MassGIS
MassGIS (mass.gov/mgis) is the Commonwealth's Office of Geographic and Environmental Information. Some data from MassGIS has been imported into OpenStreetMap.
Contents |
Right to Use
Note on copyright from e-mail exchange with MassGIS:
- All of our data is paid for by the taxpayers and is therefore in the public domain. We do prefer to be credited though in any publications... When using MassGIS data on maps or in digital applications, source credit should be stated as "Office of Geographic and Environmental Information (MassGIS), Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs".
Importers
The following users appear to participating in the bulk import process:
- Chris Schmidt:
- User Page: Chris Schmidt
- Wiki Page: Chris Schmidt
- Homepage: crschmidt.net/
- Brandon Martin-Anderson
- User Page:
- Wiki Page:
- Seth Fitzsimmons:
- User Page: Seth Fitzsimmons
Software Used for Imports
These are the programs which have been used to perform past imports.
Imported layers
Please refer to the MassGIS list of available datalayers.
Import status and mappings notes by layer follow.
Executive Office of Transportation-OTP Roads Layer
This layer was imported in 2007.
- MassGis_to_OSM_Attribute_Map Mappings for the EOT-OTP layer by crschmidt
- Message from Brandon points to files (which are no longer available)
- It appears that the user ID "MassGIS Import" was used to upload this data
Three towns were omitted from the initial import for various reasons:
- Freetown (still missing signficant numbers of local roads)
- Gloucester (as of 201203, OSM looks pretty complete)
- Braintree (as of 201203, OSM looks pretty complete)
POI Layers
- Police Stations
- Fire Stations
- Prisons
- Hospitals
- Lighthouses
- Schools
Please add information about these imports.
OpenSpace Layer
- MassGIS Information Page
- MassGis Layer Openspace Information about import
- Chris Schmidt did this 2009-01-04 with polyshp2osm.py.
- Since much of this layer was produced by digitizing paper maps, the areas frequently do not line up with the surrounding streets.
There's an error in this import. Many lands that are owned by municipal water supplies are marked as landuse=reservoir, however these aren't the actual reservoirs, but typically their watershed. (The wost cases outline the actual reservoir with water, but leave it as land.) I've been changing them to landuse=reservoir_watershed and removing their names from the map by changing them from the 'name' tag to 'watershed_name'. Both of these are non-standard, but I wasn't sure if I should just delete all that data. So, the areas are still in there with all their MassGIS tags, but don't show up on any maps. (At least, the ones I've fixed don't.) So far I've fixed all of Gloucester, Rockport and Cape Cod.
- A refinement of the 2009 import is possible for towns that have completed the Level 3 Assessors' Parcels [1]. The layers have the parcel shape, a USE_CODE that can be used to filter out the conservation land, and the address for each parcel. See MassGIS Level3 Assessors Parcels for details.
Morganwahl 15:53, 29 October 2010 (BST)
I've been changing many incorrect landuse=reservoir to landuse=reservoir_watershed as well (see above) after verifying each feature against aerial imagery.
Ahlzen 18:31, 11 January 2011 (UTC)
MBTA Rapid Transit Layer
Please add information about this import.
Bicycle Trails Layer
Brandon may be working on this.
DEP Wetlands Layer
morganwahl is working on this.
Town Boundaries from Survey Points Layer
Around 201110, Calvin Metcalf imported most of this layer, and then various people edited to resolve minor issues. As of 201203, it is believed that town boundary data in OSM is in pretty good shape. (However, coastline data was not necessarily aligned with town boundary data, this was fixed by importing the offshore town boundary layer in Aug-Sep 2012, see below).
A comprehensive list of boundary relations for each town/city which incorporates the survey points layer (and the offshore layer, below) can be found at: Massachusetts/Boundary Relations.
Offshore Town Boundaries and County Boundaries
As the above survey point layer lacked the offshore boundaries, in Aug-Sep 2012 
fiveisalive (edits, contrib, wiki, heat map) and massDOT (edits, contrib, wiki, heat map) imported the offshore boundaries only and connecting them up to the onshore town boundary and have adjusted the town relationships and county relationships, accordingly. The tags used for import are:
attribution=MassGIS and
source=massgis_offshore_town_boundary_import
The MA state boundaries has been fixed to be the outer coastal boundary of all towns/counties. Join the discussion on the Talk:Massachusetts/Boundary Relations talk page. As of early Sep 2012, there is still some checking on all relations to be done. See also: diary entry
Building Layer
- MassGIS Data - Building Structures (2-D, from 2011-2012 Ortho Imagery)
- MassGIS Buildings Import Information about the import
WMS Server
MassGIS provides an WMS server:
Particularly useful are the Color Ortho Imagery. As this data is more recent than aerial photography provided by Yahoo!, it is highly recommended that it be used when mapping the covered areas.
Links for use with JOSM's WMSPlugin:
- 2008 30cm Color Ortho Imagery (north-eastern part of state)
- 2008 15cm Color Ortho Imagery (selected towns)
- 2005 Color Ortho Imagery (whole state)
USGS provides a WMS server with these same layers:
- Service URL for JOSM's WMSPlugin.
