Maryland 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 Maryland included a review of relevant Internet sites and interviews with the Maryland State GIS Coordinator1 and the Chesapeake and Coastal Program2 regarding Maryland’s marine data needs and the state’s data management infrastructure. The Maryland Coastal Program completed the inventory (pdf) of Maryland’s state-level marine cadastral data.

State Data Management: The Maryland GIS Coordinating Office serves as the state’s coordinating body for GIS. Their GIS portal lists many data sources and provides online mapping services. The Department of Natural Resources hosts the Internet site for the coordinating council, the state’s Chesapeake and Coastal Program, and many of the data sources and online mapping applications for coastal information.

Marine Cadastre and Supporting Data

Cadastral Reference System: Maryland does not have a marine cadastre. The state assumes ownership below the mean low water with the exception of a few historical parcels that are related to oysters. Rights and interests in Maryland coastal waters are managed and/or recorded by several agencies, including the Department of Natural Resources, the Critical Areas Commission, the Department of Environment, and the Department of Planning.

Supporting Reference Data

Shorelines and Bathymetry: High-resolution Shoreline Map Data for Tidewater Maryland is available. The shorelines are based on 1988-1995 imagery; separate files are available for each county and the city of Baltimore. Shorelines are a 1:12,000 digital file. Both shorelines and bathymetry are included in the Maryland Coastal Atlas with downloads available from the Maryland Mapping Resource Guide.

Coastal Imagery: Coastal imagery is available online in the Maryland Coastal Atlas. There is an extensive list of offline low and high-resolution imagery to be found in the Maryland Mapping Resource Guide.

Marine Jurisdictional and Submerged Lands Boundaries: Maryland assumes ownership of areas below the mean low water line. The Maryland Coastal Atlas online map tool includes state and county boundaries. The county boundaries do not extend to the 3 nautical-mile offshore boundary. These data are also included in the Maryland Mapping Resource Guide.

Ownership, Leases and Other Authorizations: The state holds submerged lands in the public trust. There are a few exceptions in the Chesapeake Bay where parcels are identified in southern Somerset County, which are quite old and related to oyster harvest. Maryland owns the bottom of the entire Potomac River to mean low water, but Virginia has rights to the middle of the river for water withdrawal. State owned land records are available on the MDLandRec, which is a digital image retrieval system for land records in Maryland. Leases or permits are needed for bottomland aquaculture or aquaculture that hangs off piers. The Department of Natural Resources manages the permits for oysters and clams. The Department of Agriculture is responsible for aquaculture. No spatial data was identified for leases.

The Patuxent Naval Air Station in St. Mary’s County has an inactive bombing range with an exclusion area and bottom rights held by Department of Defense. It is unknown if these are lease rights or ownership.

Marine Managed Ares: Maryland has 63 areas identified as potential Marine Protected Areas, all of which are managed by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Conservation lands are available from the Maryland Mapping Resource Guide; some conservation areas can be viewed in the Coastal Atlas.

Local Parcel Information: Local government parcel data is available from the Planning Department for an annual subscription fee. A real property data search is available through Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation. Searches are by county, street, and address. This data is not mapped.

GIS Portals

• Center for Coastal Resources Management, Virginia Institute of Marine Science at College of William and Mary. Spatial data for shoreline management in the Chesapeake Bay and neighboring areas, including shoreline condition, land use, and inventory of shoreline structures. (web site)
• Maryland Coastal Atlas. Houses a host of various coastal-related resources as well as a mapping application. (web site)
• Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Geospatial Data Center. Protected Lands, Critical Area (within 1000 ft of the tidal shore), National Estuarine Research Reserve Project Areas, Shorelines – Recent, Submerged Aquatic Vegetation, and other habitat-related layers. (web site)
• Maryland Geological Survey. Shoreline Change Data, high-resolution shorelines, and Chesapeake Bay Sediment Distribution maps. (web site)
• Maryland GIS Inventory. The inventory is well populated and provides a good inventory of GIS data and contacts in the Maryland. (web site)
• Maryland Mapping Resource Guide. Searchable catalog of more than 900 entries on GIS data, documents, and resources. (web page)
• Maryland State Geographic Information Committee (MSGIC). (web site) Links to GIS data and resources, including contact information for over 400 committee members.

Reference and Supporting Data

Cadastral Reference Grid

Shorelines

Coastal Imagery

Bathymetry

Marine Jurisdictional Boundaries

Submerged Lands Boundaries

No data found.

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

Anne Arundel County (web site)

Baltimore City (web site)

Baltimore County (web site)

Calvert County (web site)

Cecil County (web site)

Charles County (web site)

Dorchester County (web site)

Harford County (web site)

Kent County (web site)

Queen Anne’s County (web site)

Somerset County

St. Mary’s County (web site)

Talbot County (web site)

Worcester County (web site)

Wicomico County (web site)

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