This map of Minnesota cities, townships, and counties was published by MnGeo in January 2019. The primary data set for the map is the "Cities, Townships, and Unorganized Territories" (MnCTU) data maintained by the Minnesota Department of Transportation. Other reference data on the map include County Seats and Other Cities, County Boundaries, Interstate, US Trunk, and State Trunk Highways, Major Rivers, Lakes, County and State Boundaries. The download is a PDF file with embedded layers that can be printed at E-scale (36" x 48").

The TRS digital data set represents the Township, Range, and Section boundaries of the state. Beginning in the late 1840s, the federal government began surveying Minnesota as part of the Public Land Survey System (PLSS). The resulting network of land survey lines divided the state into townships, ranges, sections, quarter sections, quarter-quarter sections and government lots, and laid the groundwork for contemporary land ownership patterns.

The township, range and section boundaries were digitized at MnGeo (formerly known as the Land Management Information Center - LMIC) from stable base mylars of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 30-minute latitude by 60-minute longitude map series (1:100,000-scale). All survey lines were extended across water bodies despite the fact that U.S. Geological Survey base maps depict them only on land. This addition allows all sections and townships to be represented as closed areas (polygons) ensuring that township and range location can be determined for any point in the state. It also means that the data set is not affected if lake levels change over time.

This medium-scale (nominally 1:24,000) dataset represents the boundaries of cities, townships, and unorganized territories (CTUs) in Minnesota. The Minnesota Geospatial Information Office created the initial CTU dataset by updating a municipal boundary file maintained by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT). Update information was gathered primarily from boundary adjustment records maintained by the Office of Administrative Hearings, Municipal Boundary Adjustment Unit. MnDOT has maintained the file since 2014.

Note: Cities and Townships represented in this dataset are political (civil) townships as recognized by the State of MN, not congressional or public land survey townships. Unorganized territory subdivisions are those defined by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, which often differ from those defined by a county.

Check other metadata records in this package for more information on CTUInformation.


Link to ESRI Feature Service:

City, Township, and Unorganized Territory in Minnesota: City, Township, and Unorganized Territory

A downloadable, printable 8.5 x 11 inch PDF map of Camden Township and surrounding area.

description: The TRSQ digital data set represents the Township, Range, Section, Quarter section, and Quarter-quarter section divisions of the state. Beginning in the late 1840s, the federal government began surveying Minnesota as part of the Public Land Survey System (PLSS). The resulting network of land survey lines divided the state into townships, ranges, sections, quarter sections, quarter-quarter sections and government lots, and laid the groundwork for contemporary land ownership patterns. The quarter-quarter section remains an important subdivision for rural Minnesota since these lines are used to define local boundaries, roads, and service areas. All survey lines were extended across water bodies despite the fact that U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) base maps depict them only on land. This addition allows all sections and townships to be represented as closed areas ensuring that township and range location can be determined for any point in the state. It also means that the data is not affected if lake levels change over time. The township, range and section boundaries were digitized at MnGeo (formerly the Land Management Information Center - LMIC) from the USGS 30' x 60' map series (1:100,000-scale). Quarter section and quarter-quarter section subdivisions were calculated using the section lines. They were not digitized from original plat book survey lines or from the meandered lines that surveyors laid out around water bodies. The existence of government lots within a quarter-quarter section is recorded in the data set; however, the government lot boundaries were not digitized. If a quarter-quarter section contains more than one government lot, the number of lots is recorded -- see Lineage, Section 2, for more detail. Note: For most uses, TRSQ has been superseded by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) 1:24,000-scale 'Control Point Generated PLS' data set which is free online. See https://gisdata.mn.gov/dataset/plan-mndnr-public-land-survey for more information. Also, many county surveyors offices have more accurate PLS (Public Land Survey) data sets. For county webpages and contact information, see http://www.mngeo.state.mn.us/cty_contacts.html .; abstract: The TRSQ digital data set represents the Township, Range, Section, Quarter section, and Quarter-quarter section divisions of the state. Beginning in the late 1840s, the federal government began surveying Minnesota as part of the Public Land Survey System (PLSS). The resulting network of land survey lines divided the state into townships, ranges, sections, quarter sections, quarter-quarter sections and government lots, and laid the groundwork for contemporary land ownership patterns. The quarter-quarter section remains an important subdivision for rural Minnesota since these lines are used to define local boundaries, roads, and service areas. All survey lines were extended across water bodies despite the fact that U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) base maps depict them only on land. This addition allows all sections and townships to be represented as closed areas ensuring that township and range location can be determined for any point in the state. It also means that the data is not affected if lake levels change over time. The township, range and section boundaries were digitized at MnGeo (formerly the Land Management Information Center - LMIC) from the USGS 30' x 60' map series (1:100,000-scale). Quarter section and quarter-quarter section subdivisions were calculated using the section lines. They were not digitized from original plat book survey lines or from the meandered lines that surveyors laid out around water bodies. The existence of government lots within a quarter-quarter section is recorded in the data set; however, the government lot boundaries were not digitized. If a quarter-quarter section contains more than one government lot, the number of lots is recorded -- see Lineage, Section 2, for more detail. Note: For most uses, TRSQ has been superseded by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) 1:24,000-scale 'Control Point Generated PLS' data set which is free online. See https://gisdata.mn.gov/dataset/plan-mndnr-public-land-survey for more information. Also, many county surveyors offices have more accurate PLS (Public Land Survey) data sets. For county webpages and contact information, see http://www.mngeo.state.mn.us/cty_contacts.html .

This feature class is basically a representation of all cities/towns and townships within Douglas County.This is the most up to date boundary for Douglas County with annexations for Alexandria City. Current boundary used in apps.

A polygon dataset of PLSS townships (also known as minor civil divisions in U.S. Census Bureau terminology) in Hubbard County, MN.

Public Parcels - Metro CTUsThis web map was created by Metro Transit's Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Office to showcase the newly expanded public parcel data in relation to existing and planned transit facilities across the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area. As of August, 2019, the parcels can also be viewed in relation to Federally approved Opportunity Zones. More information on the new US Department of Treasury Opportunity Zone Program can be found here. The purpose of the public parcel data is to increase awareness of the location and quantity of publicly owned lands at all levels of government. The Q-1 2020 dataset now includes more than 35,000 parcels from across 128 cities, townships, and unorganized territories (CTUs). These parcels are further classified and displayed by eight broad ownership or administrative categories. Users can view, analyze, share, and research publicly-owned lands that may be good candidates for TOD or some other higher/better use.The purpose of the original pilot project was to increase awareness of publicly owned parcel locations relative to Metro-area transit facilities and facilitate TOD analyses. While the current geographic extent of the data has been greatly expanded, the purpose remains the same; to raise awareness of publicly owned land for the highest & best use.For those with desktop GIS software, the Public Parcel shapefile and/or geodatabase can be downloaded here: https://gisdata.mn.gov/dataset/us-mn-state-metc-plan-public-parcels-metro-ctus

NCED is currently involved in researching the effectiveness of anaglyph maps in the classroom and are working with educators and scientists to interpret various Earth-surface processes. Based on the findings of the research, various activities and interpretive information will be developed and available for educators to use in their classrooms. Keep checking back with this website because activities and maps are always being updated. We believe that anaglyph maps are an important tool in helping students see the world and are working to further develop materials and activities to support educators in their use of the maps.

This website has various 3-D maps and supporting materials that are available for download. Maps can be printed, viewed on computer monitors, or projected on to screens for larger audiences. Keep an eye on our website for more maps, activities and new information. Let us know how you use anaglyph maps in your classroom. Email any ideas or activities you have to ncedmaps@umn.edu

Anaglyph paper maps are a cost effective offshoot of the GeoWall Project. Geowall is a high end visualization tool developed for use in the University of Minnesota's Geology and Geophysics Department. Because of its effectiveness it has been expanded to 300 institutions across the United States. GeoWall projects 3-D images and allows students to see 3-D representations but is limited because of the technology. Paper maps are a cost effective solution that allows anaglyph technology to be used in classroom and field-based applications.

Maps are best when viewed with RED/CYAN anaglyph glasses!

A note on downloading: "viewable" maps are .jpg files; "high-quality downloads" are .tif files. While it is possible to view the latter in a web-browser in most cases, the download may be slow. As an alternative, try right-clicking on the link to the high-quality download and choosing "save" from the pop-up menu that results. Save the file to your own machine, then try opening the saved copy. This may be faster than clicking directly on the link to open it in the browser.

World Map: 3-D map that highlights oceanic bathymetry and plate boundaries.

Continental United States: 3-D grayscale map of the Lower 48.

Western United States: 3-D grayscale map of the Western United States with state boundaries.

Regional Map: 3-D greyscale map stretching from Hudson Bay to the Central Great Plains. This map includes the Western Great Lakes and the Canadian Shield.

Minnesota Map: 3-D greyscale map of Minnesota with county and state boundaries.

Twin Cities: 3-D map extending beyond Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Twin Cities Confluence Map: 3-D map highlighting the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers. This map includes most of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Minneapolis, MN: 3-D topographical map of South Minneapolis.

Bassets Creek, Minneapolis: 3-D topographical map of the Bassets Creek watershed.

North Minneapolis: 3-D topographical map highlighting North Minneapolis and the Mississippi River.

St. Paul, MN: 3-D topographical map of St. Paul.

Western Suburbs, Twin Cities: 3-D topographical map of St. Louis Park, Hopkins and Minnetonka area.

Minnesota River Valley Suburbs, Twin Cities: 3-D topographical map of Bloomington, Eden Prairie and Edina area.

Southern Suburbs, Twin Cities: 3-D topographical map of Burnsville, Lakeville and Prior Lake area.

Southeast Suburbs, Twin Cities: 3-D topographical map of South St. Paul, Mendota Heights, Apple Valley and Eagan area.

Northeast Suburbs, Twin Cities: 3-D topographical map of White Bear Lake, Maplewood and Roseville area.

Northwest Suburbs, Mississippi River, Twin Cities: 3-D topographical map of North Minneapolis, Brooklyn Center and Maple Grove area.

Blaine, MN: 3-D map of Blaine and the Mississippi River.

White Bear Lake, MN: 3-D topographical map of White Bear Lake and the surrounding area.

Maple Grove, MN: 3-D topographical map of the NW suburbs of the Twin Cities.

Minnesota River: 3-D topographical map of the Minnesota River Valley highlighting the river bend in Mankato.

St. Croix River: 3-D topographical map of the St. Croix extending from Taylors Falls to the Mississippi confluence.

Mississippi River, Lake Pepin: 3-D topographical map of the confluence of Chippewa Creek and the Mississippi River.

Red Wing, MN: 3-D topographical map of Redwing, MN on the Mississippi River.

Winona, Minnesota: 3-D topographical map of Winona, MN highlighting the Mississippi River.

Cannon Falls, MN: 3-D topographical map of Cannon Falls area.

Rochester, MN: 3-D topographical map of Rochester and the surrounding area.

Northfield, MN: 3-D topographical map of Northfield and the surrounding area.

St. Louis River, MN: 3-D map of the St. Louis River and Duluth, Minnesota.

Lake Itasca, MN: 3-D map of the source of the Mississippi River.

Elmore, MN: 3-D topographical map of Elmore, MN in south-central Minnesota.

Glencoe, MN: 3-D topographical map of Glencoe, MN.

New Prague, MN: 3-D topographical map of the New Prague in south-central Minnesota.

Plainview, MN: 3-D topographical map of Plainview, MN.

Waterville-Morristown: 3-D map of the Waterville-Morris area in south-central Minnesota.

Eau Claire, WI: 3-D map of Eau Claire highlighting abandon river channels.

Dubuque, IA: 3-D topographical map of Dubuque and the Mississippi River.

Londonderry, NH: 3-D topographical map of Londonderry, NH.

Santa Cruz, CA: 3-D topographical map of Santa Cruz, California.

Crater Lake, OR: 3-D topographical map of Crater Lake, Oregon.

Mt. Rainier, WA: 3-D topographical map of Mt. Rainier in Washington.

Grand Canyon, AZ: 3-D topographical map of the Grand Canyon.

District of Columbia: 3-D map highlighting the confluence of the rivers and the Mall.

Ireland: 3-D grayscale map of Ireland.

New Jersey: 3-D grayscale map of New Jersey.

SP Crater, AZ: 3-D map of random craters in the San Francisco Mountains.

Mars Water Features: 3-D grayscale map showing surface water features from Mars.

This is a polygon dataset for the township boundaries within Carver County derived from the County Surveryor's base map.

The Development Rights Maps for Dakota County, Minnesota. These maps are intended to aid townships in determining future development rights of parcels within their jurisdiction. The maps show owner name, acreage, year a house was built, and year a parcel was last divided or reassembled for each parcel. Please note, last division information is only reliable for parcels altered after 1984.

description: This data represents the GIS Version of the Public Land Survey System including both rectangular and non-rectangular survey data. The rectangular survey data are a reference system for land tenure based upon meridian, township/range, section, section subdivision and government lots. The non-rectangular survey data represent surveys that were largely performed to protect and/or convey title on specific parcels of land such as mineral surveys and tracts. The data are largely complete in reference to the rectangular survey data at the level of first division. However, the data varies in terms of granularity of its spatial representation as well as its content below the first division. Therefore, depending upon the data source and steward, accurate subdivision of the rectangular data may not be available below the first division and the non-rectangular minerals surveys may not be present. At times, the complexity of surveys rendered the collection of data cost prohibitive such as in areas characterized by numerous, overlapping mineral surveys. In these situations, the data were often not abstracted or were only partially abstracted and incorporated into the data set. These PLSS data were compiled from a broad spectrum or sources including federal, county, and private survey records such as field notes and plats as well as map sources such as USGS 7 minute quadrangles. The metadata in each data set describes the production methods for the data content. This data is optimized for data publication and sharing rather than for specific "production" or operation and maintenance. A complete PLSS data set includes the following: PLSS Townships, First Divisions and Second Divisions (the hierarchical break down of the PLSS Rectangular surveys) PLSS Special surveys (non-rectangular components of the PLSS) Meandered Water, Corners, Metadata at a Glance (which identified last revised date and data steward) and Conflicted Areas (known areas of gaps or overlaps or inconsistencies). The Entity-Attribute section of this metadata describes these components in greater detail. The second division of the PLSS is quarter, quarter-quarter, sixteenth or government lot division of the PLSS. The second and third divisions are combined into this feature class as an intentional de-normalization of the PLSS hierarchical data. The polygons in this feature class represent the smallest division to the sixteenth that has been defined for the first division. For example In some cases sections have only been divided to the quarter. Divisions below the sixteenth are in the Special Survey or Parcel Feature Class. Special Surveys are non-PLSS survey areas from BLM survey records which represent federal parcels.; abstract: This data represents the GIS Version of the Public Land Survey System including both rectangular and non-rectangular survey data. The rectangular survey data are a reference system for land tenure based upon meridian, township/range, section, section subdivision and government lots. The non-rectangular survey data represent surveys that were largely performed to protect and/or convey title on specific parcels of land such as mineral surveys and tracts. The data are largely complete in reference to the rectangular survey data at the level of first division. However, the data varies in terms of granularity of its spatial representation as well as its content below the first division. Therefore, depending upon the data source and steward, accurate subdivision of the rectangular data may not be available below the first division and the non-rectangular minerals surveys may not be present. At times, the complexity of surveys rendered the collection of data cost prohibitive such as in areas characterized by numerous, overlapping mineral surveys. In these situations, the data were often not abstracted or were only partially abstracted and incorporated into the data set. These PLSS data were compiled from a broad spectrum or sources including federal, county, and private survey records such as field notes and plats as well as map sources such as USGS 7 minute quadrangles. The metadata in each data set describes the production methods for the data content. This data is optimized for data publication and sharing rather than for specific "production" or operation and maintenance. A complete PLSS data set includes the following: PLSS Townships, First Divisions and Second Divisions (the hierarchical break down of the PLSS Rectangular surveys) PLSS Special surveys (non-rectangular components of the PLSS) Meandered Water, Corners, Metadata at a Glance (which identified last revised date and data steward) and Conflicted Areas (known areas of gaps or overlaps or inconsistencies). The Entity-Attribute section of this metadata describes these components in greater detail. The second division of the PLSS is quarter, quarter-quarter, sixteenth or government lot division of the PLSS. The second and third divisions are combined into this feature class as an intentional de-normalization of the PLSS hierarchical data. The polygons in this feature class represent the smallest division to the sixteenth that has been defined for the first division. For example In some cases sections have only been divided to the quarter. Divisions below the sixteenth are in the Special Survey or Parcel Feature Class. Special Surveys are non-PLSS survey areas from BLM survey records which represent federal parcels.

A downloadable, printable 8.5 x 11 inch PDF map of Laketown Township and surrounding area.

A high-resolution (1-meter) land cover classification raster dataset was completed for three different geographic areas in Minnesota: Duluth, Rochester, and the seven-county Twin Cities Metropolitan area. This classification was created using high-resolution multispectral National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) leaf-on imagery (2015), spring leaf-off imagery (2011- 2014), Multispectral derived indices, LiDAR data, LiDAR derived products, and other thematic ancillary data including the updated National Wetlands Inventory, LiDAR building footprints, airport, OpenStreetMap roads and railroads centerlines. These data sets were integrated using an Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA) approach to classify 12 land cover classes: Deciduous Tree Canopy, Coniferous Tree Canopy, Buildings, Bare Soil, other Paved surface, Extraction, Row Crop, Grass/Shrub, Lakes, Rivers, Emergent Wetland, Forest and Shrub Wetland.

We mapped the 12 classes by using an OBIA approach through the creation of customized rule sets for each area. We used the Cognition Network Language (CNL) within the software eCognition Developer to develop the customized rule sets. The eCognition Server was used to execute a batch and parallel processing which greatly reduced the amount of time to produce the classification. The classification results were evaluated for each area using independent stratified randomly generated points. Accuracy assessment estimators included overall accuracies, producers accuracy, users accuracy, and kappa coefficient. The combination of spectral data and LiDAR through an OBIA method helped to improve the overall accuracy results providing more aesthetically pleasing maps of land cover classes with highly accurate results.

A downloadable, printable 8.5 x 11 inch PDF map of Hollywood Township and surrounding area.

These shapefiles of lakes, streams, wetlands, river bottoms, and the Mississippi River represent the hydrological landscape of Minneapolis and St. Paul as recorded in the original public land survey conducted between 1848 and 1858. The hydrologic features were digitized from scanned, georeferenced 1:24000 maps during the 2017 Faculty Research Sprint held at the University of Minnesota.

A shapefile was generated from ArcINFO coverages, which were in turn created by digitizing a 1968 paper map of land use in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area. The map was originally published by the Twin Cities Metropolitan Planning Commission.

High resolution (10 meter) land surface temperature (LST) from September 1, 2022 is mapped for the seven-county metropolitan region of the Twin Cities. The goal of the map is to show the heat differences across the region and is not intended to show the maximum temperature that any specific area can reach. The raster dataset was computed at 30 meters using satellite imagery from Landsat 9 and downscaled to 10 meters using Copernicus Sentinel-2. These datasets were integrated using techniques modified from Ermida et al. 2020 and Onačillová et al. 2022). Open water was removed using ancillary data from OpenStreetMap and 2020 Generalized Land Use for the Twin Cities (Metropolitan Council).

First, Landsat 9 imagery taken at 11:59 am CDT on September 01, 2022 was processed into 30-meter resolution LST (based on Ermida et al. 2020). At this time, the air temperature was 88° F at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (NOAA). A model predicting LST based on spectral indices of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI), and Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDBI) was created and applied to 10-meter Sentenel-2 imagery. Sentinel-2 imagery was also taken on September 1, 2022, and this resulted in a 10-meter downscaled LST image (based on Onačillová et al. 2022). To account for anomalies in NDVI on the primary image date of September 1 (e.g., recently harvested agricultural fields), maximum NDVI occurring between July 1, 2022 and September 1, 2022 was used for both Landsat and Sentinel image processing. Water bodies were removed for all processing steps (OpenStreetMap 2023, Metropolitan Council 2021).

This dataset is an update to the 2016 LST data for the Twin Cities Region (Metropolitan Council).

The code to create and processes this dataset is available at: https://github.com/Metropolitan-Council/extreme.heat

Sources:
Ermida, S.L., Soares, P., Mantas, V., Göttsche, F.-M., Trigo, I.F., 2020. Google Earth Engine open-source code for Land Surface Temperature estimation from the Landsat series. Remote Sensing, 12 (9), 1471; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12091471.

Metropolitan Council. 2021. Generalized Land Use 2020. Minnesota Geospatial Commons. https://gisdata.mn.gov/dataset/us-mn-state-metc-plan-generl-lnduse2020

Metropolitan Council. 2017. Land Surface Temperature for Climate Vulnerability Analysis. Minnesota Geospatial Commons. https://gisdata.mn.gov/dataset/us-mn-state-metc-env-cva-lst2016

NOAA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Centers for Environmental Information, station USW00014922. September 1, 2022.

Onačillová, K., Gallay, M., Paluba, D., Péliová, A., Tokarčík, O., Laubertová, D. 2022. Combining Landsat 8 and Sentinel 2 data in Google Earth Engine to derive higher resolution land surface temperature maps in urban environment. Remote Sensing, 14 (16), 4076. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14164076.

OpenStreetMap contributors. 2023. Retrieved from https://planet.openstreetmap.org on April 12, 2023.

Circulator routes and local transportation options within Washington County, MN.Twin Cities Metro Transit route data provided by Metropolitan Council.This map is used by the Transportation Finder application

description: This data represents the GIS Version of the Public Land Survey System including both rectangular and non-rectangular survey data. The rectangular survey data are a reference system for land tenure based upon meridian, township/range, section, section subdivision and government lots. The non-rectangular survey data represent surveys that were largely performed to protect and/or convey title on specific parcels of land such as mineral surveys and tracts. The data are largely complete in reference to the rectangular survey data at the level of first division. However, the data varies in terms of granularity of its spatial representation as well as its content below the first division. Therefore, depending upon the data source and steward, accurate subdivision of the rectangular data may not be available below the first division and the non-rectangular minerals surveys may not be present. At times, the complexity of surveys rendered the collection of data cost prohibitive such as in areas characterized by numerous, overlapping mineral surveys. In these situations, the data were often not abstracted or were only partially abstracted and incorporated into the data set. These PLSS data were compiled from a broad spectrum or sources including federal, county, and private survey records such as field notes and plats as well as map sources such as USGS 7 minute quadrangles. The metadata in each data set describes the production methods for the data content. This data is optimized for data publication and sharing rather than for specific "production" or operation and maintenance. A complete PLSS data set includes the following: PLSS Townships, First Divisions and Second Divisions (the hierarchical break down of the PLSS Rectangular surveys) PLSS Special surveys (non-rectangular components of the PLSS) Meandered Water, Corners, Metadata at a Glance (which identified last revised date and data steward) and Conflicted Areas (known areas of gaps or overlaps or inconsistencies). The Entity-Attribute section of this metadata describes these components in greater detail. These are areas of water that are defined from meander lines of the PLSS and GLO surveys. These are not the official representations of coast or water lines and are representations of the lines marked by the survey along the boundaries of meandered water at the time of survey.; abstract: This data represents the GIS Version of the Public Land Survey System including both rectangular and non-rectangular survey data. The rectangular survey data are a reference system for land tenure based upon meridian, township/range, section, section subdivision and government lots. The non-rectangular survey data represent surveys that were largely performed to protect and/or convey title on specific parcels of land such as mineral surveys and tracts. The data are largely complete in reference to the rectangular survey data at the level of first division. However, the data varies in terms of granularity of its spatial representation as well as its content below the first division. Therefore, depending upon the data source and steward, accurate subdivision of the rectangular data may not be available below the first division and the non-rectangular minerals surveys may not be present. At times, the complexity of surveys rendered the collection of data cost prohibitive such as in areas characterized by numerous, overlapping mineral surveys. In these situations, the data were often not abstracted or were only partially abstracted and incorporated into the data set. These PLSS data were compiled from a broad spectrum or sources including federal, county, and private survey records such as field notes and plats as well as map sources such as USGS 7 minute quadrangles. The metadata in each data set describes the production methods for the data content. This data is optimized for data publication and sharing rather than for specific "production" or operation and maintenance. A complete PLSS data set includes the following: PLSS Townships, First Divisions and Second Divisions (the hierarchical break down of the PLSS Rectangular surveys) PLSS Special surveys (non-rectangular components of the PLSS) Meandered Water, Corners, Metadata at a Glance (which identified last revised date and data steward) and Conflicted Areas (known areas of gaps or overlaps or inconsistencies). The Entity-Attribute section of this metadata describes these components in greater detail. These are areas of water that are defined from meander lines of the PLSS and GLO surveys. These are not the official representations of coast or water lines and are representations of the lines marked by the survey along the boundaries of meandered water at the time of survey.