Thursday, February 24th, 2011
Updated website to ease parcel search
By Amy Kronenberger
ST. MARYS - Auglaize County residents can easily
access parcel information with the click of a mouse, thanks to continued updates of a two-year-old county website.
The website is a compilation of all parcel information stored in the courthouse, administration building, and the offices of the county engineer, recorder and auditor. The format gives the public easy access to the information, county engineer Doug Reinhart said.
"It's a work in progress," Reinhart said. "We keep finding more layers and information in the archives to share with people."
Reinhart presented the updated site to the St. Marys Rotary Club on Wednesday. He demonstrated how the site works and what kind of information can be found.
A map of the county is on the site's main page. To find a parcel, a visitor must click on the area, Reinhart said. The map will zoom in with every click and give a satellite view of the individual parcels.
Once the correct parcel is located, the user can click the "i" icon in the toolbar at the top of the map, and then click the parcel to bring up information such as current owner, purchase date, appraisal and property lines according to the deed, Reinhart said. All parcel information is updated in the system each Friday, he added.
A ruler icon allows the user to measure the dimensions and acreage of any area of land.
Aside from general parcel information, a user can click on the "layers" icon to learn about school locations/districts, city limits, administrative services, topography and utility information.
Reinhart said his department's goal was to rewrite the county tax map by using the original cornerstones placed around the county in 1818 and new technology in satellites. As a result, they were able to get the measurements accurate within 1/16 of an inch and elevation within about 2/10 of a foot, he said.
Once all the information was compiled and brought together, Reinhart asked county geographical information system coordinator and administrator Joe Collin to make the site as easy as possible to use.
"I'm not very literate with computers, and I told him to make a website so easy that we can assume the person on the other end is me, a person with my capabilities," Reinhart said.
See the Auglaize County wibsite at
www.auglaizecounty.org/auglaizegis.
