This feature class contains "land" (surface rights) parcel boundaries delineated for property tax assessment purposes.This feature class includes all private, tax-exempt, and state-assessed land parcels listed on the secured tax roll, but does not include mineral rights (subsurface) parcels, mobilehomes, or unsecured entities.Parcels are modeled as planimetric polygons in a seamless fabric comprising the spatial extent of the County of Kern, in the State of California.Tax Roll Data is available in separate database tables, which can be joined to the feature class using the APN field as a key.

© Kern Council of Governments. Merced County Association of Governments. City of Bakersfield, IT Division, GIS Services. City of Shafter, IT Department, GIS Division. Kern County Assessor's Office, Mapping Section.

This layer is a component of Dev Assessor mxd.

Original GIS polygon dataset derived from the US Fish and Wildlife Service website. Wetland Imagery is used as the base information to define the type and location of each wetland. The scale, type, and date of imagery used in a project are provided in a pop-up window when a wetland polygon is selected on the Wetlands Mapper. Investigators that complete a wetland mapping project record information on the source imagery, collateral data, inventory method, data limitations, geographic features, landforms, wetland types, and other specifics in a project metadata document. The imagery covers Merced County at scale 1:786,633. Source Link: https://www.fws.gov/wetlands/Data/Web-Map-Services.html

This layer package is a compilation of the GIS "base map" data layers for the County of Merced. These layers include Addresses, Street Names, Highways, Streets, Boundary Lines, Buildings, Schools, Waterways, Parks, Property Lines, and Planning Layers. DISCLAIMER: This is not a legal document and intended for representational use only. MDSS does not claim this data to be 100% complete or accurate.

Range—A vertical column of townships in the PLSS.Section—A one-square-mile block of land, containing 640 acres, or approximately one thirty-sixth of a township. Due to the curvature of the Earth, sections may occasionally be slightly smaller than one square mile.Township—An approximately 6-mile square area of land, containing 36 sections. Also, a horizontal row of townships in the PLSS.

Original GIS polygon dataset derived from FEMA Department based on collected data and identified Flood Hazard zone. The scale of the data is 1:786,633 and covers the entire county of Merced. Data is updated based on FEMA updates. Source link: https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/1578062957793-0274cb6a7a3801a07a3db7916e64e80d/FloodwayAnalysis_and_Mapping_Nov_2019.pdf

Original GIS polygon dataset derived from Community and Economic Development. The scale of the data is 1:786,633 and covers the entire county of Merced. Data is updated based on CED Zone updates.

Original GIS polygon dataset derived from FEMA Department based on collected data. The scale of the data is 1:786,633 and covers the entire county of Merced. Data is updated based on FEMA updates. Link to source: https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?url=https://services.arcgis.com/P3ePLMYs2RVChkJx/ArcGIS/rest/services/USA_Flood_Hazard_Reduced_Set_gdb/FeatureServer&source=sdFor a comprehensive set of FEMA flood layer data visit FEMA's National Flood Hazard Layer (NFHL) viewer at: https://hazards-fema.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=8b0adb51996444d4879338b5529aa9cd

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Merced School Districts TRAs- Merced County High School District TRAs is a layer that identifies High School District boundary locations identified by the Tax Rate Area.

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MC Community Service TRAs – Merced County Community Service TRAs is a layer that identifies Community Service boundary locations identified by the Tax Rate Area.

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Unified School Districts TRAs - Merced County Unified School Districts TRAs is a layer that identifies Unified School Districts boundary locations identified by the Tax Rate Area.

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Merced County Water District TRAs - Merced County Water Districts TRAs is a layer that identifies Water Districts boundary locations identified by the Tax Rate Area.

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Merced County Drainage TRAs - Merced County Drainage Districts TRAs is a layer that identifies Drainage Districts boundary locations identified by the Tax Rate Area.

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Merced County Irrigation District TRAs - Merced County Irrigation Districts TRAs is a layer that identifies Irrigation Districts boundary locations identified by the Tax Rate Area.

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Merced County Sanitary District TRAs - Merced County Sanitary Districts TRAs is a layer that identifies Sanitary Districts boundary locations identified by the Tax Rate Area.

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Merced County Levee Districts TRAs - Merced County Levee Districts TRAs is a layer that identifies Levee Districts boundary locations identified by the Tax Rate Area.

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Merced County Assessor Parcels - The Assessor's office maintain GIS data layers that show every parcel of property in Merced County. These parcel layers are the basis for the assessment of real property. The maps are continuously updated to reflect new parcels and changes to existing parcels.Merced County Boundary - Merced County boundary is an area located in a California Constitution defined general law county. Merced County comprises the Merced, CA Metropolitan Area. It includes in the Modesto-Merced, a portion is located north of Fresno County and Fresno, and southeast of Santa Clara County and San Jose.

· Merced Schools – Merced Schools layer identified school locations with Merced County Boundary.

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Urban Community: Includes areas in the unincorporated Merced County that have a range of housing densities, commercial uses, public sewer and/or water infrastructure, public services, and employment-generating land uses. (Note: these areas were known under the previous general plan as "Specific Urban Development Plans")

· City Planning Area - Includes land located within the adopted sphere of influence of the cities of Atwater, Dos Palos, Gustine, Livingston, Los Banos, and Merced (where there is an adopted sphere of influence agreement). The land use and development within the cities is regulated by each City's general plan and the unincorporated fringe area outside the city limits is governed by the County general Plan and individual sphere of influence or land use agreement.

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Merced County Municipal Advisory Council – A Merced County layer geographically identifies Planners overseeing different Counsels in Merced County. MACs are defined as “The board of supervisors of any county may by resolution establish and provide funds for the operation of a municipal advisory council for any unincorporated area in the county to advise the board on such matters which relate to that area as may be designated by the board concerning services which are or may be provided to the area by the county or other local governmental agencies, including but not limited to advice on matters of public health, safety, welfare, public works, and planning. Unless the board of supervisors specifically provides to the contrary, a municipal advisory council may represent the community to any state, county, city, special district or school district, agency or commission, or any other organization on any matter concerning the community. The board may pay from available funds such actual and necessary expenses of travel, lodging, and meals for the members of the council while on such official business as may be approved by the board.”

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Merced Fire Stations- The primary mission of the Merced County Fire Department is to provide a range of programs aimed at protecting the lives and property of the people of Merced County from the adverse effects of fires, sudden medical emergencies, exposure to hazardous materials, or other dangerous conditions. The layer identifies its locations.

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Parks– Park location of natural, semi-natural, or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation and for the protection of wildlife or natural habitat.

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Merced Sheriff Beats - The Sherriff Department provides law enforcement services to the community. Beats are areas that are staffed around the clock, supplying emergency and non-emergency response to calls for service within the unincorporated areas of the county.

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Board of Supervisors Districts – Board of Supervisor District operate within Merced County. It is a government body that oversees the operation of County government. It geographically identifies the boundary for each Supervisor.

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Merced Police Stations – The Police Department is a professional organization to provide professional services through honest, ethical, fair and consistent practices that enhance the provision of life and property protection, utilizing advance technology.

Original GIS polygon dataset derived from Farmland Mapping & Monitoring Program Department (FMMP). The scale of the data is 1:786,633 and covers the entire County of Merced. Data is updated based on FMMP Program updates every two years. Program was established in 1982, Government Code Section 65570 mandates FMMP to biennially report on the conversion of farmland and grazing land, and to provide maps and data to local government and the public. Source Data Link: https://www.conservation.ca.gov/dlrp/fmmp

Original GIS polygon dataset derived from U.S. fish and Wildlife Service website. Grassland imagery is used as the base information to define the type and location of each grassland area. The imagery covers at scale 1:786,633. Grassland polygon within Merced County boundary. Source Link: https://www.fws.gov/gis/data/CadastralDB/index_cadastral.html.

Point file of addresses in Merced County.

This layer shows all schools in Merced County, including private, college, and universities.

This data represents a land use survey of 2012 Merced County conducted by the California Department of Water Resources, South Central Region Office staff. Land use boundaries were digitized, and land use data was gathered by staff of DWR’s South Central Region Office using extensive field visits and aerial photography. Detailed agricultural land uses, and lesser detailed urban and native vegetation land uses were mapped. Landsat 5 imagery was analyzed prior to the field survey by DRA staff to map fields likely to have winter crops. The land use data went through standard quality control procedures before final processing. Quality control procedures were performed jointly by staff at DWR’s DRA headquarters and South Central Region Office. Land use field boundaries were digitized with ArcGIS 9.3 using 2010 NAIP as the base, and Google Earth were used as reference as well. Agricultural fields were delineated by following actual field boundaries instead of using the centerlines of roads to represent the field borders. Field boundaries were not drawn to represent legal parcel (ownership) boundaries and are not meant to be used as parcel boundaries. Field work for land use surveys occurs primarily during the summer and early fall, so it can be difficult to identify fields where winter crops have been produced during the survey year. To improve the mapping of winter crops, we analyzed Landsat 5 imagery to identify fields with high winter vegetative cover. The identification of these fields was based on an analysis of Landsat 5 imagery. Visual inspection of the Landsat scene displayed in false color infrared was used to select fields with high and low vegetative cover. These fields were used to develop spectral signatures using ERDAS Imagine and eCognition Developer software. The Landsat image was classified using a maximum likelihood supervised classification to label each pixel as vegetated or not vegetated, then the zonal attributes of polygons representing agricultural fields were summarized to identify fields vegetated during the winter. Polygons representing these fields were used on laptop taken to the field to highlight the fields which should be checked closely for winter crop residue. Site visits occurred from July through October 2012. Images and land use boundaries were loaded onto laptop computers that, in most cases, were used as the field data collection tools. GPS units connected to the laptop computers were used to confirm surveyor's location with respect to the fields. Staff took these laptop computers into the field and virtually all the areas were visited to positively identify the land use. Land use codes were digitized in the field on laptop computers using ESRI ArcMAP software, version 9.3. Some staff took printed aerial photos into the field and wrote directly onto these photo field sheets. The data from the photo field sheets were digitized back in the office. The primary focus of this land use survey is mapping agricultural fields. Urban residences and other urban areas were delineated using aerial photo interpretation. Some urban areas may have been missed. Rural residential land use was delineated by drawing polygons to surround houses and other buildings along with some of the surrounding land. These footprint areas do not represent the entire footprint of urban land. Water source information was not collected for this land use survey. Therefore, the water source has been designated as Unknown. Before final processing, standard quality control procedures were performed jointly by staff at DWR’s South Central Region, and at DRA's headquarters office under the leadership of Jean Woods, Senior Land and Water Use Supervisor. After quality control procedures were completed, the data was finalized. The positional accuracy of the digital line work, which is based upon the orthorectified NAIP imagery, is approximately 6 meters. The land use attribute accuracy for agricultural fields is high, because almost every delineated field was visited by a surveyor. The accuracy is 95 percent because some errors may have occurred. Possible sources of attribute errors are: a) Human error in the identification of crop types, b) Data entry errors.The associated data are considered DWR enterprise GIS data, which meet all appropriate requirements of the DWR Spatial Data Standards, specifically the “SPATIAL DATA STANDARDS FOR THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES” version 3.1, dated September 11, 2019.DWR makes no warranties or guarantees - either expressed or implied - as to the completeness, accuracy, or correctness of the data. DWR neither accepts nor assumes liability arising from or for any incorrect, incomplete, or misleading subject data.Comments, problems, improvements, updates, or suggestions should be forwarded to gis@water.ca.gov.