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Parcel Project

Project Background

Led by the North Dakota GIS Technical Committee (GISTC), state agencies in early 2014 began to increasingly have a need for a statewide parcel dataset to assist them in meeting their business objectives. Examples include, property tax evaluations, siting of power lines and pipelines, enrollment of state lands into various programs, managing disease outbreak and pesticide application, management of spills, rights-of-ways, oil and gas well siting and permitting, and updating of administrative boundaries. During the 2017 GIS Users Conference there was a “North Dakota Statewide Parcel Dataset Panel Discussion” during which the benefits to the State of North Dakota and its cities and counties were discussed. The ideas and comments from that continued to grow, including a GISTC Resolution in Support of Parcels. Prior to the 2019 Legislative Session, the Game and Fish Department requested North Dakota Information Technology submit a funding request to build a statewide parcel dataset for the support of a land access system to be used by hunters and landowners. The 66th Legislative Assembly appropriated funds through House Bill 1021.

Project Description

The goal of this project is to develop an accurate, publicly accessible, maintained, statewide parcel dataset that supports the State of North Dakota business needs. Local government is and will remain as the primary custodians of their parcel data.

The Statewide Parcel Dataset Project will consist of aggregating existing parcel data from counties that voluntarily provide that data, and for the few counties that do not have parcel data, develop that data. In addition, this project will develop and put in place the maintenance workflow that is required to keep the data updated on a set schedule. The statewide parcel dataset is not to be used as a substitute for researching and obtaining the most current parcel information on file in the counties and cities.

If you have a question, please use the Contact Us on this website.

Current Status

August 27, 2019

  • The RFP is currently being drafted
  • Project Management has begun with the forming of the Executive Steering Committee
Archived Status

May 2, 2019

The North Dakota Department of Commerce is actively working to develop a list of residential addresses in North Dakota.  To help the Department develop this list, working with the North Dakota Association of Counties, it will seek to collaborate with cities and counties across North Dakota to acquire GIS parcel data. This acquisition will be a one-time initiative, used exclusively for ensuring the Census Bureau has a complete list of housing unit locations across the state in preparation for the Census 2020.

The aggregated set of parcels will be used together with address point data from the statewide seamless basemap (a GIS data product from the Department of Emergency Services) to identify an initial residential address list.  This information will then be compared to the Census Bureau Master Address list to identify any missing housing addresses ahead of Census 2020.

Similar to the work being done by other agencies as noted below, the knowledge that results from this Department of Commerce work will be applicable to the statewide project.

April 29, 2019

HB1021 provides funding as requested to develop the statewide parcel dataset. Over the next several weeks, the GIS Technical Committee will be formulating the next steps.

March 12, 2019

Working with the Public Service Commission and the Oil and Gas Division, the Game and Fish Department is leading an effort to contact North Dakota counties, requesting their parcel data.  A primary purpose of this work is to provide parcel data for the business needs of these agencies.  This work is independent of the planned statewide parcel dataset project described below. However, the knowledge gleaned from the work being done by these three agencies will be utilized in the statewide project.

December 19, 2018

During the 2017 GIS Users Conference there was a “North Dakota Statewide Parcel Dataset Panel Discussion”.  The ideas and comments from that have continued to grow, including a GIS Technical Committee Resolution in Support of Parcels (42kb pdf), resulting in a budget request to build a statewide parcel dataset. 

Great news! As of December 5, 2018, that request currently exists in Governor Burgum’s Executive Budget (5,228kb pdf)  As we all know, this request will next have to make it through the Legislative Session.

Based on the parcel status depicted on the North Dakota Association of Assessing Officers, a budget estimate was developed for developing parcel data in those counties potentially needing assistance to develop parcels, compiling data from those counties with parcels, developing a data maintenance workflow, and for project management.

There are several key goals and aspects of this project:

  • Develop a publicly accessible, maintained, land parcel dataset that supports the State of North Dakota business needs including but not limited to
    • Property tax evaluations (e.g., Tax Dept., counties)
    • Siting of power lines, pipelines (e.g., Oil and Gas Division, engineering companies)
    • Enrollment of state lands into programs (e.g., Game and Fish Dept.)
    • Managing disease outbreak, pesticide application (e.g., Dept. of Agriculture)
    • Determining access to land for sampling (e.g., Dept. of Health)
    • Management of spills (e.g., Dept. of Health, Dept. of Emergency Services)
    • Right-of-ways (e.g., Dept. of Transportation)
    • Oil and gas well siting and permitting
    • Emergency management service boundary maintenance
    • Updating administrative boundaries
    • Accurate land ownership and partnership information
  • A key stakeholder group will be established in order to guide this project during startup and into the future, leveraging insight, thoughts, concerns, and comments for the state to have a usable and sustainable product while respecting the needs and resources of the data providers. This stakeholder group will at minimum consist of representatives from counties, cities, and state organizations and associations.
  • Minimize disruption to data providers such as cities, counties, and vendors
  • Providing existing parcel data to the State of North Dakota will be voluntary

Should funding be approved by the Legislature, the early steps would include convening the stakeholder group (in person and/or web) and to develop an RFP.  Meanwhile, if there are any questions, concerns, comments, etc., please contact us.