The "Create Buffers" analysis tool in ArcGIS Online can be used to identify areas within a given distance of existing features, be those points, lines or polygons.The distance used for the buffers can either be a fixed distance from all features, or could be taken from a numerical value within each features attributes.

WARNING: This is a pre-release dataset and its fields names and data structures are subject to change. It should be considered pre-release until the end of 2024. Expected changes:

• Metadata is missing or incomplete for some layers at this time and will be continuously improved.
  
• We expect to update this layer roughly in line with CDTFA at some point, but will increase the update cadence over time as we are able to automate the final pieces of the process.

Purpose

County and incorporated place (city) boundaries along with third party identifiers used to join in external data. Boundaries are from the authoritative source the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA), altered to show the counties as one polygon. This layer displays the city polygons on top of the County polygons so the area isn"t interrupted. The GEOID attribute information is added from the US Census. GEOID is based on merged State and County FIPS codes for the Counties. Abbreviations for Counties and Cities were added from Caltrans Division of Local Assistance (DLA) data. Place Type was populated with information extracted from the Census. Names and IDs from the US Board on Geographic Names (BGN), the authoritative source of place names as published in the Geographic Name Information System (GNIS), are attached as well. Finally, the coastline is used to separate coastal buffers from the land-based portions of jurisdictions. This feature layer is for public use.

Related Layers

This dataset is part of a grouping of many datasets:

1. Cities: Only the city boundaries and attributes, without any unincorporated areas
   • With Coastal Buffers
   • Without Coastal Buffers
2. Counties: Full county boundaries and attributes, including all cities within as a single polygon
   • With Coastal Buffers
   • Without Coastal Buffers
3. Cities and Full Counties: A merge of the other two layers, so polygons overlap within city boundaries. Some customers require this behavior, so we provide it as a separate service.
   • With Coastal Buffers (this dataset)
   • Without Coastal Buffers
4. Place Abbreviations
5. Unincorporated Areas (Coming Soon)
6. Census Designated Places (Coming Soon)
   
7. Cartographic Coastline
   • Polygon
   • Line source (Coming Soon)

Point of Contact

California Department of Technology, Office of Digital Services, odsdataservices@state.ca.gov

Field and Abbreviation Definitions

• COPRI: county number followed by the 3-digit city primary number used in the Board of Equalization"s 6-digit tax rate area numbering system
• Place Name: CDTFA incorporated (city) or county name
• County: CDTFA county name. For counties, this will be the name of the polygon itself. For cities, it is the name of the county the city polygon is within.
• Legal Place Name: Board on Geographic Names authorized nomenclature for area names published in the Geographic Name Information System
• GNIS_ID: The numeric identifier from the Board on Geographic Names that can be used to join these boundaries to other datasets utilizing this identifier.
• GEOID: numeric geographic identifiers from the US Census Bureau Place Type: Board on Geographic Names authorized nomenclature for boundary type published in the Geographic Name Information System
• Place Abbr: CalTrans Division of Local Assistance abbreviations of incorporated area names
• CNTY Abbr: CalTrans Division of Local Assistance abbreviations of county names
• Area_SqMi: The area of the administrative unit (city or county) in square miles, calculated in EPSG 3310 California Teale Albers.
• COASTAL: Indicates if the polygon is a coastal buffer. Null for land polygons. Additional values include "ocean" and "bay".
• GlobalID: While all of the layers we provide in this dataset include a GlobalID field with unique values, we do not recommend you make any use of it. The GlobalID field exists to support offline sync, but is not persistent, so data keyed to it will be orphaned at our next update. Use one of the other persistent identifiers, such as GNIS_ID or GEOID instead.

Accuracy

CDTFA"s source data notes the following about accuracy:

City boundary changes and county boundary line adjustments filed with the Board of Equalization per Government Code 54900. This GIS layer contains the boundaries of the unincorporated county and incorporated cities within the state of California. The initial dataset was created in March of 2015 and was based on the State Board of Equalization tax rate area boundaries. As of April 1, 2024, the maintenance of this dataset is provided by the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration for the purpose of determining sales and use tax rates. The boundaries are continuously being revised to align with aerial imagery when areas of conflict are discovered between the original boundary provided by the California State Board of Equalization and the boundary made publicly available by local, state, and federal government. Some differences may occur between actual recorded boundaries and the boundaries used for sales and use tax purposes. The boundaries in this map are representations of taxing jurisdictions for the purpose of determining sales and use tax rates and should not be used to determine precise city or county boundary line locations. COUNTY = county name; CITY = city name or unincorporated

The Transit Buffer Mask layer represents transit-oriented development (TOD) buffers generated from point-in-time GTFS data extractions of GCTRA data. Using the GTFS model in ArcGIS Pro, "frequent" routes with 30-minute or better peak service are identified. From these routes, 1/2 mile buffers are created. Additionally, 1/4 mile buffers are generated around all rail stops, excluding the waterfront line.Data Sources:GTFS data from GCTRAArcGIS Pro GTFS modelGeographic Coverage: Cuyahoga County, OhioVintage: 2023Update Frequency: StaticLast Update: 2023

Feature layer containing a 600 foot buffer based on Off Premise Signs in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

This layer is a 45-meter growth buffer surrounding the maximum extent of eelgrass (green layer called "SF Bay Eelgrass") surveyed in San Francisco Bay. Eelgrass beds are highly dynamic and the exact location and extent of eelgrass beds can change across seasons and years. Thus, the purpose of the 45-meter growth buffer, as described in the National Marine Fisheries Service's LTMS Programmatic Essential Fish Habitat consultation is to account for areas between eelgrass patches, temporal variation in bed extent, and potential bed expansion. In cases where a dredge project intersects with the 45-meter growth buffer direct impacts to eelgrass may occur and therefore assessment, minimization, and mitigation measures may be required on a project-by-project basis. A pre-dredge eelgrass area and density survey is required 30 days prior to the start of dredging and should be submitted to the LTMS permitting agencies. Methods for creating this layer are as follows: Downloaded Baywide Eelgrass Surveys for 2003, 2009, and 2014 by Merkel & Associates, Inc. (Merkel) from San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) website. Obtained Richardson Bay 2019 eelgrass survey from Merkel. Loaded all layers into ArcGIS Pro © ESRI and re-projected all data to NAD 1983 UTM Zone 10N. Used Buffer tool to develop a single multipart shapefile with a 45-meter buffer of the input layers. Imported the Pacific Marine and Estuarine Fish Habitat Partnership (PMEP) Estuary Extent layer and clipped the 45-meter buffer over terrestrial areas based on the PEMP Estuary Extent. Some minor adjustments were made where the buffer layer resulted in fragments on land or behind levees.

A 3/4 Mile buffer was made around each bus stop. This layer will depict the counties ADA service area. Requested by Community ServicesNOTE: THIS IS AN AGOL PUBLISHED SERVICE.

This feature class represents combined 200ft and 1000ft beach buffers derived from Intertidal_PL. The process for creating this combined buffer is as follows: Select from Intertidal_PL where Description in ( 'CHK' , 'INT', 'EST', 'UIT' ) and buffer it 1000 ft, then dissolve all, so it's just a big ol' blob. Use the same selected set from Intertidal_PL and buffer it 200 feet, then dissolve all.Then select from Intertidal_PL where Description in ( 'CHK' , 'SW', 'EST' ) and erase those areas from the big buffered blobs. (I do not erase the INT areas because that might leave gaps and slivers along the shoreline above the water.)Add a field called Buff1000ft to the 1000 foot buffer and populate it with 'Y'. Add a field called Buff200ft to the 200 foot buffer and populate it with 'Y'. Identity the 200 ft buffer onto the 1000 ft buffer.Select where the field Buff200ft is blank and populate it with 'N'. (This would be the area within the 1000 ft buffer that falls outside of the 200 ft buffer.)The resulting buffer polygons can end up being wider than 1000ft or 200ft respectively in some places (beach…etc), but the intent of the polygons is to go landward 1000ft/200ft – the additional width is due to the beach/island/peninsula type stuff. The reason I originally started choosing to buffer CHK, INT, EST, and UIT was because I was concerned that buffering only INT might lead to odd gaps.

Business Analyst Buffers Layer

Buffer Zone for San Antonio Missions National Historical Park and World Heritage made from Historic Distircts, River Improvement Overlay, Roosevelt Corridor, Hertiage South Conservation Area.

Park_OneMileBuffer

Feature layer generated from running the Buffer Features solution. Input from Transit Stops were buffered by [0.25] Miles

This layer comprises 200 feet of the US Government Meander line and locations where information suggests the probability of potential archaeologically significant resources should ensure analysis of these significant resources. More information can be found in DR2-98 and Seattle Municipal Code Section (SMC 25.05.675H).Source Data: DPD.ArchaeologicalBufferAreaRefresh: As needed

Park_QuarterMileBuffer

Link to Greenspace Buffer Web Map. Half Mile Buffer around Dunwoody Parks

Note: The schema changed in February 2025 - please see below. We will post a roadmap of upcoming changes, but service URLs and schema are now stable. For deployment status of new services beginning in February 2025, see https://gis.data.ca.gov/pages/city-and-county-boundary-data-status. Additional roadmap and status links at the bottom of this metadata.

Purpose
County boundaries along with third party identifiers used to join in external data. Boundaries are from the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA). These boundaries are the best available statewide data source in that CDTFA receives changes in incorporation and boundary lines from the Board of Equalization, who receives them from local jurisdictions for tax purposes. Boundary accuracy is not guaranteed, and though CDTFA works to align boundaries based on historical records and local changes, errors will exist. If you require a legal assessment of boundary location, contact a licensed surveyor.

This dataset joins in multiple attributes and identifiers from the US Census Bureau and Board on Geographic Names to facilitate adding additional third party data sources. In addition, we attach attributes of our own to ease and reduce common processing needs and questions. Finally, coastal buffers are separated into separate polygons, leaving the land-based portions of jurisdictions and coastal buffers in adjacent polygons. This feature layer is for public use.

Related Layers

This dataset is part of a grouping of many datasets:

1. Cities: Only the city boundaries and attributes, without any unincorporated areas
   • With Coastal Buffers
   • Without Coastal Buffers
2. Counties: Full county boundaries and attributes, including all cities within as a single polygon
   • With Coastal Buffers (this dataset)
   • Without Coastal Buffers
3. Cities and Full Counties: A merge of the other two layers, so polygons overlap within city boundaries. Some customers require this behavior, so we provide it as a separate service.
   • With Coastal Buffers
   • Without Coastal Buffers
4. City and County Abbreviations
5. Unincorporated Areas (Coming Soon)
6. Census Designated Places
7. Cartographic Coastline
   • Polygon
   • Line source (Coming Soon)
   • 
     

Point of Contact

California Department of Technology, Office of Digital Services, gis@state.ca.gov

Field and Abbreviation Definitions

• CDTFA_COUNTY: CDTFA county name. For counties, this will be the name of the polygon itself. For cities, it is the name of the county the city polygon is within.
• CDTFA_COPRI: county number followed by the 3-digit city primary number used in the Board of Equalization"s 6-digit tax rate area numbering system. The boundary data originate with CDTFA's teams managing tax rate information, so this field is preserved and flows into this dataset.
• CENSUS_GEOID: numeric geographic identifiers from the US Census Bureau
• CENSUS_PLACE_TYPE: City, County, or Town, stripped off the census name for identification purpose.
• GNIS_PLACE_NAME: Board on Geographic Names authorized nomenclature for area names published in the Geographic Name Information System
• GNIS_ID: The numeric identifier from the Board on Geographic Names that can be used to join these boundaries to other datasets utilizing this identifier.
• CDT_COUNTY_ABBR: Abbreviations of county names - originally derived from CalTrans Division of Local Assistance and now managed by CDT. Abbreviations are 3 characters.
• CDT_NAME_SHORT: The name of the jurisdiction (city or county) with the word "City" or "County" stripped off the end. Some changes may come to how we process this value to make it more consistent.
• AREA_SQMI: The area of the administrative unit (city or county) in square miles, calculated in EPSG 3310 California Teale Albers.
• OFFSHORE: Indicates if the polygon is a coastal buffer. Null for land polygons. Additional values include "ocean" and "bay".
• PRIMARY_DOMAIN: Currently empty/null for all records. Placeholder field for official URL of the city or county
• CENSUS_POPULATION: Currently null for all records. In the future, it will include the most recent US Census population estimate for the jurisdiction.
• GlobalID: While all of the layers we provide in this dataset include a GlobalID field with unique values, we do not recommend you make any use of it. The GlobalID field exists to support offline sync, but is not persistent, so data keyed to it will be orphaned at our next update. Use one of the other persistent identifiers, such as GNIS_ID or GEOID instead.

Zone A delineations for ground water sources represent the Several Month Time of Travel. For surface water sources, Zone A represents a 1000 ft buffer around the surface water source.

Feature layer generated from running the Buffer Features solution. Input from Transit Rail Stations - SDEPUB.SDE.Transit_Rail_Stations were buffered by [0.25] Miles

Business Analyst Buffers Layer

This layer deliniates Community Character areas as developed in the 2017-2037 Forsyth County Compreshenvie Plan. Commnity Areas represent specific geographic locales that have unique, recognizable characteristics that are different from adjacent areas. Distinctions are based on the form, pattern and intensity of land development.Comprehensive Plan (2017 - 2037)The purpose of the Comprehensive Plan is to guide the intensity, location and timing of development and to ensure compatibility with existing uses, infrastructure and economic trends while protecting natural and cultural resources.Forsyth County's Comprehensive Plan serves as a policy guide as decisions are made in relation to growth and land use change. The plan addresses critical issues and opportunities through the incorporation of a shared vision for the community's future.Please see the Forsyth County website for a complete copy of the plan as well as a .PDF of the Community Character Maps