City of Springfield, Massachusetts

Help for Springfield GIS Application

Getting to Know GIS
How to Search for a Street Address
How to Navigate the Map Display
How to Use the GIS Navigation Controls
How to Print GIS Maps
What Are The Requirements for GIS

• Getting to Know GIS

  GIS stands for Geographic Information System. It is the public mapping system capable of displaying geographically referenced information for the City of Springfield, Massachusetts. The following diagram describes some of the features available in the GIS application.
  
  

  

  1. Street Address Search - Use this to search for street addresses.
  2. Property Info Display Area - This panel shows search results. Clicking on any result will display that result's property information.
  3. Disclaimer Display Area - This displays disclaimer information regarding the GIS application.
  4. Map Display - This area displays the map, as well as aerial photo and zoning information when selected.
  5. Map Display Controls - Use this to navigate the map display.
  6. Map Views - Click these to display different views, including aerial, wetlands, and zoning imagery.
  7. Map Legend - This explains color coding used to designate roads, wetlands, zoning, and other map features.
  8. Print PDF - Click this link to generate a pdf document with the map and property information.

• How to Search for a Street Address

  To search for a street address users first enter a street address (e.g. 1277 Main St) or a street name in the Street Address Search field on the left hand side of the screen, then simply click the Search button to initiate the map search process. If you entered a street name in the Street Address Search field an autocomplete menu will appear showing various matches to the street name given. You can then hover and click to select one of the items in the list to initiate the map search process.
  
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• How to Navigate the Map Display

  You can navigate the Map Display in two ways: (1) using your mouse, and/or (2) using the Map Display Controls (see "How to Use the GIS Navigation Controls" below for more info). To pan (move the map), click and drag the map with the mouse in any direction, and the web page will reload, displaying the new area in the Map Display. Users can zoom in or out of the Map Display by moving the cursor over a location and then rolling the mouse scroll button up to zoom in or down to zoom out on that location.

• How to Use the GIS Navigation Controls

  Navication Arrows - Click the appropriate arrow buttons to move the Map Dispay view north, south, east or west. Zoom Controls - Click the + button to zoom in on the center of the Map Display view. Click - button to zoom out. Zoom slider - Drag the zoom slider up or down to zoom in or out incrementally. First Map - Use this button to reload the orignal map displayed from the search results.

• How to Print GIS Maps

  In order to use the Print PDF feature of the GIS applicaion, users must first turn off popup blocking. For best results, print maps and property information using the Print PDF link in the upper right area of the screen. When printing from the browser "File" menu, only the map is displayed on the printed page (property info will not appear). The Print PDF link generates and Acrobat PDF document optimized for print, download and email.

• What Are The Requirements for GIS

  In order for users to use the GIS application they must have JavaScript enabled on one of supported browsers listed below. Also the browser must be set to receive cookies. To view the generated PDF document (containing the map and property information) you will need the free Adobe Reader plugin installed as well. This GIS application currently supports the following web browsers:
  
  

  • Internet Explorer 6.0+
  • Firefox 1.5+
  • Safari 2.0.4+