Wisconsin Geospatial News

V8 Statewide Parcel Database & E4 Statewide PLSS Database Available

In the second half of 2022, The Wisconsin Department of Administration (DOA) and State Cartographer’s Office (SCO) released updated versions of the Statewide Parcel Database (V8) and the Statewide PLSS Database (E4).  Both statewide databases are part of the larger Statewide Digital Parcel Map Initiative, a multi-year, DOA initiative that resulted from Act 20, the state’s 2013-15 biennial budget.

V8 Statewide Parcel Database

In June of 2022, the Version 8 (V8) of the Statewide Parcel Database was released.  The database successfully aggregated all known digital parcel datasets within the state, resulting in a statewide GIS standardized parcel layer of 3.5 million parcels.  The layer contains a variety of tax attributes including, but not limited to:

  • Assessed value of land
  • Assessed value of improvements
  • Class of property
  • Net property tax
  • Parcel owner names
  • Property and mailing address information maintained by the county
  • Parcel ID
  • School Districts

The current statewide parcel data is also available in the Statewide Parcel Web Application.  The app provides a web-based mapping interface for browsing the V7 (2021) and V8 (2022) statewide parcel layers.  The application enables users to pan and zoom, search by parcel attribute information, locate themselves on the parcel map and query parcels on screen.

The statewide parcel layer is available for download in its entirety as an Esri file geodatabase.  Individual county downloads are available as a shapefile or file geodatabase.

For more information about the Wisconsin Statewide Parcel Initiative, please visit the DOA’s Statewide Parcel Map Initiative webpage.

E4 Statewide PLSS Database

In October of 2022, the Edition 4 (E4) of the Statewide PLSS Database was released.  The database contains a collection of all uniquely identifiable local-level PLSS data and aggregates that data into a standardized schema and format.  This database relies on local-level coordinate information, allowing for an accurate representation of the on-the-ground location of the PLSS corners, resulting in a more accurate section polygon layer.  In total, 195,196 PLSS corners were used in the section polygon creation process.  Of those corners used, 132,904 (~68%) were county-contributed corners.

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 statewide PLSS database is available for download in its entirety as an ESRI file geodatabase.  A subset of the greater database corner point layer and attribute values are also available in our Survey Control Finder application.  All four PLSS database layers are also available as feature services and can be found here.

User Feedback greatly appreciated!!

Those who download the V7 Statewide Parcel Database and/or the E4 PLSS Statewide Database are strongly encouraged to share their feedback to help improve future versions of the statewide databases.  Please use these links to share feedback suggestions and notes on how you make use of this data!

V8 Parcel Feedback Survey

E4 PLSS Feedback Survey