City of Santa Monica Information Systems Division 1685 Main Street, Room 110 Santa Monica, CA 90401 Tel: 310-458-8381 Fax: 310-395-2343 Using Santa Monica s Online Property Information System (OPIS) 8/17/2010
Table of Contents Introduction... 3 Quick Start... 5 Viewer layout... 5 Search for a parcel... 6 Zoom to a listed parcel... 9 View the listed parcel s Assessor map... 9 Zoom to an address or intersection... 10 Zoom to an address... 10 Zoom to an intersection... 11 Information on a parcel in the map display... 12 Printing the map... 13 Emailing the map... 15 Doing More... 16 Turning layers on/off... 16 Displaying the legend... 17 Refreshing the map... 18 Pan and Zoom on the map... 18 Pan and Zoom tools... 18 Zoom to location... 19 Changing map scale... 20 Getting info and selection... 21 Measuring the map... 22 Measure distance... 22 Measure area... 23 Marking up your map... 24 Point markup... 24 Text markup... 24 XY location markup... 26 Clear markup/selection... 26 Export parcel records... 27 Getting help... 29 2
Introduction Santa Monica s Online Property Information System (OPIS), makes it easy for you to browse current parcel and land ownership information with your web browser. You can also display zoning and zip code areas, coastal and airport zones, building footprints, public facilities, orthophotography, and coastline air photos. All parcel information is collected from the Los Angeles County Assessor and DataQuick. The parcel information in this application is updated quarterly. There is also a direct link from parcels in OPIS to the Assessor s scanned parcel map pages. The OPIS web viewer offers tools for viewing and querying spatial and attribute data as well as access to other parcel documents. Using the viewer, you can: Pan and zoom the map s extent Query spatial and attribute data Access related documentation Measure distances and areas on your map Locate latitude/longitude coordinates Markup your map with symbols, text, and grids Print your map or email your map to others Export selected parcel information to an Excel spreadsheet file 3
OPIS can be accessed from the City of Santa Monica ISD homepage http://www.smgov.net/isd by clicking on Maps & GIS, then click on Interactive Maps. Once you are in the Interactive Maps web page, click on the OPIS Online Property Information System link. 4
Quick Start Viewer Layout Here is the basic layout of the intranet GIS application viewer: Application title Menu bar Tool bar Map display Layer list and interactive area Scale, zoom, and status Application title the application title is displayed here. You can click on the City logo to go to the GIS home page. Menu bar the menus you use to display legend/layer information and search for parcel information. Tool bar the tools you use to interact with the map in the Map display. The active tool is outlined in a red square and also displayed in the status area at the bottom of the application window. Map display the main area in the application that displays the map graphics. Scale, zoom, and status a status area that displays what mode you are in. For example, if the Zoom In tool is active, then the mode will be Zoom In. You can also enter a map scale ratio in the Scale input field or select a location to zoom to in the Zoom To pulldown menu. Layer list and interactive area displays the current layers and if they are visible and/or active. Also, if the legend is turned on, this area is used to display the symbology used for the map in the Map display. This area is also used for searching and search results. 5
Search for a Parcel Click on Select in the Menu bar. This will display search options in the interactive area. Keep the Layer Name list set to Parcel. In the Field list, you can select by parcel number (APN). Set the Search Operator to equals, greater than, or greater than, depending on how you want to search. Finally, in the Attribute Value field, enter a value (depending on your selection in the Field list), then click the OK button. If nothing was found, you can try again. Make sure to enter the correct information. The following are some search examples. 6
Parcel number If you were searching for parcel number 4282-027-006, you would select APN in the Field list, equals as the Search Operator, and enter a value of 4282027006. 7
If parcels were found, they will be displayed in the interactive area and highlighted in yellow in the map display area. Note that if multiple parcels are found, they will be listed with alternating white and blue backgrounds. You can scroll through them using the scroll bar on the right. If you want to quickly print out the list, right-click with your mouse on the list and select Print from the menu. 8
Zoom to a Listed Parcel To zoom to a parcel in the list, click on Zoom to this feature in the parcel record. The map display will zoom to the parcel and highlight it in yellow. View the Listed Parcel s Assessor Map To view a scanned image of the parcel s Assessor map, click on View Assessor Map in the parcel record. The Assessor map is displayed in a new window. 9
Zoom to an Address or Intersection To zoom to a specific address or intersection, click on the Find Location menu in the Menu bar. This will display the Find Location options in the interactive area. Zoom to an address Click on the Street Address link. This will bring up the Zoom to Address options in the interactive area. 10
Enter a Street Number and Street Name, then click the Submit button. If any addresses matched, they will be listed. Click on the address you want to zoom to and the map display will zoom to that address. Please note that OPIS calculates the approximate address location on the street. The parcel associated with that address is nearby. The address numbers displayed in the middle of the parcels will give you a clue, but are parcel addresses assigned by the LA County Assessor and my not be the actual building address. To get information about a parcel, see Information on a parcel in the map display below. Zoom to an intersection Click on the Street Intersection link in the Find Location options as described on the previous page. This will bring up the Zoom To Intersection options in the interactive area. Enter a Street Name and Cross Street, then click the Submit button. If any intersections are found, they will be listed. Click on the intersection you want to zoom to and the map display will zoom to that intersection. Information on a Parcel in the Map Display If you see a parcel in the map display that you want more information on, first activate the Identify tool in the Tool bar. Now click on a parcel you see in the map display. Parcel information will be listed to the right in the interactive area. 11
Note that if condos exist on the parcel, each parcel record for each condo is listed. 12
Printing the Map To print out the map in the map display, click on the Print Map link in the upper-right corner of the application. This will display the Create a PDF Map options in the interactive area. Enter your Map Title, select a Quality/Page Size, and select a Scale to use for the map, then click the OK button. You will be notified in the interactive area when the map is ready. Click on the open map link to view your map. A new window will display your map. 13
At this point you can use the web browser s print tool to print your map. You can also save the map by right clicking on the open map link and select Save As or Save Target As. You will be prompted on the file name and location to save the file. 14
Emailing the Map To email the map in the map display, click on the Email Map link in the upper-right corner of the application. This will display the Email options in the interactive area. Enter a to email address and your from email address. You can also select the attached file format and enter a short comment. When ready, click the Send button to email your map. OPIS will remember your from email address so the next time you email a map, you will not have to type your email address again. Very nice! 15
Doing More Now that you have gone through the quick start, you are ready to master the other functionality of OPIS. Turning Layers On/Off You can display different layers on your map. To do this, first select Layers in the Menu bar. This will display the layer list in the interactive area. To turn on layers, check the box next to them. Some layers that have their box grayed out cannot be turned on because of the current scale. If you click on the red symbol next to the layer name, the map will zoom in closer so that layer can be turned on or off by you. 16
You can quickly turn ON all available layers in a folder by clicking on the green symbol next to the layer group folder. You can also turn OFF all available layers in a folder by clicking on the white symbol next to the layer group folder. Once you have selected the layers to turn on or off, press the Refresh Map button to refresh the map display. Please note that only one aerial photography layer can be turned on at one time. You can compare them by turning the other on and refreshing the map display. Displaying the Legend To display the symbology used for the different layers that are in the map display, click on Legend in the Menu bar. The legend is displayed in the interactive area to the right of the map. 17
Refreshing the Map Should you ever need to refresh the map display, click on Refresh Map in the Menu bar. You can also do the same thing by pressing the Refresh Map button in the layer list. Pan and Zoom on the Map There are different ways to pan and zoom on the map. You will find your favorites and use those the most. Pan and Zoom tools To zoom in on the map, activate the Zoom In tool. Now click on the map to zoom in, or click and hold to drag a box to zoom to. 18
To zoom out on the map, activate the Zoom Out tool. Now click on the map to zoom out. To pan the map (move it around), activate the Pan tool. Now click and hold to drag the map around. When you let go, the map will refresh displaying the new map location. To go back to previous map locations (before you panned or zoomed), click on the Zoom Previous tool. Your map will refresh showing where you were before panning or zooming. You can click the Zoom Previous tool many times to keep going back to previous map locations. To zoom to the entire city, click on the Full Extent tool. You will be zoomed out to the entire city location. Zoom to location You can quickly zoom to a park, public facility, or school by selecting one in the Zoom To pulldown menu at the bottom-center of the application. For example, select Goose Egg Park in the list to zoom to it on the map. 19
Changing Map Scale If you are used to maps at a certain scale, you can zoom to that scale using the current map in the display. For example, you can zoom to a location in the city. Then enter your scale and click on Go. In this example, we are using a 1:600 scale. This is a ratio scale. Think of it as stating that 1 inch on the map equals 600 inches in the real world. If you do some math you can translate this into feet, so 600 / 12 = 50 feet, thus 1 inch on the map equals 50 feet in the real world. Here is the resulting map display for 1:600 using the previous map display. 20
Getting Info and Selection You can quickly get information about parcels by activating the Identify tool. Click on a parcel in the map display to list parcel information. You can also select many parcels by activating the Select tool. Click on a parcel or click and hold to drag a box around parcels to select them. The selected parcels will be highlighted in yellow and the parcel information will be listed. To clear your selected parcels, see Clear markup/selection for more information. 21
Measuring the Map You can actually make distance and area measurements off the map. Here is how. Measure distance To measure a distance, first activate the Measure Distance tool. Now click on the map to set the starting point. Your first point s coordinate is displayed in the interactive area. Click on the map to set the second point. A red line is drawn on the map and the second point s coordinate is displayed with the distance and true course. You can continue to click on the map to set more points and get a total distance. To start over, just press the Clear Points button at the bottom of the point list. 22
Measure Area To measure an area, first activate the Measure Area tool. Now click on the map to set the starting point. Your first point s coordinate is displayed in the interactive area. Click on the map to set the second point. A red line is drawn on the map and the second point s coordinate is displayed. Continue to click on the map to set more points. As you do, an area is outlined in red and the total area in square feet is displayed with the point information. To start over, just press the Clear Points button at the bottom of the point list. 23
Marking Up Your Map You can mark up the map in the display to convey information to another person. Once marked up, you can print or email your customized map (see Printing the map and Emailing the map for more information). Point markup To place a point marker on the map, activate the Point Markup tool. Now click on the map to locate the point marker. Text markup To place text on the map, activate the Text Markup tool. Now click on the map to locate the beginning point of the text. In the interactive area, enter your text, choose your text size, color, background color, and press the OK button. 24
Your text is placed on the map. XY location markup To mark the coordinate of a particular point, first activate the XY Location tool. Then click on the map to set the point. A point marker is set and the coordinates are displayed under the point marker. 25
Clear Markup/Selection To clear the markup or selected features, click on the Clear Selection tool. Your markup or selected features will be cleared. Please note that if you have selected features (like selected parcels) and markup on the map, you will be prompted to clear one or both in the interactive area. Just check the box next to the object you want to clear from the map and press OK. In this example, both the markup and selected parcel are cleared from the map. 26
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Export Parcel Records You can export parcel records to an Excel spreadsheet for you to use in a report or other analysis. First zoom to or select the parcels you want to export (see Search for a parcel, Getting info and selection, and Pan and Zoom tools for more information). Now click on the Extract Excel tool. In the interactive area, set the Layer name to Parcel, choose to include or not include parcels in the visible map extent, and choose to include or not include selected parcels. Once set, press the OK button. An Excel file is created with your parcel records. You can download a ZIP file containing your Excel file, or you can download the Excel file directly. Just follow the directions in the interactive area. 28
When you open the Excel file, your parcel records are listed. 29
Getting Help To get quick help on OPIS functionality, click on the Help option in the Menu bar. The quick help is displayed in the interactive area. 30