Mississippi 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 Mississippi included an interview with Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office of Public Trust Tidelands1 and a review of relevant Internet sites. Additional information was provided by the MS Department of Marine Resources and TNC staff that has worked extensively with Mississippi’s GIS community.

State Data Management: Mississippi’s GIS Council serves as the designated coordinating body for the GIS community. The Council’s GIS portal is supported by the MS Information Technology Services and provides links to state data sets. The Mississippi Automated Resource Information System (MARIS) is another source of information and provides an extensive list of state and local government geospatial databases. The Department of State maintains records on public lands and, as of early 2011, has a project underway to produce an on-line inventory of Mississippi state lands. The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources (DMR) provides an online mapping service to view coastal data assets. In addition to these state portals, NSGIC GIS Inventory was updated for Mississippi in 2010, providing an index to state and local government framework data.2 Mississippi’s three coastal counties have received considerable support for their GIS programs since hurricane Katrina (2005) and all three have online mapping applications to view local government data (see parcel information, below).

Marine Cadastre and Supporting Data

Cadastral Reference System: Mississippi does not have a marine cadastre. Submerged water boundary issues are addressed on a case-by-case basis by the Secretary of State’s Office.

Supporting Reference Data

Shorelines and Bathymetry: Coastal shorelines are available for the three coastal counties from MARIS and the MS GIS Clearinghouse. Bathymetry is available from the MS GIS Clearinghouse.

Coastal Imagery: Orthoimagery was collected for the coastal counties in 2006 and 2007. LiDAR was collected for the three coastal counties in 2005 and is available through the MS GIS Clearinghouse. More recent imagery may be available from local governments.

Marine Jurisdictional and Submerged Lands Boundaries: MARIS has county boundaries extending to the state offshore boundary. No information could be found for Submerged Lands Boundaries.

Ownership Leases and Other Authorizations: The Secretary of State’s Office does not publish a marine boundary for public trust tidelands, which include all lands seaward of MHW or the toe of the seawall when a public beach has been nourished. Boundary issues are determined on a case-by-case basis when applications are made for construction that would affect wetlands. Boundary determinations are assisted by paper maps, digitized paper maps that are used in house only, and field surveys.

The Office of the Mississippi Secretary of State initiated the development of a GIS system for tracking tidelands leases in 2010 for in-house purposes. Leases are recorded in the counties by the Chancery Clerk’s office. Some uses, such as sand and gravel extraction, require a permit from Department of Marine Resources (DMR) rather than a lease from Secretary of State. The Secretary of State can object to a particular project with the preservation of the natural condition of tidelands being favored. The most common objection is to new bulkheads that are to be placed in front of existing bulkheads.

Marine Managed Areas: DMR has the responsibility for 21 marine managed areas. The DMR website provides online mapping showing boundary files for preserves and other marine managed areas. DMR will have to be contracted directly to acquire copies of the data.

Local Parcel Information: Parcel attribute data is not available from the state. Each of the three coastal counties has robust parcel databases that are managed in the Tax Assessor’s office. All three counties have interactive websites for their parcel maps (see local parcel information, below).

GIS Portals

• Department of Marine Resources Coastal Mapper. Online interactive map with a variety of coastal layers. (web site)
• GIS Inventory was recently updated in Mississippi through a FGDC CAP grant. This site provides an inventory of available data. It was updated in 2010 for the FGDC framework layers. (web site)
• Mississippi Automated Resource Information System. Metadata catalog, downloadable spatial data, and interactive map viewer. (web site)
• Mississippi Geospatial Clearinghouse Provides access to MS geospatial resources that can be downloaded. (web site)

Reference and Supporting Data

Cadastral Reference Grid

Shorelines

Coastal Imagery

Bathymetry

Marine Jurisdictional Boundaries

Submerged Lands Boundaries

No data found. However, Counties, a layer in MARIS Online Maps (Web site), shows coastal county boundaries that extend into coastal waters, with lateral and seaward 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

No spatial or non-spatial data was found.

Local Parcel Information

Hancock County

Harrison County

Jackson County

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