The GIS department has been digitally mapping every property within the New Jersey Meadowlands District municipalities since the early 1990’s. Digitized municipal tax maps served as the basis for the NJMC’s Cadastral Dataset (A public record showing the value, extent, and ownership of land as a basis of taxation), the backbone of the NJMC’s Enterprise Geographic Information System. Though the Commission does not tax the properties within its jurisdiction, this information is essential for the 14 constituent Municipalities.
The dataset is a parcel-based model, where parcel boundaries are a spatial representation of real property boundaries derived from survey plats and municipal tax maps. Layers of related tables and feature classes can be traced back to the parcel feature class through relationships and topology. This robust dataset is called upon continuously to support the day to day operations of the Commission and its constituents.
The GIS Department continuously maintains the information associated with the nearly 100,000 land parcels both in and out of the District. Ownership and property value, the most volatile data, are updated quarterly to reflect the State of New Jersey’s MOD4 Tax Assessment records. Users accessing this data through the NJMC’s Municipal Map can view numerous additional data including block and lot, easements, address, zoning and land use, acreage, and building footprints.
MERI GIS is currently in the process of taking parcel mapping a step further by implementing “parcel fabric”, a new method of storing property boundaries with survey-level accuracy. At first this data will only be offered for NJMC and Municipally owned properties, but will eventually be available for other areas within the Meadowlands District where surveyed metes and bounds exist.
Figure 1: The above poster highlights the structure and lineage of the NJMC Cadastral Dataset, the backbone of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission’s Enterprise Geographic Information System.