New Land Information Website

[Clay Diggins]

On 3/24/2015 at 9:04 PM, tvanwho said:

Thanks Barry. I don't spose you could tell us why GPS numbers on Google based maps are now shown as xx.yyyyy, ex 32.11154,  instead of the old way of degrees ,minutes, and seconds? My handheld GPS does degrees/minutes/seconds also. How do I convert deg/min/sec to the decimal equivalent and vice versa?

All modern digital maps are going to decimal degrees. Base 10 math is much easier than an arbitrary base 360/ base 60/ base 60 system. Even so with modern computers it's trivial to change the display to the system you are most comfortable with.

If you are using Google Earth you can change the location display to decimal degrees, degrees minutes seconds, or UTM meters in the preferences.

I think you will find deep in your GPS unit settings that you have similar choices there. Usually those are named something like ddmmss or dddddd.

Between the two of them you should be able to come up with a way to match their displays. If you are using a Google map product you can put in the Latitude & Longitude coordinates in either form and the software will understand no matter how the coordinates are displayed.

On 3/24/2015 at 9:04 PM, tvanwho said:

Thanks. FYI,I normally use AcmeMapper 2.0 which shows GPS  with 5 decimals. Then, I use Google Earth to zoom in and get a view of the spot from different angles, perspectives, and elevations.

5 decimals in Lat/Lon is going to be about three foot precision. Your maps and your GPS unit just don't have that sort of accuracy. GPS accuracy is reliable to about 30 foot which is the same as 4 decimals.

We could easily show 20 decimals on the Land Matters maps but that would be greater than millionths of an inch precision. No mapping or GPS system can come close to that. Displaying the coordinates with greater precision does nothing to increase the accuracy of a map.

Even though modern handheld commercial grade GPS can often, under the right conditions, give accurate readings within 3 foot that is not an accuracy you can rely on. Add in the errors for orthographic projection, 40 foot accuracy on the best Topos, 3 meter accuracy on aerial photos and the reality is that mapping rarely exceeds 30 foot accuracy no matter what the display precision is.

Google Earth is an interesting, and often informative, way to view a location before putting boots on the ground but the accuracy, particularly with the "terrain" feature enabled, is not within any modern mapping standards. Expecting 5 decimal places of locational precision is wildly optimistic.

On 3/24/2015 at 9:04 PM, tvanwho said:

Determining land ownership is the next challenge. I sometimes can find this out by checking to see if a county has a free Online GIS Mapping system which will show property owners, boundaries, even property taxes paid. Sometimes they charge a fee for this service. Beats having to go to county courthouses or buying lots of Plat books especially if out of state...

 

-Tom

Counties sometimes are very reluctant to give current plat information. The tax assessor often makes good money selling that information to real estate organizations. The platting systems in use by many counties today are some of the most advanced mapping done by government. Many of them see that as a cash cow.

On our MinerDiggins FootPrints North and Middle Fork maps we were able to convince those counties to part with that information so we do have that included on those maps. In some areas of California the costs for access can run many thousands of dollars so that expense and the cost of some County Recorder's record copies can lock us out of mapping those areas ownership.

This is a rapidly evolving field and many county assessors are beginning to loosen access to those maps. If they aren't freely available online sometimes a friendly call can get you access.

Land Matters, as a non profit organization, can do a little arm twisting (they call this partnering in government speak) and get information for free or little cost. It is part of the long term land status program at Land Matters to provide local ownership information but that is a massive project that will require a major grant. Anybody with a few hundred thousand dollars to spare could get us started on that project. 

Barry

[jasong]

That's a great site Barry. I was doing a similar thing a few years back but stopped since I didn't have time or resources to maintain it with full time prospecting.

If you don't mind me asking, how do you update your claims layer? I was getting that bi-weekly LR2000 database dump from the BLM but you mentioned you could potentially update more often?

Also a request or suggestion, if you already have the database in place could you make a simple front end where we could quickly query all the fields and do complex custom searches? Similar to Lr2000 but it takes forever to navigate through their clunky interface.

Also, any chance you could create an MTP layer since they are all available at the GLO? I couldn't figure out a good way to automate it all so never managed to do it, was wondering if you have given it a shot or thought about it.

[Clay Diggins]

Thanks jasong, I'm sure you know how much work goes into this so your appreciation is particularly gratifying.

We are treating the LR2000 mining claims as individual state databases. Updates can be done on the same basis as they are included in the LR2000. The biggest obstacle is the limited cache on the BLM server but we may have that solved soon. We are hoping to run some php currency scripts that will sync our database with the BLM's. Even though the Denver BLM techies have their hands full maintaining their system they are pretty cooperative if we do the heavy lifting from our end.

We use postgis for virtually all of our mapping backend. This allows us to attach a three dimensional location to all the items in our library. The difference between maps and library items is negligible when viewed this way so we are able to search library items from a map or show the location of a library item on the map. You will be seeing a lot more of this implemented as we grow but it's already the basis of most of our maps now. Check out the Topo Search Map to see this working with  multiple sources between postgis geom, our Library, and sometimes the USGS, Forest Service and NOAA sites.

You can already query the map databases with either guided or boolean searches right from the map. This applies to most map layers, not just the claims database. Use the tool that looks like a pair of binoculars and configure your search terms from the interface or type boolean queries directly in the "Generated Query" box.

You can add searches together for more complex queries. Use the little magnifying glass next to each item in the search results window to highlight and zoom to that item on the map or click on the  yellow magnifying glass at the bottom of the results window to highlight and zoom to all  the returned features.

You can do some pretty interesting things with the advanced search functions. Try searching for all the claims with an assessment year of 2014 and you will get a list of all the claims that might still be closed in the future. You can of course search for claimant names and see all the claims someone has in a state or just search for a single claim by name or MC number and then zoom directly to the claim location.

We already provide a search map that provides direct downloads of all the Master Title Plats and Supplemental MTPs in the GLO database. You will find those as an individual layer on each state's Land Status Map. At present there are only 10 states in the GLO database but we are working on sourcing MTPs for all the states that have them.

We will be adding direct downloads of Historical Indexes, Survey Field Notes, Survey Plats, CDIs and several other features to those Land Status maps as we have the time.

Alaska is not in the GLO MTP database but the BLM provides a WMS display of all the MTPs. You can view those MTPs displayed right on the Alaska Claims Map.

I hope that answers your questions jasong? Feel free to ask more here or you can Contact Land Matters directly with your questions or suggestions. User feedback is really important to guide the development of Land Matters.

Barry

[Clay Diggins]

Land Matters has offered downloads of all the Historical and current Topographic maps for a while.

You can actually pick which year of topo you want for any area as well as the new style layered topos with aerial photo backgrounds. All of that with a few clicks on the Land Matters Topo Search Map.

With more than 280,000 topos available from that one interactive map some people have been a little confused on the process for getting any particular Topo map downloaded. We've put together a short video to show you just how easy that can be.

There are more informational videos on the Land Matters youtube channel and we have many more planned.

Barry

[Clay Diggins]

As they do twice each month Land Matters has updated the BLM LR2000 Mining Claims Maps.

This is the next to last update before the end of the Federal Mining Claims year. We are working on some graphs and charts to illustrate the number and type of claims made and lost through the year. There is a pattern that changes by state and season that a wise prospector can use to optimize their research efforts.

In the meantime enjoy the most up to date mining claims maps available at any price.

Barry

[Clay Diggins]

Land Matters Claims Advantage Members have been receiving their twice monthly Closed Claims Reports for about a month now. These reports can be very helpful for someone doing claims research and might be used for several things. Maybe even finding recently opened land for prospecting or mining claims?

In addition to the twice monthly update reports Claims Advantage Members are emailed a series of Special Reports as they are created. There have been two Special Reports since the Land Matters Membership program was started last month. These reports are about 15 pages long and have State by State interactive tables to help claims researchers.

I can't share the reports themselves but with each report Land Matters includes heat maps to give a visual aid in identifying the most active areas. Special Report #1 presented Placer Mining Claims that were closed within the last three years AND were more than 30 years old when they were closed. This was an interesting report because claims that are more than 30 years old are usually considered valuable and worth keeping. Not your average exploratory claim that lasts for a year or two. Useful information for the clever prospector.

Here's the heat map from Special Report #1. The map shows the areas with the most closed Placer claims as a deep red and then fewer claims density are shaded down from lighter red to pale yellow. The smaller black lines are county borders to give you a little better idea where the activity is taking place.



Although this map is nowhere near as detailed as the full report it does give a good view of where the claims changed and even potentially tracks areas of higher mineralization and claims interest. The report itself shows for each claim 14 data fields and a direct link to the BLM records for the claim.

The Special Report #2 is similar to the first but deals with 30 year lode claims. Neither of these Special Reports or the twice monthly Closed Claims Reports could be created from LR2000 information.

We are working on Special Report #3 now and I'm really excited about what that's going to reveal. The things Land Matters can do with our huge databases is truly amazing. I'll have more info on that report when we get closer to releasing it.

Barry

[vanursepaul]

How come i haven't already become a member of this yet BArry????

[Steve Herschbach]

I signed up as a claims advantage member, but mainly just to show a little support.

[vanursepaul]

Ditto !