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MassGIS standards and best practices

As the Commonwealth’s Bureau of Geographic Information, MassGIS can establish standards for the acquisition, management, and reporting of geographical information.

Data layers built and/or distributed through MassGIS have been the de-facto standard for that map feature in Massachusetts. Examples of these de-facto standards include parcel mapping, address point locations, and open space datalayers. Additionally, as the Commonwealth’s Bureau of Geographic Information, MassGIS legislated responsibilities include: "set standards for the acquisition, management and reporting of geographical information and for the acquisition, creation or use of applications employing such information by any state agency and the reporting of such information by municipalities." (from Part I, Title II, Chapter 7D in Section5 of the General Laws). Since 2000, MassGIS has initiated several formal standards, listed below.

Questions concerning any of these standards should be sent to massgismail @mass.gov.

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