Geographic Information System

Back in 1999 we explored the role that a Geographic Information System might play at the registry of deeds. A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a computer system “capable of storing, manipulating, and displaying geographically referenced information” such as boundary lines, roads, waterways, zoning districts, wetlands and any thing else that can be depicted on a map. As the primary repository of all documents related to land ownership, the registry of deeds certainly has a role to play in any GIS. Six years ago, the technology (fast computers and readily available high speed Internet connections, for example) and the inventory of electronically based data, documents and map images were insufficient to support such a system for anything beyond simple demonstrations. Well as you all know, computer technology changes rapidly and in the tech field, six years is an eternity, so we are revisiting the entire GIS concept. As much by coincidence as by design, we have made contact with MassGIS, the Commonwealth’s office of Geographic and Environmental Information and learned of the tremendous strides that office has made in making a GIS system that other systems – such as a registry of deeds – can plug into to greatly enhance the quality of data we make available to the customers of both the registry and of MassGIS (http://www.mass.gov/mgis/massgis.htm). Imagine using our website to view legal documents about a particular parcel and then, with a simple click of an on-screen link, going directly to an over head photograph of that parcel with the applicable lot lines and road layouts overlaid on the photograph. The easy-to-use MassGIS interface would then permit you to overlay zoning districts, wetlands delineations, the location of schools, police and fire stations and just about any other type of information that can be depicted on the map. For now, we’re experimenting with different concepts to try to decide what works best.