What's new @ MassGIS

Meet the new MassGIS Director and State GIO

Our new Director, Cy Smith, (who is also the state's first Geographic Information Officer) has arrived and is immersing himself in all things Massachusetts GIS. Welcome Cy!

Maps and apps

• Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Resources Viewer: View resources across MA for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence

  
  This webapp was created by MassGIS for the Governor’s Council to Address Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence. It contains housing support, rape crisis centers, hospitals with a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) program, and District Attorney's offices. It also contains the Filter and Near Me widgets to help survivors find facilities relevant to them.
   

• Statewide Property Sales Viewer: View property sales from the past fiscal year across the state

  

  The Statewide Property Sales Viewer maps real estate sales assembled by the State's Bureau of Local Assessment (part of the Division of Local Services).  The source is the annual "LA3" sales reports provided by municipal assessors. On the Division of Local Services website, these sales can be searched by property type, range of sale date or price, and other characteristics. You can download the search results. This MassGIS sales viewer application supports the same search criteria and then maps the result, color coding the sales based on their assessment-to-sale ratio. You can also still see and download the tabular result.

• MassGIS Imagery Time Series: 30 years of Massachusetts orthophotos.

  

  This app explains our ortho imagery acquisitions through the years and allows you to explore the various vintages in one location, from the black and white imagery of the 1990s to the 2019 high-resolution color imagery program.

News

Governor Healey proclaimed November 15, 2023, as GIS Day. See the proclamation.

GISette Newsletter

The "GISette" is MassGIS' bi-monthly Newsletter. It features news, data updates, event information, and more.

Read our latest GISette and sign up to receive them by email.

Data updates

• Office of Fishing and Boating Access Sites
  November 30, 2023 - Latest update from the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game. The RAMPTYPE field was consolidated to 4 values, including "N/A" being recalculated to "OTHER."
• Property Tax Parcels
  November 29, 2023 - 18 municipalities: Berlin, Buckland, Charlemont, Dedham, Aquinnah, Gosnold, Great Barrington, Leyden, Ludlow, New Salem, Norwood, Pepperell, Pittsfield, Stoughton, Swansea, Tisbury, Warwick, and Wenham.
• MassDEP data layers (uploaded on 11/20/23):

  Up to date as of November 16, 2023 - Groundwater Discharge Permits

• Building Structures
  November 14, 2023 - Updated with edits compiled atop spring 2021 imagery.
• Hiking Trails for NextGen 911
  November 14, 2023 - This data layer of trails across Massachusetts contains mostly those found in wilderness areas and used for hiking and was developed to assist telecommunicators with lost hikers and potentially respond to emergencies in remote areas. First published in January 2023, the layer was recently updated with tens of thousands of lines sourced from OpenStreetMap.
• Trains
  November 14, 2023 - MassGIS: removed the points for the closed Commuter Rail stations Plymouth, Plimptonville, Silver Hill, Hastings, Prides Crossing and Mishawum; removed the Plymouth spur on the Kingston Commuter Rail line; added points for the Oak Grove and Pawtucket/Central Falls Commuter Rail stations.
  
  October 3, 2023 - Update to the Commuter Rail Stops (TRAINS_NODE) layer: corrected the location of the Manchester Commuter Rail stop in Manchester-by-the-Sea. ALso edited attributes to the 
   
• 2022 Wards and Precincts
  November 7, 2023 - Updated to merge the area of subprecinct 3A in precinct 3 in Groton into precinct 1 based on a legislative change.
• MHC Historic Inventory
  November 7, 2023 - Massachusetts Historical Commission staff have completed a significant update to data in Marblehead, and reviewed and corrected data for some of the first towns to be digitized: Andover, Blackstone, Fairhaven, New Bedford, Scituate and Shelburne; updates are in progress for Acton, Bridgewater, Dartmouth, Dracut, Franklin, Middleborough, Randolph, and Westport.
• Protected and Recreational Open Space
  November 5, 2023 - Energy and Environmental Affairs GIS staff have updated the Protected and Recreational OpenSpace layers (arcs and polygons), available from MassGIS. Since the last publication to the web, staff at EEA and its associated agencies performed edits that improved the boundaries and/or descriptive geography to over 800 polygons in 123 municipalities.
  
  New shapefile and file geodatabase downloads represent data updated as of 11/2/2023.
  
  The details:
  • Added or improved the boundaries of many types of open spaces: 148 conservation areas,16 water supply lands (both state and local)/watershed restrictions,10 cemeteries, 37 agricultural preservation restrictions (all types)/community gardens, 18 parks/beaches/rail trails, 66 conservation restrictions/easements, 2 golf courses, and 3 school playgrounds/athletic fields, resulting in a net gain of nearly 2,400 acres in the database.
  • With the latest update, we've now surpassed 1.4 million acres of permanently protected open space as digitized!
     
• Subprecincts (2022)
  November 3, 2023 - Subprecincts represent areas within individual precincts that have been assigned to a State and/or Congressional voting district that is different than those assigned to other areas within that same precinct.
• Schools (Pre-K through High School)
  October 27, 2023 - Update based on the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) school profiles database as of October 16, 2023.
• Geographic Place Names
  October 13, 2023 - Updated the Hypso feature classes to remove a label off Cape Cod.
• MassDEP data layers
  October 5, 2023 - Updates to the Public Water Supply Sources and Wellhead Protection Areas data, current as of 10/2/2023."
• MassDEP data layers (uploaded on 8/16/23):

  Up to date as of June 27, 2023 - MassDEP Tier Classified Oil and/or Hazardous Material Sites (MGL c. 21E) and MassDEP Oil and/or Hazardous Material Sites with Activity and Use Limitations (AUL)

• Community Preservation Act (CPA) Projects
  August 15, 2023 - New shapefile available for download reflecting the current status.
• FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer
  July 27, 2023 - The latest update includes data published by FEMA as of July 2, 2023 (Latest Study Effective Date = 6/21/2023; Latest LOMR Effective Date = 11/28/2022).
• Farmers' Markets
  July 26, 2023 - The Department of Agricultural Resources has provided an update to the statewide Farmers' Markets. The data lists locations, hours of operation, EBT inclusion and many other fields.
• Bicycle Trails
  June 22, 2023 - This data set replaces the 2004 layer of bicycle facilities in Massachusetts. It consists of four facility types: shared use paths, bike lanes, separated bike lanes and bicycle/pedestrian priority roadways. The inventory is primarily from MassDOT's 2020 dataset and includes all state-owned infrastructure as well as facilities under local jurisdiction. Linework has been adjusted in some places to be more accurate based on DCR Trails, Open Street Map, and MassGIS 2021 Orthoimagery.
• MassDEP Major Facilities
  June 6, 2023 - MassDEP has an updated release of Major Facilities data. This is the first update of this data since 2016 and includes changes to the feature class table structure with several fields being removed and others being altered from integer to text. This release also contains a new unlocated sites list (USL) table which was not included in previous versions. Five attribute fields (GWD, RTN, NPDES_ID, SWD, SW_ID) contained in the 2016 release of this data are no longer supported and have been removed from the attribute table structure.
• MassDEP data layers

  Up to date as of May 5, 2023:
  Surface Water Supply Watersheds and Surface Water Supply Protection Areas (Zone A, B, C).

• Massachusetts Geographic Response Strategies
  April 21, 2023 - New layers from MassDEP. A Geographic Response Strategy (GRS) is a planning document and response tool intended to guide local responders during the first 24 to 48 hours of a major coastal oil spill until professional contracted oil spill response personnel and additional resources supplied by Unified Command can arrive. These replace the Geographic Response Plan (GRP) data from MassDEP.
• Massachusetts Commission for the Blind (MCB) Regions
  April 11, 2023 - The MCB has 6 regions composed of groupings of municipalities. MassGIS has created this regions layer with contact information for each region.
• Limited Access Highway Exits and Interchanges
  March 27, 2023 - New and revised data representing off-ramps and junctions on limited access highways, based on data from MassDOT.
• MassDEP Mouth of River (MOR) Lines
  February 2, 2023 - This new data layer contains the Mouth of River (MOR) lines for Massachusetts coastal rivers originally published by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) on March 1, 2005, as PDF maps.
• Diadromous Fish
  February 2, 2023 - Five new data layers of diadromous fish passageways, impediments, habitat, species presence and sampling stations along coastal rivers and in lakes and ponds. Diadromous fish species travel between salt water and fresh water as part of their life cycle.
• Community Preservation Act (CPA) Towns
• January 18, 2023 - MassGIS updated the status of several towns to reflect recent elections that approved the adoption of the CPA. A new layer file that shows year of adoption is now included in the download.
• 2021 Legislative and Administrative Boundaries
  January 13, 2023 - These district boundaries for Massachusetts, signed into law in November 2021, now have member names populated with the results of the November 2022 election, and revised coastlines to match the 2020 Census data:
  • Massachusetts House Legislative Districts (2021)
  • Massachusetts Senate Legislative Districts (2021)
  • U.S. Congressional Districts (118th)
  • Governor's Council Districts (2021)
     
• 2020 U.S. Census Data
  December 20, 2022 - MassGIS has processed the following geography data layers from the U.S. Census Bureau:
   - Blocks, Block Groups and Tracts
   - TIGER Roads
   - Town boundaries
• MBTA Rapid Transit
  December 12, 2022 - MassGIS added the Green Line Extension lines and station points and edited the spatial accuracy and attributes of a few other features throughout the system.
• BioMap: The Future of Conservation
  November 17, 2022 - All associated GIS layers have been completely updated and enhanced with a new set of local and regional components. This third iteration of the BioMap data replaces all BioMap2 products..
• MassDEP data
• November 3, 2022 - The MassDEP GIS Group has updated the Groundwater Discharge Permits data, current as of 11/1/2022.
• Fire Stations
  October 19, 2022 - The Newburyport sub station, East Otis Fire Department, West Tisbury Station 1, and Marion Station 2 were added to the June update of all fire stations.
• MA Wildlife Coldwater Fisheries Resources
  September 14, 2022 - The MassWildlife GIS program has updated the data, now available from MassGIS.
• Mass State Police Troops
  August 19, 2022 - MassGIS has created a layer showing the boundaries for the six State Police Troops: A, B, C, D, F, and H.
• Surficial Geology (24k)
  July 27, 2022 - In this major update, the data are now available statewide and replace all previous versions of the data which covered only portions of the state.
• Places of Worship
  July 1, 2022 - Added Anglican and Evangelical Lutheran churches, one independent church (South Congregational Church - Church by the Lake in Braintree). One Synagogue was also moved, Congregation Dorshei Tzedek in West Newton.
• Police Stations
  May 25, 2022 - MassGIS has completed an update that includes the relocation of 63 stations, 2 address changes, and the removal of the Town of Wendell's stations
• MassDOT Roads
  May 9, 2022 - Edits to roads in Quincy Center, Union Point in Weymouth, Boston, Westwood, Plymouth and other areas (details in the metadata included with the downloads).
• Municipalities
  April 27, 2022 - Modified boundaries between:
   - Boston-Brookline 17 and 18 and Boston-Brookline 22 and 23 survey points to match Brookline's parcels.
   - Boston-Everett 4 and 5 survey points (straight line connection) to match survey plan.
   - Boston and Everett, through BE-2 survey point to match survey plan.
   - Hanover-Norwell along Third Herring Brook based on survey plan.
   - Medford-Somerville near the intersection of the Mystic Valley Parkway and Auburn Street based on assessors plan.
• Regional Datasets
  April 27, 2022 - The following region boundary datasets were updated to reflect recent edits to MassGIS' Municipalities data layer. (This follows the August 2021 update to re-create the layers, which had previously been based on USGS-based municipal polygons. No changes were made to the regions' constituent towns).
  • Counties
  • CZM Regions
  • DFS State Fire Districts
  • DFS State HazMat Districts
  • Division of Fisheries and Wildlife Districts
  • Emergency Medical Services Regions
  • Emergency Preparedness Regions and Regional Coalitions
  • Executive Office of Health & Human Services Regions
  • Homeland Security Planning Regions
  • MassDEP Regions (additional update on 5/27/2022)
  • MassDOT Highway Districts
  • Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) Regions
  • Regional Planning Agencies
  • Registries of Deeds Districts
     
• MassDEP 2018/2020 Integrated List of Waters
  March 21, 2022 - The newest version of this layer, from the MassDEP Division of Watershed Management.
• Legislative and Administrative Boundaries
  March 10, 2022 - MassGIS has updated these polygon data layers' attribute tables to reflect the results of recent special elections and filling of vacancies:
  • Massachusetts House Legislative Districts
  • Massachusetts Senate Legislative Districts
     

• DCR Service Forestry Districts
  February 14, 2022 - New polygon feature class that stores the boundaries of the DCR Service Forestry Districts, which provide technical assistance and services to landowners and municipalities regarding their forested properties.

• 2021 Ortho Imagery
  January 31, 2022 - These spring 2021 images are the highest resolution orthos ever made available for public use and distribution by MassGIS for the entire commonwealth. Web service and JPEG 2000 tiles may be used in a wide variety of software and apps.

• Emergency Service Zones and MSAG Communities
  January 19, 2022 - Updates to layers supporting NextGEN 911.

• Lidar DEM and Shaded Relief
  January 12, 2022 - New statewide, seamless digital elevation model (DEM) and shaded relief imagery from lidar terrain data (primarily 2010-2015).
• Rail data update
  December 29, 2021 - Updates to the Trains layer.
• SSURGO-Certified Soils
  November 23, 2021 - MassGIS has received the 2020 refresh of soils data from the NRCS. This update includes a new "Top 20" feature class that allows users to easily map many of the most commonly requested soils characteristics -- no need to link to separate database tables.
• Public Utility Service Providers
  October 21, 2021 - Updates to electricity and natural gas providers (September 2021 from Department of Public Utilities) as well as cable providers (November 2019 from Department of Telecommunications and Cable)
• NHESP data layers
  August 1, 2021 - The Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program (NHESP) has updated the Estimated Habitats of Rare Wildlife and Priority Habitats of Rare Species datalayers. The data are part of the 15th Edition of the Massachusetts Natural Heritage Atlas, and are effective beginning August 1, 2021.
• 2020 U.S. Census Environmental Justice Populations
  June 24, 2021 - Block group-level data compiled from the American Community Survey (ACS) 2015-2019 5-year-estimates tables.