Massachusetts Maps and Data

The Nature Conservancy has taken a close look at spatial data resources for Massachusetts’ ocean and coastal lands. The resulting report, Looking at Massachusetts’ Tidelands: An Assessment of Spatial Data on Tidelands Ownership, Licensing, Jurisdiction, and Protection (download pdf, 2,117k), reviews the available data in detail. In some cases, TNC obtained or created spatial data that is not currently available through the web (these are noted below). Please Contact Us if you would like access to this data.

Digital Data Availability Summary

MASSACHUSETTS	Spatial	Non-spatial	None
GIS Portals	x
Submerged Lands	x
Ownership
Submerged Lands Parcels			x
General Property and Parcel Data	x
Public and Conservation Lands	x
Leases and Other Use Authorizations
Aquaculture and Shellfish			x
Other Use Authorizations	x
Local Parcel Information	10 coastal registry districts; 7 coastal planning agencies; municipalities
Deed Records	Availability of local data was not completely assessed; Links to many local data sources are identified.
Assessment Data
Parcels

GIS Portals

MassGIS, the Commonwealth’s Office of Geographic and Environmental Information. (web site) Download or order data, view metadata, and use online interactive maps.

Submerged Lands

The Nature Conservancy developed a polygon representing Massachusetts flowed tidelands, using a NOAA mean high water shoreline, the most recently surveyed state-federal marine boundary from the Minerals Management Service, and coordinates for the marine boundaries with New Hampshire and Rhode Island provided by the Massachusetts Highways Department. Approximations may also be derived from the following data layers available online, although the seaward boundary will not reflect the most recent surveys.

Data	Designated Shellfish Growing Areas.
Access	Download ESRI shapefile or Arc/Info export file, or view using online interactive map. (web page).
Detail	DSGAs cover all Massachusetts territorial waters, plus Nantucket Sound. Those DSGAs in Nantucket Sound beyond the 3-nautical-mile line must be deleted, and the remaining DSGAs must be merged, in order to approximate flowed tidelands. 2000.
Distributor	MassGIS.

Data	The Massachusetts Coastal Zone.
Access	Download ESRI shapefile or Arc/Info export file, or view using online interactive map (OLIVER). (web page).
Detail	Polygons coded “2” are “waters of the coastal zone.” Coastal freshwater ponds must be deleted and the remaining polygons merged to approximate flowed tidelands. 1997, but update is pending.
Distributor	MassGIS.

Ownership

Submerged Lands Parcels

No data was found depicting submerged lands parcels. For illustration purposes, however, TNC identified and coded coastal-facing parcels in the towns bordering Pleasant Bay on Cape Cod. As upland ownership usually extends into the intertidal zone, such an approach can identify potential tideland parcels.

General Property and Parcel Data

Data	Digital Assessors Parcel Maps.
Access	Download or view using OLIVER interactive online map. (web page)
Detail	Parcels received from 46 of 351 Massachusetts towns, including 17 coastal towns.1 Ownership information withheld. 2003
Distributor	MassGIS.

Public and Conservation Lands

Data	Protected and Recreational Open Space.
Access	Download ESRI shapefiles or personal geodatabase, or view using online interactive map. (web page)
Detail	Boundaries of conservation and outdoor recreation lands in Massachusetts, whether held by government or not-for-profit agencies. Attribute data includes ownership, assessors map and lot numbers, level of protection, and type of proprietary interest, including conservation restrictions.
Distributor	MassGIS.

Leases and Other Use Authorizations

Aquaculture and Shellfish

The Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management attempted to develop a data layer on shellfish aquaculture grants (licenses) in 2002-2003, but found the source data from issuing towns incomplete and highly variable in accuracy. The data is not available for general distribution.

Other Use Authorizations

No statewide digital database or map layer is available online for Massachusetts’ waterways licensing program. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection does maintain an in-house spatial database and point layer on waterways licenses, but feels the accuracy is too low for public distribution. The results of a pilot project for waterways licenses are available.

Data	New Bedford Chapter 91 License.
Access	View online interactive maps and database. (web site)
Detail	Point locations and license data for waterways licenses in New Bedford, MA. Developed as a pilot project, 2002.
Distributor	University of Massachusetts.

Local Parcel Information

A number of Massachusetts’ counties no longer have county government. Most local authority lies with cities and towns, and the administrative functions of some counties have reverted to the state.

Coastal Registry Districts

Massachusetts has 10 registry districts (representing nine counties) in its Coastal Zone. Online registry records are available for all coastal registry districts, with seven districts’ records available through the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth. The online registries consist of indexes and scanned document images (including some plans), which may be viewed online or printed.

Barnstable — Free access. (web site)
Bristol — Fees to view or print. (web site)
Dukes — Free access (web site)
Essex North — Free access. (web site)
Essex South — Free access. (web site)
Middlesex South — Free access. (web site)
Nantucket — Free access. (web site)
Norfolk — Free viewing; fees to print. (web site)
Suffolk — Free access. (web site)
Plymouth — Free viewing; fees to print. (web site)

Coastal Regional Planning Agencies

Regional planning agencies in Massachusetts’ coastal areas may have GIS resources helpful to coastal conservation.

Cape Cod Commission (web site). Parcels for all 15 Cape Cod towns may be viewed online in PDF, and ESRI shapefiles may be available by request from the Commission’s GIS office. (web page)
Martha’s Vineyard Commission (web site)
Merrimack Valley Planning Commission (web site)
Metropolitan Area Planning Council (web site)
Nantucket Planning and Economic Development Commission (web site)
Old Colony Planning Council (web site)
Southeast Regional Planning and Economic Development District (web site)

Coastal Municipalities

In Massachusetts, municipalities assess property for tax purpose, creating both ownership databases and tax parcel maps. Coastal municipalities also grant shellfish aquaculture licenses (in conjunction with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries), and some towns may have digital data on shellfish grants. Most cities and towns have in-house or contracted GIS services; but as 78 municipalities lie fully or partly within the Massachusetts Coastal Zone (list of coastal zone municipalities), we have not been able to fully investigate the ownership and leasing data available from each.

A number of web services list online property databases for Massachusetts towns. In addition, MassGIS has tracked the development of municipal GIS resources. The table below summarizes what we know has been developed or is available from coastal municipalities, as of September 2007. The great majority of towns have assessment data online and digital parcel maps in some stage of development.

Abbreviations for web services listed in the table:
SSN — SearchSystem.net. Public Records Directory: Property: Massachusetts (web site)
VAT — Vision Appraisal Technology. Online Databases: Massachusetts (web site)
CSS — Community Software Consortium (web site)

Coastal ZoneMunicipality	Assessment Data			Digital Parcel Maps		GIS web site
Coastal ZoneMunicipality	SSN	VAT	CSC	Developed	MassGIS	SSN or other
TOTAL (78)	53	17	5	74	17	10
Acushnet				x
Amesbury	x	x		x
Aquinnah				x
Barnstable	x			x
Berkley				x	x
Beverly	x			x
Boston	x	x		x		x
Bourne	x			x
Braintree	x			x
Brewster	x			x
Chatham	x	x		x
Chelsea	x	x		x		x
Chilmark				x
Cohasset				x	x
Danvers	x			x
Dartmouth	x	x		x
Dennis	x			x
Dighton				x	x
Duxbury	x		x	x	x
Eastham	x			x	x
Edgartown	x	x		x
Essex				x
Everett				x
Fairhaven				x
Fall River	x			x	x
Falmouth	x			x	x	x
Freetown	x			x
Gloucester				x
Gosnold
Hanover				x	x
Harwich	x			x
Hingham	x		x	x
Hull	x			x	x	x
Ipswich	x			x
Kingston				x
Lynn	x			x
Manchester	x			x		x
Marblehead	x			x
Marion	x	x		x
Marshfield	x	x		x
Mashpee	x			x	x	x
Mattapoisett	x	x	x	x
Milton
Nahant	x			x		x
Nantucket	x			x		x
New Bedford	x			x	x
Newbury	x			x
Newburyport	x	x		x		x
Norwell				x
Oak Bluffs	x	x		x
Orleans				x
Peabody	x			x
Pembroke	x			x
Plymouth	x			x	x
Provincetown	x			x
Quincy	x	x		x
Rehoboth				x	x
Revere	x			x
Rockport				x
Rowley	x	x		x
Salem	x			x	x
Salisbury	x			x
Sandwich				x
Saugus	x		x	x
Scituate				x
Seekonk			x	x	x
Somerset	x			x	x
Swampscott	x
Swansea	x			x	x
Tisbury	x	x		x
Truro				x
Wareham	x	x		x
Wellfleet				x
West Tisbury	x	x		x
Westport				x
Weymouth	x			x		x
Winthrop
Yarmouth	x	x		x

According to MassGIS, the Commonwealth’s GIS office, as of November 2006, only the Coastal Zone communities of Gosnold, Milton, Winthrop, and Swampscott had not yet created a digital parcels map layer, and Milton was in the process of developing one.2 However, only 17 coastal communities have submitted tax parcels (in 2003 or 2006) to MassGIS. See Digital Assessors Parcel Maps, above. MassGIS advises that the most up-to-date parcel layers will be available from the individual towns.

1 The Digital Assessors Parcel Maps data layer includes more towns, and more coastal towns, than it did when Looking at Tidelands was completed in February 2007.

2 MassGIS. 2006. Status of Digital Parcel Development in Massachusetts. http://www.mass.gov/mgis/par_stat_200611.pdf (accessed June 19, 2007).