Project maps depict the boundaries of a property, often including adjacent lands. They are primarily used to support property acquisition campaigns or for stewardship.

Some project maps are just for internal use and are less polished, other project maps are more finished and used for presentation to funders, agencies, landowners or others. If you don't have GIS, see the section below for alternative approaches.

The examples shown at right are basic maps - for higher quality cartographic approaches, see the Design a Great Layout in the Advanced GIS Practices section.

Make a Property Map with GIS:

Here are best practice standards for GIS-based project maps:

1. Each property you hold or are interested in should have a property map - together, these can become your "atlas".
   
2. Make the overall design of a project map consistent with your organizational graphic identity and any other maps you've created.
   
3. If available, use official property boundary lines to show the target project and adjacent land ownerships - they provide definitive boundaries and relate other data well, and they are increasingly available as GIS data.  LEARN MORE about parcel boundaries... 
   
4. The base information should be either: aerial photography adjusted to fit in GIS (orthophotography, natural color is often best, but black and white can work well, too); topographic information (elevation relief); or USGS quad images (Digital Raster Graphics, or DRGs). In urban areas, road grids can be used as the base map if the above are not available.
5. Other data may include jurisdiction lines, natural features (streams, lakes, etc.) and roads, as well as other context information - but don't overload the map.
   
6. Include the map date and describe the data used - if appropriate, add disclaimers about the accuracy of data shown.

Property maps are often created at page size, as illustrations in reports or handouts at meetings.  Sometimes they are printed as posters for display at a meeting (although a large map can sometimes make more evident the limits of accuracy in the parcel data defining the project).

Make a Property Map Without GIS: 

1. Acquire a USGS quad map (or "topo") by: purchasing a paper map; or, ordering a custom print; or, downloading a low-resolution digital image; or purchasing software/data packages of digital topo maps.

• MyTopo 
  
• Terraserver  USA 
• Topozone
  
• USGS
  
• Topo!  
  

2.  If you're using a paper map, either draw the property directly on the map, or take a digital photo of the map and place in a software program that lets you draw the boundaries over it (Word, PowerPoint, Photoshop or other photo/drawing software).

3.  If you have a digital image you can draw directly on it, either in a software program with drawing capability (Word, Photoshop, PowerPoint), or in a topo map program if you got your image through such a program.

4.  Or, check to see if your county, city or state has an online mapping service - you may be able to create an image of the property you are interested in on their site and then save it as a digital image.  If you're not sure, type the following in a web search: "gis maps [your community, state]" - it will likely show anything available, if you don't have a direct contact you can call.

MORE INFO ABOUT PARCEL BOUNDARIES  

Most jurisdictions have long relied on surveyor based parcel maps – paper maps that show “metes and bounds” (e.g., “From a point at the northeast corner of x 152 feet NE to the intersection of y with z”).  These maps are useful but rarely can they be directly translated to a GIS, as they are not defined in coordinates that show one where in the world the parcel actually is. While it is possible to have metes and bounds translated to GIS through a function called "COGO" (coordinate geometry), this can be challenging for most land trusts to accomplish.

If you only have access to paper parcel maps showing surveyor boundaries (or digital images of them), it is best to attempt to transfer the boundary lines by hand to a USGS topographical (“quad”) map by estimating their locations on the map. The parcel line can then be digitized as a GIS layer.

Alternatively, many jurisdictions have GIS-based parcel databases (usually housed in the local tax assessor’s office). Access to these can be very useful to land trusts, as they have information about parcel ID numbers and about landowners.  Sometimes these databases are made available for little or no cost ($100-$500) to non-commercial or non-profit groups, but otherwise they can be expensive to acquire ($.05-1.00 per parcel). The GIS parcel boundaries are sometimes made available separate from data about landowners – by having an assessor’s parcel number in each file (the “join field”), the two datasets can be merged in the GIS.

Some counties/townships and other jurisdictions have Internet Map Servers (IMS), an online mapping function where you can pick and choose the data to display (often including parcels) for a particular area and then print a map (often a crude print, however) or download a digital image (jpg or gif), which can be printed on your own computer.  Often, however, the map produced through an IMS is limited in its ability to be customized and in its print resolution. 

Other sources of parcel data are services that regularly scan public records data and provide it bundled in their own data management software (e.g.,  First American Real Estate Solutions’ Real Quest).  These services can be helpful but are often not directly compatible with GIS formats – the maps they show are usually just scanned pictures of tax assessors’ paper records of parcel boundaries, not actual GIS data files.  However, they can export tables showing extensive information for each landowner, which you can link to a GIS parcel boundary coverage using the common field of the assessor’s parcel number.