Parcels in Google Maps? Yes!


In the last hour I received multiple reports from around the Internets (the Twitterverse, to be specific) of parcel data sightings in Google Maps. In limited locales yet. One such area is Santa Barbara, CA.

More on this later.

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[UPDATE 2:24 PM EDST] San Francisco and San Diego also have parcel data in Google Maps.

[UPDATE 5:44 PM EDST] Things are getting clearer (sort of).

Google launched a massive map data update today, plus a number of other changes. On the data front -- parcel data are now available for some areas in the US (more on that later). Also available are "more detailed natural features like parks and water bodies, and new base map data types like bike paths and university campus maps." There is also a new feature on Google Maps that allows users to report map data problems and send feedback directly to Google. Which brings me back to the data -- "Google has decided to stop using Tele Atlas map data for the U.S. Google will now use its own map data." At this point it is unclear what the source of Google's "own" data is, and what happens to the user-generated updates.

Browsing the New Jersey map, I found that parcel data is available for some counties (Mercer, Ocean) and not for others (Middlesex, Passaic). These cursory findings did not match my (quite accurate) inventory of GIS parcel data availability in NJ. Developing...

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Posted by Atanas Entchev at 10/7/2009 6:07 PM
Categories: news,blog,Google,GIS parcels,parcels,parcel,Online Mapping,GIS,Twitter,Data,Business
Tags: news blog Business GIS GIS parcels parcels parcel Online Mapping Twitter Data Google
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  • 10/7/2009 8:04 PM Kirk Kuykendall wrote:
    Wow, San Antonio and Austin both have parcels too. Perhaps no coincidence that they've rolled out "report a problem" about the same time. I wonder if there's a parcel equivalent to the Google Transit Feed spec.
    Reply to this
    1. 10/7/2009 9:03 PM atanas entchev wrote:
      There are way too many issues here. I hope The G has thought them out well. If not -- I am available for consulting (been doing GIS parcel development for 17+ years).

      In addition to (or before) data ownership and data source, here are a few more: what is the intended purpose; who is the intended audience; what/where are the attributes; where is the metadata; what is the positional accuracy...

      Things get heated up pretty quickly when individual property rights are at stake (or are perceived as being at stake), and The G will find that out very quickly.
      Reply to this
  • 10/8/2009 4:34 PM John Reiser wrote:
    I'd love to know if they've made arrangements to get this data from each of the counties, or if they're just scouring the net (which is what they're quite good at) to find this data. Most of the NJ counties that keep their parcel data online are now on Google Maps (with the exception of Camden County). I'm going to email Gloucester County to see if Google contacted them.

    What's their plan for keeping this up to date? Will we now have parcel-based geocoding? They mention emptying the cache, but not whether the new data comes from this new source. Google really needs to publish more precise source data/metadata.
    Reply to this
    1. 10/8/2009 4:51 PM atanas entchev wrote:
      GIS parcel data *maintenance* is a bigger issue to tackle than GIS parcel data creation. For GIS parcel data to be useful to anybody, it must be fresh. Many of my municipal GIS clients update their parcel data on a daily basis. How will Google handle that?

      You thought Google had problems with people finding their images on Street View. Wait till property owners “find out” (by comparing the parcel boundary to the aerial) that they have been “cheated” out of half a foot of their property. I can smell the stink already.
      Reply to this
    2. 10/8/2009 4:51 PM John Reiser wrote:
      Now I really want to know where they are getting this data. Rowan University is now "Glassboro State College" - its former name. GSC hasn't existed since the early 1990s, so I don't know where Google managed to dig that up.

      I used the "report a problem" to identify that issue. Let's see how long until it's resolved.
      Reply to this
      1. 10/8/2009 4:55 PM atanas entchev wrote:
        There has been speculation in the blogosphere that Google has been scraping OSM for data. You, John, are the highest authority on OSM that I know. Any relevance to the OSM data claim?

        Also, please let us know when you hear back form Google on your problem report.
        Reply to this
        1. 10/8/2009 5:26 PM John Reiser wrote:
          They didn't scrape from OSM for the area around Glassboro. What's on GMaps doesn't match up with what's on OSM currently.

          Glassboro on OSM: http://osm.org/go/ZciXaMVt
          Reply to this
          1. 10/8/2009 8:23 PM John Reiser wrote:
            Here, switch between Google, OSM and aerials: http://njstateatlas.com/other/osm_compare.html?zoom=14&lat=40.49383&lon=-74.45143&layers=0000000B
            Reply to this
            1. 10/8/2009 8:35 PM atanas entchev wrote:
              This is cool.
              Reply to this
  • 10/8/2009 8:27 PM John Reiser wrote:
    Anyone else notice that the parcel lines don't show up on the aerial photography, just on the map view? Think that was intentional? (Answer: yes.)
    Reply to this
    1. 10/8/2009 8:36 PM atanas entchev wrote:
      Yes. So, then, what is the point of the parcel boundaries? What is the purpose? Who is the intended user?
      Reply to this
  • 10/9/2009 1:59 AM Juan wrote:
    I wish there was a way to turn these off. It was nice to use Google with some of our layers and applications that didn't want parcel lines displayed. This is going to cause us more problems now.
    Reply to this
    1. 10/9/2009 2:09 PM atanas entchev wrote:
      Prediction: Google *will* turn these off, after they come to the realization that this layer serves no useful purpose in its current state.
      Reply to this
      1. 10/9/2009 2:14 PM Juan wrote:
        I hope you are right. If I could rely on the completeness and accuracy of these, I wouldn't have a problem with it. I mean, if they want to handle the creation of the cache of my parcel data, then I would love that. I could just hook up my web services to pull the property data. But with the history of TeleAtlas and Navteq, keeping up with constant changes to the base data hasn't been there. We couldn't rely on this dataset to be close to accurate. We have found many differences already.
        Reply to this
        1. 10/9/2009 2:24 PM atanas entchev wrote:
          Google has just announced the availability of free stale bread for its users. Woo-hoo! An eerie resemblance to the cockiness of my 19-year-old, who thinks he knows everything and needs no advice.
          Reply to this
    2. 10/9/2009 4:33 PM John Reiser wrote:
      Juan,

      If you switch to OSM map tiles generated by CloudMade, you can specify which features in OSM show up on your maps.

      http://maps.cloudmade.com/editor
      Reply to this
  • 2/11/2010 1:45 PM Resourceful Comment Spammer wrote:
    Where did Google get this info from? I’m guessing that it is USGS, MapMaker and probably some TIGER data. Plus they’ve also cut deals with local organizations to get vectors. The parcels, who knows… But if counties are giving it to Google and charging the public, we’ve got problems. Also do they have rights to republish the data in the first place (due diligence)? If I make corrections to their data, will they push those back to the organizations that donated the data or keep it themselves (and in turn own the data outright)?
    Reply to this
    1. 2/11/2010 3:06 PM atanas entchev wrote:
      All excellent points. All stolen verbatim from James Fee:

      http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2009/10/07/google-maps-now-uses-their-own-map-data/
      Reply to this
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