we either have the assessor’s data or the spatial data but not both). We are in the process of receiving data from 12 more counties and have either submitted data request forms or signed license agreement or are just waiting for the data to be uploaded or delivered. We are waiting to hear back from 13 counties regarding data acquisition and 5 counties still need to be contacted over the phone. As explained in an earlier post, we sent out initial e-mails to all 39 counties.

Back to the phone!

Today, we made the first phone call and started gathering parcel data. Asking for the data over the phone provides the opportunity for us to speak first-hand with the people in charge of producing, maintaining, and/or distributing parcel data. This allows for an open-ended conversation, addresssing privacy and re-distribution concerns, project goals and timeline, and necessary relationship-building.

Snohomish County was our first phone call; we are using Snohomish County data as an example of a method to identify forest landowners for an upcoming Forum on forest land retention strategies in Washington. We will test out our methods and definitions, with help from the project’s advisory team, on Snohomish County’s parcel data.

Sample Data Acquistion Methods

1. Call the person(s) responsible for distributing the GIS data.
2. Find out as much information as possible about current GIS and parcel data status (e.g., is there data, how to access the data, how to acquire the data, current storage and file, license agreements, and more).
3. Download data or request CD.
4. Enter attribute information into Attribute Matrix database (more on this in future posts).
5. Begin exploring data (more on this in future posts).

Currently, we are working on developing the methods for data storage, importing procedures, and more.