The State Cartographer’s Office (SCO) and Wisconsin Department of Administration (DOA) are pleased to announce the release of the statewide E3 PLSS database, which was created as a sub-project of the greater Version 7 Statewide Parcel Map Database Project (V7 Project).
The E3 database contains a collection of all uniquely identifiable local-level PLSS data available in digital format and aggregates that data into a standardized schema and format. The construction of the PLSS corner locations contained within the database relies on local-level coordinate information. This unique aspect of the database allows for an accurate representation of the on-the-ground location of the PLSS corners, resulting in a more accurate section polygon layer.
The database includes a PLSS corner layer, a section polygon layer, as well as a quarter-section and quarter-quarter-section polygon layers. Note that the quarter-section and quarter-quarter-section polygon layers were subdivided by protraction and based on protracted quarter-section and quarter-quarter-section points. These subdivision layers should only be used for mapping reference purposes and are not representative of actual surveyed section subdivisions. The E3 database is available for download in its entirety as an ESRI file geodatabase or are available as feature services and can be found here. Most county contributed PLSS corners in the E3 database have been integrated into the Survey Control Finder application as well.
Database Characteristics
In total, 195,229 PLSS corners were used in the section polygon creation process. Of those corners used, approximately 67% were county-contributed corners. The other 33% were GLO Landnet or SCO points. For more information on these different corner sources and the greater E3 schema attributes and their associated definitions, please see the schema documentation.
* 447,692 total corners
* 245,064 county contributed corners
* 204,789 corners with online tie sheet URLs (~83.5% of all submitted county records)
User feedback greatly appreciated!
Those who download the E3 database or use the feature services are encouraged to share their feedback to help improve future versions of the statewide PLSS database! Use this link to share feedback, suggestions and notes on how you make use of this data.