The City of Bellingham Land Base is intended to depict land boundary designation lines and Assessor tax accounts (ownerships). The Ownership polygon file, available on the web site (www.cob.org/gis), represents each legally describe ownership of land within and surrounding the City of Bellingham. The native format of the data is ArcInfo coverage and is updated on a daily basis with shape file exports on a weekly basis. Files on the web site are update monthly, normally at the beginning of the month. The shape file data set is designed to meet specific City of Bellingham business needs that don't require an exact copy or geometric replication of the production ArcInfo coverage data set. Annotation and other related property features are purposely left out of the shape file data set.
The land base GIS layer was developed to represent and distinguish property ownership boundaries. Land ownership regions are based on same property ownership as determined by the Whatcom County parcel identification code and are determined based on the legal description interpretation of the Whatcom County Assessor. Map data shown is a representation of the legal description, but does not necessarily give a true geographic location. The accuracy of this data varies and should not be used for precise measurement or calculations.
This data set does not contain database attributes relating to property ownership, special development conditions, special district overlays, or pending changes in designation. For a fee, you can obtain a digital copy of the Assessor Database directly from the Whatcom County Assessor Office (360-676-6790). This may be helpful if you want to join the land ownership data set with the Assessor Database.
The coverage was originally (1991) digitized in AutoCAD from 1:2400 Kroll map pages. The digitized quarter section drawings were adjusted to known section and quarter section coordinates. In 1995, the AutoCAD maps were again adjusted to best fit with surveyed centerline data. In 1996, the AutoCAD information was converted to ArcInfo by city staff. Since 1998, the new parcels have been added to ArcInfo coverages using cogo and the City cadastral as a mapping base. All new parcels are added and/or corrected based on approved final Plat, Short Plat, Lot Line Adjustment, or Binding Site Plan. The information is continually updated and enhanced as we receive new source data and correction information.
| Geographic coordinate system name | GCS_North_American_1927 |
| Projected coordinate system name | NAD_1927_StatePlane_Washington_North_FIPS_4601 |
| Horizontal Datum Name | North American Datum of 1927 |
| Ellipsoid Name | Clarke 1866 |
| Semi-major Axis | 6378206.400000 |
| Denominator of Flattening Ratio | 294.978698 |
West = -122.573120
East = -122.371415
North = 48.821864
South = 48.644307
Left = 1580843.654662
Right = 1628177.845680
Bottom = 604533.683736
Top = 668320.750000
| Item | Type | Length | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| AREA | Number | 19 | Area of feature in internal units squared. |
| PERIMETER | Number | 19 | Perimeter of feature in internal units. |
| FID | Float | 20 | Internal feature number. |
| Shape | Float | 20 | Feature geometry. |
| SITE | Number | 11 | Site Address number |
| STNAME | Number | 11 | Site Street Name |
| PLATKEY | String | 12 | County Plat Code |
| OWNER_ | Number | 12 | Internal number |
| OWNER_ID | String | 20 | Internal number |
| PARCEL_COD | String | 12 | Land Parcel Number |
| LAND_USE_C | Number | 4 | County land use code |
| LAND_USE_S | String | 12 | County land use short description |
| LAND_USE_D | String | 30 | County land use long description |
| SITE_ADD | String | 35 | Parcel Site Address |
Data is valid one month from publication date. Publication date is the date of the zip file (.exe) that contains the data files. The data is considered Complete and the source is updated on a Weekly basis. Data files available through the web site are refreshed monthly.
The City of Bellingham Public Works Department has developed this data and maps for its own use and is not responsible for use by others. Therefore, the City of Bellingham makes no guarantees as to the quality, completeness or accuracy of the data. Persons using this data do so at their own risk and agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the City of Bellingham as to any claims or suits arising out of such use. The data is the property of the City of Bellingham and is intended to be used by the receiving person(s) only and not to be redistributed or reproduced without the City of Bellingham's permission. By accepting and using this data, you are indicating your acceptance to the conditions and requirements stated above.
For more information, please contact the City of Bellingham.
