Proposed Digital Cadastral Attribute Data Transfer Standard for Minnesota - Public Review

Update:  Further work on this proposed standard is being postponed while MnGeo, counties and other stakeholders participate in the Minnesota Department of Revenue’s Property Record Information System (PRISM) project. The department is modernizing Property Tax data processes and systems by developing a centralized database that will standardize the collection, storage, retrieval, and distribution of property data. For more information, see the PRISM project website.

Comments on the proposed cadastral attribute data transfer standard described below continue to be welcome!

The proposed digital cadastral attribute data transfer standard establishes a common set of attributes and field definitions to encourage sharing and aggregation of geospatial cadastral (parcel) data. The standard is for data transfer only; it does not define how data producers should capture or store their parcel data.

The standard is identical to the MetroGIS Regional Parcel Dataset specifications, which have been used successfully in the Twin Cities metro area since 2005, with seven additional fields and two changes in field length.

• For each field, the standard specifies the field name, type, length and order
• Only two fields are required:  COUNTY_ID and PIN
• The seven new fields provide places for Public Land Survey descriptions, legal descriptions, and currency of the data (date when parcels were last edited and date when the dataset was last exported).
• Two field lengths are changed:
  • PIN is lengthened from 17 to 25 characters to accommodate longer PINs
  • SCHOOL_DST is shortened from 6 to 4 characters to match the Minnesota Department of Education’s system of school district numbers

Only state agencies would be required to provide data in this standard format upon request.
All other organizations, including county government, would be encouraged, but not required, to use the standard when transferring data.

The standard was drafted by the Digital Cadastral Data Committee, with significant input from its county members and other interested organizations.
 

The Proposed Draft Standard

• Draft standard (5 p., 135K, PDF)
   

Help

• Frequently Asked Questions
   
• Geodatabase Template File (43K, zipfile) to help implement this standard using ArcGIS software. The template was developed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
   

Send Comments

Please send questions, comments, or recommendations for improving this proposed standard to the Standards Committee:

via email:  mn.geo@state.mn.us
   or
via mail:
   Standards Committee
   MnGeo
   658 Cedar Street, Room 300
   St. Paul, MN   55155
 

Timeline and Next Steps

• October 4, 2012:  Panel session at the MN GIS/LIS Conference in St. Cloud presented the standard and solicited feedback (Session #17, 3:30-4:30 p.m.).
• Participate in the Minnesota Department of Revenue’s Property Record Information System (PRISM) project; assess whether edits are needed to the proposed attribute transfer standard.
• Revise deadline for comments.
• After the revised deadline:  The Standards Committee and the Digital Cadastral Data Committee will review all comments and edit the proposed standard as needed. Their responses to the comments will be posted on this webpage.
• Assuming all comments can be addressed satisfactorily, the Standards Committee will initiate a request to have the edited standard be considered for approval as a Minnesota State Geospatial Standard.
   

Related Project

• A Business Plan for Statewide Parcel Data Integration for Minnesota:  The project developed a detailed business plan for managing and providing access to accurate and current parcel data for the entire state based upon maintained and authoritative local sources.

Return to Standards Committee webpage