Minnesota River Basin Survey/Political Boundaries (mrbsec) (mrbtwp) (mrbco)

Metadata for the

Developed by

These metadata were created using the Minnesota Geographic Metadata Guidelines .


Go to Section:
1. Identification Information
2. Data Quality Information
3. Spatial Data Organization Information
4. Spatial Reference Information
5. Entity and Attribute Information
6. Distribution Information
7. Metadata Reference Information

Section 1

Identification Information
Originator Water Resources Center, Minnesota State University, Mankato
Title Minnesota River Basin Survey/Political Boundaries
Abstract The Minnesota River Basin Survey/Political Boundaries consist of public land survey (PLS) and political boundaries. These data were digitized from USGS 7.5-minute quadrangle maps and fall into four categories: public land survey sections, public land survey townships, political townships, political counties. A description of each data layer is included in Section 5 of this document - Entity and Attribute Overview.
Purpose These data were developed to provide continuous GIS public land survey and political base layers for the Minnesota River Basin.
Time Period of Content Date 01/01/1998
Currentness Reference For any given area, the most recent USGS 7.5-minute quadrangle available at that time were used for digitizing the data.
Progress Complete
Maintenance and Update Frequency None planned
Spatial Extent of Data 37 counties of the Minnesota River Basin.
Bounding Coordinates -96.86
-92.73
46.72
43.50
Place Keywords Big Stone County, Blue Earth County, Brown County, Carver County, Chippewa County, Cottonwood County, Dakota County, Douglas County, Faribault County, Freeborn County, Grant County, Hennepin County, Jackson County, Kandiyohi County, Lac qui Parle County, Le Sueur County, Lincoln County, Lyon County, McLeod County, Martin County, Murray County, Nicollet County, Otter Tail County, Pipestone County, Pope County, Ramsey County, Redwood County, Renville County, Rice County, Scott County, Sibley County, Steele County, Stevens County, Swift County, Traverse County, Waseca County, Watonwan County, Yellow Medicine County, Minnesota River Basin, Blue Earth River Major Watershed, Chippewa River Major Watershed, Cottonwood River Major Watershed, Hawk Creek - Yellow Medicine River Major Watershed, Le Sueur River Major Watershed, Lower Minnesota River Major Watershed, Lac qui Parle River Major Watershed, Middle Minnesota River Major Watershed, Pomme de Terre River Major Watershed, Redwood River Major Watershed, Upper Minnesota River Major Watershed, Watonwan River Major Watershed.
Theme Keywords Public Land Survey, PLS, Political Boundaries, Surveyor Boundaries, County Boundaries, Township Boundaries, Section Boundaries, Counties, Townships, Sections.
Theme Keyword Thesaurus None
Access Constraints None
Use Constraints By accepting this data, the user agrees not to transmit this data or provide access to it or any part of it to another party unless the user shall include with the data a copy of this metadata.
Contact Person Information Cis Berg, GIS Director
Water Resources Center
184 Trafton Science Center S
Mankato, Minnesota 56001
Phone: (507) 389-5492
FAX: (507) 389-5493
E-mail: cecilia.berg@mankato.msus.edu
Browse Graphic File Name None available
Browse Graphic File Description Not applicable
Associated Data Sets

Section 2

Data Quality Information - - - - - - Go back to top
Attribute Accuracy All polygon attributes have been visually edited and tested with a variety of RESELECT and DISSOLVE commands in ARC/INFO. Incorporated areas, such as municipalities, are not distinguished from the political township.
Logical Consistency Data are topologically correct within ArcInfo 7.1.2. All intersecting arcs contain nodes and all polygons contain label points.
Completeness All PLS section lines present on USGS 7.5-minute quadrangle map were digitized. Section lines that are not present on the source maps (eg.. across lakes or wetland complexes) were added to complete each polygon. All political boundary lines, not coincident with PLS section lines, were digitized. All lines and polygons are attributed.
Horizontal Positional Accuracy Not available
Vertical Positional Accuracy Not applicable
Lineage Data Source: 1:24,000-scale USGS 7.5-minute quadrangles

Processing Steps:

Blue Earth, Brown, Cottonwood, Faribault, Freeborn, Jackson, Le Sueur, Martin, Nicollet, Sibley, Steele, Waseca, and Watonwan counties were digitized from USGS 7.5-minute quadrangles using AutoCAD Release12 on a Calcomp 9100 digitized table at Water Resources Center, Minnesota State University, Mankato. All linework were imported into ARC/INFO and edited for node dangles and arc intersect errors. The file was built as a polygon coverage and label points created. Polygon attributes were manually added.

Big Stone, Carver, Chippewa, Dakota, Douglas, Grant, Hennepin, Kandiyohi, Lac qui Parle, Lincoln, Lyon, McLeod, Murray, Otter Tail, Pipestone, Pope, Ramsey, Redwood, Renville, Rice, Scott, Stevens, Swift, Traverse, and Yellow Medicine counties were digitized at the Minnesota Department of Transportation from USGS 7.5-minute quadrangles using CADD. The digital CADD files were converted from State Plane Coordinates to UTM and then converted into ARC/INFO coverages.

Linework from Mn/DOT (State of Minnesota Basemap 98) section, township, and county data files were appended to one file and edited for node dangles and arc intersect errors at Water Resources Center, Minnesota State University, Mankato. Missing lines (eg.. across lakes or wetland complexes) were added to close each polygon. The file was built as a polygon coverage and label points created. Polygon attributes were manually added.

Both coverages were joined to create one seamless coverage containing PLS townships, PLS sections, political townships, counties and attributes.

County and township data files were created by dissolving the above coverage. The above data file is used as the section coverage.
Source Scale Denominator 24000

Section 3

Spatial Data Organization Information - - - - - - Go back to top
Native Data Set Environment ARC/INFO version 7.1.2; UNIX platform
Geographic Reference for Tabular Data None
Spatial Object Type Vector
Vendor Specific Object Types Arcs Nodes, Labels
Tiling Scheme Major Watershed

Section 4

Spatial Reference Information - - - - - - Go back to top
Horizontal Coordinate Scheme UTM
Ellipsoid GRS80
Horizontal Datum NAD83
Horizontal Units Meters
Distance Resolution Unknown
Altitude Datum Not applicable
Depth Datum Not applicable
UTM Zone Number 15E
Coordinate Offsets or Adjustments None

Section 5

Entity and Attribute Information - - - - - - Go back to top
Entity and Attribute Overview The following is a brief description of each data layer:

The section data file contains the following list of polygon and arc attributes.

Polygon attribute table:   section.pat

ITEM NAME WIDTH OUTPUT TYPE DEC DESCRIPTION OF ITEM CONTENT
AREA 8 18 F 5 Area of polygon in square meters.
PERIMETER 8 18 F 5 Length of polygon boundary in meters.
SECTION# 4 5 B - Internal sequence number.
SECTION-ID 4 5 B - User ID.
SECTION-NO 2 2 I - Public Land Survey section number.
COUNTY-NAME 17 17 C - Name of the county in which the section is located.
COUNTY-NO 2 2 C - Minnesota unique two character county ID number.
TOWNSHIP 20 20 C - Name of the political township in which the section is located.   Incorporated areas, such as municipalities, are not distinguished from the political township.
TWP 3 3 I - PLS Township number in which the section is located.
RNG 2 2 I - PLS Range number in which the section is located.
SEC 3 3 I - PLS Section number.
ACRES 12 12 N 2 Acres contained within each polygon.
MAJOR-NAME 50 50 C - Major watershed name.
MAJOR2 2 2 I - Minnesota unique 2 digit major watershed ID number.
PEDIGREE 12 12 C - Acronym that identifies the organization responsible for polygon features and attributes.
MSUWRC Minnesota State University, Mankato
Water Resources Center.
PEDYEAR 4 4 I - Year in which the polygon feature was created or last updated.



Arc attribute table:   section.aat

ITEM NAME WIDTH OUTPUT TYPE DEC DESCRIPTION OF ITEM CONTENT
FNODE# 4 5 B - Internal number from node.
TNODE# 4 5 B - Internal number to node.
LPOLY# 4 5 B - Internal number left polygon.
RPOLY# 4 5 B - Internal number right polygon.
LENGTH 8 18 F 5 Length of arc in meters.
SECTION# 4 5 B - Internal sequence number.
SECTION-ID 4 5 B - User ID
LINETYPE 25 25 C - Type of line:
SECTION LINE
TOWNSHIP LINE
TOWNSHIP LINE POLITICAL
COUNTY LINE
MAJOR WATERSHED LINE
PEDIGREE 12 12 C - Acronym that identifies the organization responsible for the line features and attributes.
MDOT Minnesota Department of Transportation
MSUWRC Minnesota State University, Mankato
Water Resources Center
PEDYEAR 4 4 I - Year in which the line feature was created or last updated.





The township data file contains the following list of polygon and arc attributes.

Polygon attribute table:   township.pat

ITEM NAME WIDTH OUTPUT TYPE DEC DESCRIPTION OF ITEM CONTENT
AREA 8 18 F 5 Area of polygon in square meters.
PERIMETER 8 18 F 5 Length of polygon boundary in meters.
TOWNSHIP# 4 5 B - Internal sequence number.
TOWNSHIP-ID 4 5 B - User ID.
TOWNSHIP 20 20 C - Name of the political township.   Incorporated areas, such as municipalities, are not distinguished from the political township.
COUNTY-NAME 17 17 C - Name of the county in which the township is located.
COUNTY-NO 2 2 C - Minnesota unique two character county ID number.
TWP 3 3 I - PLS Township number.
RNG 2 2 I - PLS Range number.
ACRES 12 12 N 2 Acres contained within each polygon.
MAJOR-NAME 50 50 C - Major watershed name.
MAJOR2 2 2 I - Minnesota unique 2 digit major watershed ID number.
PEDIGREE 12 12 C - Acronym that identifies the organization responsible for polygon features and attributes.
MSUWRC Minnesota State University, Mankato
Water Resources Center.
PEDYEAR 4 4 I - Year in which the polygon feature was created or last updated.



Arc attribute table:   township.aat

ITEM NAME WIDTH OUTPUT TYPE DEC DESCRIPTION OF ITEM CONTENT
FNODE# 4 5 B - Internal number from node.
TNODE# 4 5 B - Internal number to node.
LPOLY# 4 5 B - Internal number left polygon.
RPOLY# 4 5 B - Internal number right polygon.
LENGTH 8 18 F 5 Length of arc in meters.
TOWNSHIP# 4 5 B - Internal sequence number.
TOWNSHIP-ID 4 5 B - User ID
LINETYPE 25 25 C - Type of line:
TOWNSHIP LINE
TOWNSHIP LINE POLITICAL
COUNTY LINE
MAJOR WATERSHED LINE
PEDIGREE 12 12 C - Acronym that identifies the organization responsible for the line features and attributes.
MDOT Minnesota Department of Transportation
MSUWRC Minnesota State University, Mankato
Water Resources Center.
PEDYEAR 4 4 I - Year in which the line feature was created or last updated.




The county data file contains the following list of polygon and arc attributes.

Polygon attribute table:   county.pat

ITEM NAME WIDTH OUTPUT TYPE DEC DESCRIPTION OF ITEM CONTENT
AREA 8 18 F 5 Area of polygon in square meters.
PERIMETER 8 18 F 5 Length of polygon boundary in meters.
COUNTY# 4 5 B - Internal sequence number.
COUNTY-ID 4 5 B - User ID.
COUNTY-NAME 17 17 C - Name of the county.
COUNTY-NO 2 2 C - Minnesota unique two character county ID number.
ACRES 12 12 N 2 Acres contained within each polygon.
MAJOR-NAME 50 50 C - Major watershed name.
MAJOR2 2 2 I - Minnesota unique 2 digit major watershed ID number.
PEDIGREE 12 12 C - Acronym that identifies the organization responsible for polygon features and attributes.
MSUWRC Minnesota State University, Mankato
Water Resources Center.
PEDYEAR 4 4 I - Year in which the polygon feature was created or last updated.



Arc attribute table:   county.aat

ITEM NAME WIDTH OUTPUT TYPE DEC DESCRIPTION OF ITEM CONTENT
FNODE# 4 5 B - Internal number from node.
TNODE# 4 5 B - Internal number to node.
LPOLY# 4 5 B - Internal number left polygon.
RPOLY# 4 5 B - Internal number right polygon.
LENGTH 8 18 F 5 Length of arc in meters.
COUNTY# 4 5 B - Internal sequence number.
COUNTY-ID 4 5 B - User ID
LINETYPE 25 25 C - Type of line:
COUNTY LINE
MAJOR WATERSHED LINE
PEDIGREE 12 12 C - Acronym that identifies the organization responsible for the line features and attributes.
MDOT Minnesota Department of Transportation
MSUWRC Minnesota State University, Mankato
Water Resources Center.
PEDYEAR 4 4 I - Year in which the line feature was created or last updated.



Entity and Attribute Detailed Citation None

Section 6

Distribution Information - - - - - - Go back to top
Publisher Water Resources Center, Minnesota State University, Mankato
Publication Date 05/1999
Contact Person Information Cis Berg, GIS Director
Water Resources Center
184 Trafton Science Center S
Mankato, Minnesota 56001
Phone: (507) 389-5492
FAX: (507) 389-5493
E-mail: cecilia.berg@mankato.msus.edu
Distributor's Data Set Identifier None
Distribution Liability These data have been developed and used by the Water Resources Center at Minnesota State University, Mankato.   Although every effort has been made to validate data, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by the Water Resources Center as to the accuracy of the data, the related maps or analysis created from such data; nor shall the fact of distribution constitute any such warranty.   The Water Resources Center continues to update or correct data when necessary.
Transfer Format Name ARC/INFO Export file and ArcView shape file.
Transfer Format Version Number ARC/INFO 7.1.2    ArcView 3.1
Transfer Size
Ordering Instructions These data are freely downloadable from the Minnesota River Basin Data Center Web Site. http://mrbdc.mankato.msus.edu
Online Linkage None available

Section 7

Metadata Reference Information - - - - - - Go back to top
Metadata Date 05/30/1999
Contact Person Information Cis Berg, GIS Director
Water Resources Center
184 Trafton Science Center S
Mankato, Minnesota 56001
Phone: (507) 389-5492
FAX: (507) 389-5493
E-mail: cecilia.berg@mankato.msus.edu
Metadata Standard Name Minnesota Geographic Metadata Guidelines
Metadata Standard Version 1.2
Metadata Standard Online Linkage http://www.lmic.state.mn.us/gc/stds/metadata.htm
This page last updated 06/14/1999.

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