Policies and Standards

1. Set technical specifications for geospatial data automation and development;
2. Provide basic guidance in map compilation/recompilation;
3. Provide standard procedures for documenting the history of each geospatial data layer and source map to aid users of the Maine GIS database in determining the viability of those data for specific applications.

Digital Parcel Standards

In January of 2003, under the auspices of the Maine Geolibrary Board, a Digital Parcel Standards Committee was formed to develop published standards for digital tax parcel data. The Committee, through meetings and electronic review, worked out the basic standards for the acceptance of parcel (cadastral) spatial and tabular data into the Geolibrary. These standards were formalized into this publication which was then presented along with certain recommendations to the Geolibrary Board on May 21st, 2003.

The parcel standard has been updated since, most recently June 15, 2011.

The first official Standard Geographic Code endorsed and adopted by the Governor of Maine, on July 1, 1971. Geocodes have undergone subsequent revisions, all of which were "officially" rolled back to this 1971 list by Maine's Information Services Policy Board (ISPB), as of January 2000. In 1971, all Maine state agencies were requested to implement these five digit geocodes, in agency information systems, to build a base of data for Maine's Minor Civil Divisions (MCDs) and to promote data sharing. The first two digits of the geocode represent the federal code (FIPS) for Maine counties, the remaining three digits uniquely identify each of Maine's MCDs and Reservations.

Maine GIS has adopted the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC), Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (CSDGM) as a documentation or "metadata" standard. Maine GIS data documented with FGDC metadata is published through the Maine Office of GIS (MEGIS) internet Data Catalog and can be made available to the national clearinghouse nodes of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI).

The Maine GIS Feature Metadata Recommendation was presented to the GIS Technical Group in October 2000, by the GIS Technical Group feature metadata subcommittee and was submitted to the GIS Executive Council in December of the same year.

Certain public utilities to develop, maintain, and file with the Public Utilities Commission maps of their service areas and key infrastructure. This rule further establishes standards for the content and structure of those maps.

The following technical specifications to implement the Public Utilities Commission’s requirements for Utility Service Area and Infrastructure Maps contained in Chapter 140 of the Commission’s Rules.