Louisiana Maps

Digital Data Availability Summary

Click for local parcel information. Map courtesy Digital Map Store

Why is marine cadastral data important for conservation and marine spatial planning?

Marine Cadastral Data Management

The Nature Conservancy’s 2010 Nationwide Comparative Assessment of State-level Marine Cadastral Data in Louisiana included interviews with the Louisiana Division of Administration’s Office of State Lands,1 as well as a written inventory (pdf) of Maine’s state-level marine cadastral data (SMCD).2 The Louisiana State GIS Coordinating Office provided additional information.3

State Data Management: Louisiana’s GIS Council (LGISC) serves as the coordinating body for GIS data in the state. Their website provides a central point of contact for the state’s geospatial resources. A number of agencies and organizations provide access to their data holdings through the Council’s Geospatial Metadata Catalog and the LGISC provides access to the Louisiana Atlas and Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator’s Office Data Catalog. The Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) SONRIS site provides an online mapping resource as well as data extract tool for coastal data. The Louisiana Division of Administration’s Office of State Lands publishes state lands data and state water bottoms data that are available for download from their site.

Marine Cadastre and Supporting Data

Cadastral Reference System: Louisiana has had a marine cadastre since the 1950s. The marine cadastre is used by the LA Office of Mineral Resources for leasing oil, gas and other mineral rights in LA coastal waters. It can be viewed on the SONRIS (http://sonris.com/default.htm) site along with many other coastal assets. The cadastre is not used to manage other resources.

Supporting Reference Data

Shorelines and Bathymetry: LA is listed as having 396 miles of coastline, which makes it fifth in the nation in this category. According to the LA Office Coastal Management, the inclusion of the tidal areas incorporates 15,000 miles of winding shorelines in the coastal zone region. Various shorelines and bathymetry are available from the LGISC data catalog and the LA Atlas.

Coastal Imagery: Satellite imagery is included in both the LA Atlas and the GIS Council’s metadata catalog LGISC. The Parishes will need to be contacted individually to determine if they have high-resolution imagery (see Local Parcel Information, below).

Marine Jurisdictional and Submerged Lands Boundaries: State, Parish and municipal boundaries, as well as parks and conservation lands, are available for download from the LA Atlas.

Ownership, Leases, and Other Authorizations: The Louisiana Office of State Lands maintains a detailed, current spatial inventory of state water bottoms, both fresh and salt water and are available for download. These GIS database of State Claimed Water Bodies supports state leasing programs for recreational and commercial purposes, including oil and gas leasing. The database is updated monthly on a schedule to coincide with the leasing schedule of the DNR Office of Mineral Resources. This information is available for viewing from SONRIS.

Extensive historical research was conducted, with the assistance of USGS, to determine whether water bodies were navigable at the time of statehood (1812), and to track historic changes since then. Water bottoms to which the state made claim have been digitized from recent aerial imagery. The database indicates if an adjacent landowner has filed a counter claim and whether a court has overridden the original determination of the State Land Office. Creation of the State Claimed Water Bodies database has required the digital representation of accurate water boundaries with the adjacent states of Texas and Mississippi. Mineral lease blocks are projected into Louisiana state waters in rectangular areas of varying sizes, many in the neighborhood of 5,000 acres. These Offshore Blocks were designated in the 1950s, and are subunits of Offshore Areas designated later by the U.S. Minerals Management Service. Blocks are marked on nautical charts, posted on oil and gas rigs, and used as rig addresses. Actual leased tracts are smaller, less regular, and not necessarily rectangular. Offshore Blocks have not been used for describing non-mineral lease boundaries or for indexing resource data.

Marine Managed Areas: The DNR SONRIS site provides online mapping tools to identify marine managed areas. DNR provides electronic data files upon request via CDROM, e-mail or through an FTP server, depending on the nature of the data. Data requests can be made from the website. Many of these data sets are available for download from the LA Atlas.

Local Parcel Information: The state does not collect and publish local government parcel data. It will be necessary to contact the individual Parishes to determine the status of their parcel data (see Local Parcel Information, below).

GIS Portals

• Atlas: The Louisiana Statewide GIS (web site). Many data layers available for download or viewing relevant to leasing and other uses in state coastal waters and the Gulf of Mexico. In addition to layers listed later on this page, Atlas statewide data include layers on coastal and ocean habitat, jurisdictions, and other human uses.
• Louisiana GIS Council (LGISC) (web site). An extensive site provides links to public geospatial data distributors for the state of Louisiana and includes the valuable LAGIC Geospatial Metadata Catalog (web page) referencing 329 data layers. LAGIC resources include a 2-DVD set titled the Louisiana GIS Digital Map 2007.
• Louisiana Map 2.0 (web site). Official mapping portal for Louisiana government provides links to the state’s various map catalogs. Online maps, spatial data for download, and interactive online mapping.
• Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator’s Office (LOSCO Data Catalog) (web site). Environmental Baseline Inventory data from the Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator’s Office available for download. Data Catalog contains 302 downloadable GIS data layers. Many (perhaps most) of these are also available through the LAGIC Geospatial Metadata Catalog, Atlas or SONRIS.
• SONRIS (web site). Louisiana’s Department of Natural Resources provides free access to real-time information related to oil and gas drilling/production, mineral leases, coastal data, use permits, coastal restoration projects, aerial photos and more. Access methods included databases, documents, GIS mapping tools and downloads of GIS data.
• State Lands and Building System (SLAB) (web site) in LADOA’s State Land’s Office provides Internet access to state land and water bottom records via interactive map and downloads of tables and GIS formatted data.

Reference and Supporting Data

Cadastral Reference Grid

Shorelines

Coastal Imagery

Bathymetry

Marine Jurisdictional Boundaries

No data found.

Submerged Lands Boundaries

Ownership

Submerged Lands Parcels

General Property and Parcel Data

Public and Conservation Lands

Leases and Other Use Authorizations

Aquaculture and Shellfish

Other Use Authorizations

Marine Managed Areas

Local Parcel Information

Cameron Parish (web page)

Iberia Parish (web page)

Jefferson Parish (web page)

Lafourche Parish (web page)

Livingston Parish (web page)

Orleans Parish (no central web page found)

Plaquemines Parish (web page)

St. Bernard Parish (web page)

St. Charles Parish (web page)

St. John the Baptist Parish (web page)

St. Mary Parish (web page)

St. Tammany Parish (web page)

Tangipahoa Parish (web page)

Terrebonne Parish (web page)

Vermilion Parish (web page)

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