This quarter's MapGeo Community Spotlight – Okanogan County, Washington!
Okanogan County's Methow Valley has over 120 miles of groomed cross-country skiing trails.
The Town of Twisp, an arts hub (pictured), lies at the base of the valley.
Okanogan County, Washington’s largest by land area, is a landscape that shifts from high mountain passes to wide river valleys and open plateaus. The North Cascades Scenic Highway (State Route 20) winds through the Methow Valley, offering dramatic mountain vistas as it climbs westward toward Washington Pass. Together with modern amenities and a forward-thinking approach, the county’s frontier spirit is also still very much alive. In the largest city of Omak, the Omak Stampede rodeo features a daredevil horserace whose winning rider is celebrated as “King of the Hill,” an ode to the area’s heritage and an ongoing love of competition.
Agriculture remains a cornerstone of life in the Methow Valley. Roughly 9,000 acres of the valley’s private lands are actively farmed or ranched today, yielding orchard fruits like apples and pears along with plentiful hay and other crops. These farmlands and basins not only preserve the valley’s pastoral scenery with acres of fresh-cut hay and farmland blanketing the river plain, but they also sustain salmon populations when they return to the Methow River watershed each year.
Okanogan County has chosen MapGeo as its official county map viewer, giving residents and visitors an interactive way to explore the region. The platform includes detailed real estate sales from the past five years, as well as boundaries for hospital, school, fire, and EMS districts. One of the most unique features on Okanogan’s MapGeo site is the county’s herd district layer, showing where it is illegal to allow livestock to run at large.
Herding Districts theme on MapGeo to show where it is illegal to have livestock roam free.
Another unique feature to Okanogan’s MapGeo site is the configuration of additional District Information Panel details. For a selected property, click on the “View Details” button on the property panel to show additional information about each district. This panel shows the various districts associated with the selected property and allows users to show the associated districts on the map.
MapGeo's Dynamic Themes
MapGeo’s dynamic themes offer a powerful way to visualize live data by enabling real-time integration with external data, such as CAMA. Through automated data uploaders, MapGeo can extract and refresh property assessment data on a scheduled basis, ensuring that the map always reflects the most current information. These dynamic themes are built by joining parcel geometries with other data/table attributes, allowing municipalities to symbolize map layers based on fields like assessed value, building condition, or last sale year.
The Town of North Attleborough, MA has a great example of a dynamic theme on their site. It is called the Opportunity Zone. It is very similar to the Assessor’s Themes but in this case, it is showing data for a specific area of town, the opportunity zone area.
MapGeo is pulling data directly from North Attleborough’s CAMA to show Last Sale Prices for properties within the Opportunity Zone area.
For more information on the Massachusetts Opportunity Zone Program please visit: https://www.mass.gov/opportunity-zone-program and reach out to MapGeo Support to get your dynamic theme set up for your organization!
Annual Spatial IQ™ for MapGeo Overlay
As part of the Spatial IQ™ for MapGeo Managed Services program benefits, all Building Tier and above clients receive a free “Sanborn’s Choice” annual overlay theme on MapGeo. This year’s overlay theme shows Renewable Energy Power Plants. Pulling from Esri’s Living Atlas, we are showing the location of renewable energy production locations such as wind, solar, natural gas, and more. Each plant has a pop-up configured to provide additional information about the location and type of energy.
Renewable Energy Overlay theme for Johnston, RI
For more information on the Renewable Engery data, please visit Esri’s website.
If you are not part of the Spatial IQ program but would like this theme, please contact MapGeo Support.
New Rhode Island State Themes
In response to a client request, we have developed a new state theme focused on Dam Safety. This theme incorporates two key datasets provided by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM):
Dam Locations: Point features representing the locations of dams across the state. These points are symbolized by hazard classification: High, Significant, and Low to clearly indicate the relative risk level associated with each structure.
Dam Inundation Areas: Polygon features outlining areas that could be impacted by dam-related flooding. These polygons represent water bodies and adjacent land that may be affected in the event of a dam failure or overtopping.
Together, these datasets provide a comprehensive view of dam infrastructure and the potential areas at risk. The hazard-based symbology for dam points helps quickly identify higher-priority sites, while the inundation areas support emergency planning, risk assessment, and public awareness of potential downstream impacts.
Exeter RI showing the Dam Safety theme with a pop up configured with more details about the dams.
If there is data on your States open GIS portal that you think would make a great map theme for you and other cities in your state, let us know!
Upcoming Spatial IQ™ for MapGeo Webinar
Join us for an engaging webinar that explores how MapGeo is transforming the way organizations communicate vital data, both internally and with the public. Whether you are a municipal leader, GIS professional, or community advocate, this session will showcase how MapGeo delivers measurable impact through smarter information sharing and strategic visibility.
What You’ll Learn:
Cost Savings in Action: Discover how municipalities have saved tens of thousands of dollars and thousands of staff hours using MapGeo. From reduced in-person visits to streamlined data access, MapGeo’s Return on Investment (ROI) reports reveal significant savings.
Web Statistics That Matter: Learn how monthly MapGeo usage reports track site visits, clicks, and user actions.
Boosting Public Engagement: Explore strategies to increase the awareness and visibility of your MapGeo site.
Whether you're looking to justify GIS funding, improve service delivery, or simply get more eyes on your MapGeo site, this webinar will equip you with the insights and tools to make it happen.
Schedule your Spatial IQ™ Strategic Meeting for the new Fiscal Year
For Spatial IQ™ for MapGeo customers, with the new fiscal year here, it is time to schedule your annual strategic planning meeting. Meet with your project manager to review action items discussed last year and set up a game plan to grow your Spatial IQ for the year ahead.
P.S. - Interested in having your city or county spotlighted in a MapGeo newsletter? Reply directly to this email to let us know.
Sincerely,
The Sanborn Map Company, Inc., 305 S. Rockrimmon Blvd, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80919
Rebecca Davis
Quarterly Newsletter
September 2025
We're excited to share MapGeo news with you!
This quarter's MapGeo Community Spotlight – Okanogan County, Washington!
Okanogan County, Washington’s largest by land area, is a landscape that shifts from high mountain passes to wide river valleys and open plateaus. The North Cascades Scenic Highway (State Route 20) winds through the Methow Valley, offering dramatic mountain vistas as it climbs westward toward Washington Pass. Together with modern amenities and a forward-thinking approach, the county’s frontier spirit is also still very much alive. In the largest city of Omak, the Omak Stampede rodeo features a daredevil horserace whose winning rider is celebrated as “King of the Hill,” an ode to the area’s heritage and an ongoing love of competition.
Agriculture remains a cornerstone of life in the Methow Valley. Roughly 9,000 acres of the valley’s private lands are actively farmed or ranched today, yielding orchard fruits like apples and pears along with plentiful hay and other crops. These farmlands and basins not only preserve the valley’s pastoral scenery with acres of fresh-cut hay and farmland blanketing the river plain, but they also sustain salmon populations when they return to the Methow River watershed each year.
Okanogan County has chosen MapGeo as its official county map viewer, giving residents and visitors an interactive way to explore the region. The platform includes detailed real estate sales from the past five years, as well as boundaries for hospital, school, fire, and EMS districts. One of the most unique features on Okanogan’s MapGeo site is the county’s herd district layer, showing where it is illegal to allow livestock to run at large.
Another unique feature to Okanogan’s MapGeo site is the configuration of additional District Information Panel details. For a selected property, click on the “View Details” button on the property panel to show additional information about each district. This panel shows the various districts associated with the selected property and allows users to show the associated districts on the map.
MapGeo's Dynamic Themes
MapGeo’s dynamic themes offer a powerful way to visualize live data by enabling real-time integration with external data, such as CAMA. Through automated data uploaders, MapGeo can extract and refresh property assessment data on a scheduled basis, ensuring that the map always reflects the most current information. These dynamic themes are built by joining parcel geometries with other data/table attributes, allowing municipalities to symbolize map layers based on fields like assessed value, building condition, or last sale year.
The Town of North Attleborough, MA has a great example of a dynamic theme on their site. It is called the Opportunity Zone. It is very similar to the Assessor’s Themes but in this case, it is showing data for a specific area of town, the opportunity zone area.
For more information on the Massachusetts Opportunity Zone Program please visit: https://www.mass.gov/opportunity-zone-program and reach out to MapGeo Support to get your dynamic theme set up for your organization!
Annual Spatial IQ™ for MapGeo Overlay
For more information on the Renewable Engery data, please visit Esri’s website.
If you are not part of the Spatial IQ program but would like this theme, please contact MapGeo Support.
New Rhode Island State Themes
In response to a client request, we have developed a new state theme focused on Dam Safety. This theme incorporates two key datasets provided by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM):
Dam Locations: Point features representing the locations of dams across the state. These points are symbolized by hazard classification: High, Significant, and Low to clearly indicate the relative risk level associated with each structure.
Dam Inundation Areas: Polygon features outlining areas that could be impacted by dam-related flooding. These polygons represent water bodies and adjacent land that may be affected in the event of a dam failure or overtopping.
Together, these datasets provide a comprehensive view of dam infrastructure and the potential areas at risk. The hazard-based symbology for dam points helps quickly identify higher-priority sites, while the inundation areas support emergency planning, risk assessment, and public awareness of potential downstream impacts.
Exeter RI showing the Dam Safety theme with a pop up configured with more details about the dams.
If there is data on your States open GIS portal that you think would make a great map theme for you and other cities in your state, let us know!
Upcoming Spatial IQ™ for MapGeo Webinar
What You’ll Learn:
Cost Savings in Action: Discover how municipalities have saved tens of thousands of dollars and thousands of staff hours using MapGeo. From reduced in-person visits to streamlined data access, MapGeo’s Return on Investment (ROI) reports reveal significant savings.
Web Statistics That Matter: Learn how monthly MapGeo usage reports track site visits, clicks, and user actions.
Boosting Public Engagement: Explore strategies to increase the awareness and visibility of your MapGeo site.
Whether you're looking to justify GIS funding, improve service delivery, or simply get more eyes on your MapGeo site, this webinar will equip you with the insights and tools to make it happen.
Save the Date: Tuesday, October 7, 1:00 PM EST
Register here for the webinar
Schedule your Spatial IQ™ Strategic Meeting for the new Fiscal Year
P.S. - Interested in having your city or county spotlighted in a MapGeo newsletter? Reply directly to this email to let us know.
Sincerely,
The Sanborn Map Company, Inc., 305 S. Rockrimmon Blvd, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80919