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BCWS Mapping Help

Table of Contents

Software & Hardware Requirements

  • Internet Explorer 5 or greater
  • Screen resolution must be set at 1024 x 768 or higher to view the page properly. If you can see the entire "owner name" quicktool, then you do not have a problem with screen resolution.
  • Adobe Reader (Not necessary unless you plan to print or save maps in PDF format)
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Site Navigation

NOTE: If "Retrieving Map" or "Retrieving Data" is showing, wait until it disappears before you proceed.

  • Top Toolbar:

    To learn what each tool on the toolbar does, simply locate your mouse pointer over the tool and leave it there briefly without clicking. The tool"s function will pop up on the screen.

  • Legend and Table of Contents:

    The Table of Contents (TOC) is located on your right. There is a tool icon offset to the right of the main toolbar that will allow you to switch back and forth between the TOC and the Legend.

  • Viewing Layers:

    There are check boxes located next to the layers available for viewing. To view a layer, simply check the box beside it. The Sewer, Water, and Base Data have been put into "group layers". To view the individual layers inside of the group layers, the group layer heading must be turned on.

  • Determining "Active" Layers

    When you first open the site, THE PARCELS LAYER IS THE "ACTIVE" LAYER. A layer must be "active" in order for you to use the select or find tools on it. To activate a layer simply click the circle beside it. For example: If you are trying to select a sewer line when the "Parcels" layer is active, you will not be able to do so until activating the "Sewer Main" layer.

  • Selecting Items:

    If you only select one feature (a parcel, street, piece of sewer line, etc), the software will AUTOMATICALLY ZOOM TO AND HIGHLIGHT THAT FEATURE. If more than one feature is selected you will not zoom to the feature automatically, but can do so by choosing among the items returned in the box below the map.

  • Identifying Items

    The identify tool does not not highlight the features you"ve clicked on, nor alert the user in any other way aside from calling up the desired information below the map. You may use the select tool to highlight parcels.

If you have any questions or suggestions about operating the site then please feel free to voice them HERE.

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Using "Quicktools"

"Quicktools" are the fixed search frames located at the bottom of the browser window. They are set up to zoom directly to the address, street, tms number, or owner name that you enter into the search field. If more than one record in the system comes back as a possible match the software will return all of the possible matching records for you to choose from yourself. You may zoom to the correct match by clicking on the blue underlined number to the left of the records returned. Clicking on this number will zoom directly to location and surrounding area of your selection.

You may only use one Quicktool at a time. There is no need to make a particular layer active to use the Quicktools. If the Address search does not find a match, it will return a message that says "Unable to locate address". If this happens, hit OK and try again. The other three tools will will not alert you in the event of an unsuccessful search attempt.

Address Search Tool

The Address search function is designed to return matches based on a "score" given by the computer. This tool will automatically zoom to the highest matching score found. It searches streets and finds approximate address locations. The location is marked with this bright red star "". The tool is not case sensitive.

An added ability of the Address search function is to search for cross streets. To search cross streets, you must first click on the "" button on the toolbar. Enter the first street in the "First Street" box, and enter the cross street in the "Second Street" box. This tool responds in the same manner as the standard Address search function. For practice, try entering "52" and "17A".

Address search tip: It is best not to include road description (e.g. "st", "street", "rd", "road") when searching for an address. If you include a road description that does not exist in the streets database, there is a much higher possibility of not finding a matching address.

TMS Search Tool

The TMS search is set up to only allow 10 digit entries. Only exact matches will be returned when entered.

Street and Owner Name Search Tools

The “Street Name” and “Owner Name” searches are NOT CASE SENSITIVE, and all searches will return all similar entries. For example: If you were to search for the street name “belk”, both “Belk Cir” and “Belknap Rd” would be returned for you to choose from.

The "Owner Name" tool works similar to the "Street Name" tool. For example: "Collins T" would return all those with the last name Collins whose first name starts with T.

Street Name search tip: It is best not to include road description (e.g. "st", "street", "rd", "road") when searching streets.

Owner Name search tip: The best way to search by "Owner Name" is to enter the last name first and the first name last with out puncuation (commas, periods, quotation marks).

FOR EXAMPLE: If you were looking for property owned by Thomas Collins you would enter "Collins Thomas".

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Printing

The software we are using has some limitations, and unfortunately printing and displaying scale correctly are not among its strong points. For this reason, there are currently two methods of printing available. Hopefully in the near future the software will allow us to only use one.

The first and main method of printing is used by pressing this button "" in the toolbar. The map you produce will automatically open in a new window. The only thing you will need to do is confirm the print. These maps are NOT TO SCALE.

The second method of printing creates a map in Adobe’s PDF format. This method is accomplished by pressing this button “”, on the toolbar. This method is useful because it allows you to right click and save maps to send over e-mail. Also, you can manually set the scale of your maps as well as create much better looking maps with this option. The scale of your maps will not always be correct, but will usually be correct within a range of +/- 50ft.

THE MAJOR DRAWBACK TO CREATING AND PRINTING A PDF IS THAT HIGHLIGHTING AND SELECTIONS DO NOT SHOW. If you are trying to print a map for a customer showing their parcel highlighted, you must use the other printing method.

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STILL NEED HELP? PLEASE CONTACT THE:

GIS Department
Berkeley County Water & Sanitation
Revised: 1/29/09