VIEWING OWNERSHIP & MAPS ON THE INTERNET



FLATHEAD COUNTY GIS DEPARTMENT

800 SOUTH MAIN STREET

KALISPELL, MONTANA 59901

(406) 758-5540

HOW TO USE FLATHEAD COUNTY’S INTERACTIVE MAPPING WEBSITE



• The recommended screen resolution for this site is 1024 x 768. This will give you an acceptable size map window.

• Configure pop-up blockers to allow pop-ups on this site. If you need assistance in determining how to disable your pop-up blocker, please refer to the state website:

The “I Agree” Page

Please take a moment to read the disclaimer and when ready click [pic].

You will then be taken to a map of Flathead County and given tools to search for information.

Examining the Page Layout

Let’s begin by examining the general layout of the page. The main tool we will be using is the [pic] tool, located in the blue bar toward the top of the screen. The other tools we will be using are located down the left side of the screen. A brief synopsis of the tools is listed below. For a more detailed explanation, please see the “Help” menu [pic] located in the blue bar at the top of the screen.

[pic]

The Table of Contents

Take time to examine the Table of Contents on the right side of the website. You can examine the layers available to view in the layer groupings by clicking the plus directly to the left of the layer grouping name. Layers that some users may wish to use (but are not turned on by default) include Fire, School, Legislative and Zoning Districts, Aerial Photography, and Census information.

[pic]

If you wish to change the default visible layers, you can do so by checking the visibility boxes for the layers you wish to see in your map window. You may notice some of the visibility boxes are grayed out. This denotes that the layer is not visible at the current map scale. Scale dependencies have been set so that certain layers are only available at certain scales. This is necessary so the map screen does not become cluttered and/or bogged down with data layers. You can change your map scale by using your zoom tools or the Scale Map tool. [pic] [pic][pic]

Performing Searches

You can open the search window by clicking the “Search” button [pic] in the blue bar across the top of the screen. You can perform searches by Owner Name, Address, Subdivision, Tract-ID, Assessor Number, Acreage, or Road Name.

[pic]

All searches will display in the bottom of the search window, similar to what you see below.

[pic]

[pic][pic][pic][pic][pic]

To zoom the map in the background to the desired search result, select the “Map” button next to the record you want. Searches by owner name, assessor number and tract-id will give an option display a report for the property. The “Report” contains the tax assessor’s information such as land and building values, and specifics about improvements on the property.

If you wish to access parcel ownership information via the map, after mapping a parcel, you can use the “identify” tool or select by rectangle tool. [pic] [pic]Select the tool, and then select the parcel with your mouse in the map window. A window with ownership information will open.

Alternatively, the “identify” or “select by rectangle” tool can be used with layers other than the parcel layer by changing your active layer in the blue bar at the top of the sceen. [pic] When this tool is used on the parcel layer, you will be given the option to view the tax assessor’s “Report”.

Using the Parcel Identify Tool to find Certificates of Surveys, Subdivision Plats and/or district information

If you wish to view miscellaneous information, including the zoning for a given parcel, you can select the [pic] “parcel identify” tool, then select the parcel with your mouse in the map window. A popup window will open with ownership, parcel information, school district, legislative districts, water/sewer district, fire district and zoning information about the parcel. Also in the pop-up window is a hyperlink to Certificates of Surveys (COS) and/or subdivision plats for a given property[1]. You can click the hyperlink and open the COS/subdivision plat directly from this screen.

Buffering and Selecting by Rectangle

For adjacent parcel information, you can either create a buffer for a particular parcel or select parcels by a rectangle using the “select by rectangle tool.” [pic] The “select by rectangle” tool works as follows : select the tool, draw a rectangle in the map window using your mouse, and the ownership information window with data for the selected parcels will open.

In order to create a buffer, select a parcel with the identify tool. From the ownership information window, click the button [pic]

Enter desired buffer footage and click “Go”.

[pic]

The buffered parcels will be highlighted in the map window, as well as returned in a list in the ownership information window.

Buffering and selecting by rectangle can be done for any of the data layers (not only the parcel layer). In order to use the “select by rectangle” tool with a layer other than the parcel layer, you must first change your active layer in the upper right-hand corner of the window. In order to buffer on a layer other than the parcel layer, use the drop down menu within the buffer command to change the buffer layer.

Conclusion

We hope that you will find the website to be helpful in your property search needs. Please feel free to contact us with questions and comments. We have included a [pic] button in the blue bar at the top of the screen to contact the GIS department via email.

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[1] Please note that results for COS's will not appear on tracts that were later split out from the tract on which the original survey was conducted. I.e. If a COS was filed for tract 2A of any given section, and tracts 2AA and 2AB were later split out of tract 2A, the COS will still only appear on tract 2A and not 2AA or 2AB. We still encourage users to refer to the tract books in the Plat Room to perform a conclusive search for COS’s.

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