Gallatin County

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Project Goal

The goal was to develop a multi-phase project advancing the collection of Geodetic Control throughout Gallatin County, Montana to refine the accuracy of the Cadastral Theme. This project established collaborative partnerships between GIS, the U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the State of Montana, and the local Surveying Community in Southwest Montana. Gallatin County outlined an initial 5-year plan with a second phase of 5 years for an anticipated cadastral accuracy of 3-5 meters countywide.

Each phase is intending to cover the entire county, minus some federal lands, in search of BLM’s Geographic Coordinate Data Base (GCDB) Public Land Survey control points. Survey control points with existing recorded corner monuments were given highest priority with Phase 2 collection targeted towards more strategically located but less accessible control.

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Learn more about our application: Site 1

Business Problem Solved

In 1999 we made the commitment to adjust our cadastral data to the adopted Montana standard GCDB control network. After years of entering parcel data with ESRI COGO based on GPS control provided by road centerlines and local control, an adjustment was completed in Arc/Info to the GCDB control framework. This created one of the worst shifts of parcel data in Montana, shifting some areas of parcel data over 300 feet. Parcel data that was once previously aligned with other Gallatin County and State of Montana data was now shifted randomly throughout each Township.

Nearly half of all the land in Gallatin County is under public ownership by the USFS, State of Montana, BLM or the National Park Service. By undertaking this project, increasing the accuracy of the Geodetic Control Theme will improve the spatial accuracy of the Cadastral Theme tied to GCDB control; thereby, facilitating interagency data integration for applications and information exchange across administrative boundaries.

Technology Implemented

The Gallatin County GIS Department is a dedicated ESRI operation currently utilizing ArcGIS, ArcIMS, ArcPad, and ArcSDE with Microsoft SQL Server.

Custom-built ArcIMS applications currently provide Internet and numerous intranet users access to Gallatin County spatial data. The custom browsers meet the differing needs of departments such as Planning, Environmental Health, and Schools. A General Mapper was the first developed IMS application and provides web access to a wide range of internal and public users showcasing a majority of county GIS data.

Development Team Biography

Allen Armstrong – GIS Manager
Brian Oevermann – GIS Analyst
Kristofor Parson – GIS Technician
Bill Ware – GIS Technician