How
to Use the Online Maps
Index
Launching
the Map
Click Map
Now to start the mapping application
- this will take several seconds.
When loaded, you should see a Rhode Island
map of State lands (See About
Land Data for more on what you are really
looking at). To the left are tools to help you modify
the map. In the upper left of the map is a
Key Map showing Rhode Island
and a rectangle around the map on screen to
help orient you. On the right is list of items,
or Layers that can be shown on the map as well as the
Refresh button. The map itself
is in the center. Any data requested about
particular map items - buildings by default -
will appear below the map.
Zooming and Moving around
To Zoom-In,
click on the  tool, then click and draw a box on the map around
your area of interest. As you zoom, the layers
that you can see will change. Slightly zooming
reveals "State
Places," a map layer that roughly outlines
state campuses and other complexes.
Zooming
to about a city (1:50,000 scale)
will show dots for State
Buildings. (See About
Building Data.) The buildings
are color-coded into seven government groups based
on the managing department or agency. Buildings that
are sold, demolished or have other "special" notes,
and others that are Suspected of Being State Buildings,
but have not been tied o the Accounts & Controls
building list are shown on separate layers.
Zooming in still closer
(1:10,000) makes aerial photography visible.
At this scale, the parcel layers will still be visible
but become semi-transparent. Building Labels appear
at about the city block scale (1:3000).
At any time you
can Zoom-In, Zoom-Out, or Zoom
to the Previous Extent. To return to a map of the entire state Zoom
to Full Extent  . You can also
use the Pan tool  to shift
the map.
Controlling What's on the Map
Beyond
map scale, you have some control over what is shown
on the map and the screen.
Turning on or off various
mapped features is done by clicking in the Visible checkbox
to the left of the layer name and hitting the Refresh
Map button.
Changing what is shown on
the map at given scale is done by clicking in
the Visible checkbox
to the left of the layer name and hitting the Refresh
Map button. For example, you may wish to turn
on the Major Roads layer to help orient yourself at
the city level or, as you get very close, to turn
off the parcel layers for a more crisp view of the
aerial photography.
To see the visual key to the map
symbols, click the Layer/Legend
Toggle tool  to view legend symbols for buildings and other layers.
Click this button again to return to the layer
selection list if you want to change layers viewed.
Finding Data about Mapped Buildings
There are 3 ways to display data
about buildings (the default Active Layer)
on the map. For single buildings, click on a building
after selecting the ID
tool  OR
use the Select tool  to
draw a box that around one or more building
symbols. Property details will be displayed for
the selected buildings in a box below the map.
You can click-swipe-copy the data in the property
box and then paste into Excel. (Excel may require
you to Paste Special as Text. )
The third way is more complicated but worthwhile
if you want to select data about a set of buildings
with a particular set of attributes (say the buildings
controlled by a certain agency and/or in a certain
municipality). Zoom in until the buildings are
shown on the map. Click on the Query tool  (a form will appear underneath the map). Select
the field of interest (i.e. AGEN for state agency
or CITY for municipality). Get the range of values
by hitting "sample values" and then pick
from the dropdown list that is created. (Note that
for some reason this does not work for AGEN where
only "MHRH"
is given as an option - in this case select MHRH
or manually put in the agency code of interest.)
You then click
the Add to Query String button.
At this point you could add more criteria to our
query string, or correct the name of the agency
of interest, but let's not get carried away. When
the Execute button is clicked, the computer runs
the expression and the results are displayed on
the map and a table with the buildings that match
the query (which may or may not be on the visible
map) displays. Note that the numbers in leftmost
column hyperlink
to the specific location of that building.
Downloading Information
The Excel workbook State
Building Database (download <1MB) includes
the full extent of property details as well
as a tab that defines all data fields. Be aware
that if the "Check" field contains
a 1, this building should be rechecked for
proper placement or for contradictions in Accounts
and Controls and Insurance Office data. You
may also download an Excel workbook of land
parcels recorded in the A&C database State
Land Database (download <1MB).
This database includes both fee title and easement
holdings but is not comprehensive for all State
departments and agencies.
Comments
or requests for help welcome
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