Orange County

On-line Geographic Information System
(GIS)

Directions for Use

Provided by the Orange County Department of Planning and Zoning. For technical support or to report errors or omissions, call 672-4347

Accessing the site

Type www.onlinegis.net/VaOrange/ in the address line of your internet home page or search engine. First-time users of the on-line GIS must download Autodesk MapGuide in order to view the map information. You will be prompted to do this automatically. For users with a modem speed of less than 56kbps, this can take a few minutes. The default map display is that of the entire county and its election districts.

Taking a closer look (zooming in)

To zoom in from the default map display, go to the tool bar located to the right of the map and left-mouse click on the icon that looks like a magnifying glass with a “+” in it. Then, using your mouse to move your cursor to the area you want to view more closely, press down on the left-mouse key at one corner of the area and drag it across and down, thus creating a “square” over the area to be viewed. Release the left mouse key, and the area you chose will appear in greater detail (for modem users, this may take a minute to display). If the individual parcels are not displayed, repeat this process. The closer you zoom in, the more information will be displayed (see Turning map information on and off below). To zoom in on the map without selecting a specific area as described, simply left-mouse click the magnifying glass cursor anywhere on the map.

Zooming out

To zoom back out from looking at a small area of the map, go to the tool bar on the right side of the map and left-mouse click on the icon that looks like a magnifying glass with a “-“ in it. Then left-mouse click this cursor anywhere on the map to zoom out one level at a time. To zoom to the previous level you were viewing, left-mouse click on the icon that looks like a magnifying glass with an arrow in it. To zoom to the full map, left-mouse click on the icon that looks like a magnifying glass with an “x” in it.

Moving the map around

To move the map around without zooming in or out, go to the tool bar on the right side of the map and left-mouse click on the icon that looks like a hand. Place the “hand” cursor anywhere on the map, and, holding down the left mouse key, move the mouse in the direction you wish to move the map.

Turning map information on and off

To the left of the screen is a map key which lists the information that can be viewed at the map scale displayed. As you zoom in to a smaller area of the map, individual parcels and the information tied to them (such as zoning) will become viewable and listed on the map key. Information that is displayed on the map is indicated in the map key by those items with a check by them. To turn on map information, left-mouse click in the blank check box beside the information you want to see. To turn off map information, left-mouse click on the check in the check-box beside the item you want to turn off.

Searching for a parcel by number, address or owner

Go to “Search” on the menu bar at the top of the screen or left-mouse click on the binoculars icon located on the tool bar to the right of the map. Choose the method you wish to use to locate a parcel and then follow the on-screen directions.

Selecting (and Unselecting) a parcel

Using the tool bar down the right side of the map, left-mouse click on the arrow icon. To select an individual parcel, drag the arrow across the parcel to be selected and left-mouse click anywhere on the parcel to select it. To clear your selection, left-mouse click on the arrow-circle-slash icon.

Viewing information about a selected parcel

Once a parcel is selected, go to the tool bar on the right side of the map and left-mouse click on the icon that looks like the small letter “i” on a sheet of paper. Once selected, a screen will pop up that shows the real estate information available for the selected parcel.

Selecting adjoining parcels

Select a parcel as noted above. To view the adjoining parcels, go to the tool bar on the right side of the map and left-mouse click on the icon that looks like a square with smaller squares inside of it. This highlights the parcels adjoining the selected parcel and also provides a list of the owners and addresses of those highlighted parcels.

Printing a map

To print map information being displayed, go to the tool bar on the right side of the map and left-mouse click on the printer icon, or select “Print” from the menu bar at the top of the screen. Follow the on-screen instructions.

Using maps in other applications

To use displayed map information in other applications, go to the tool bar on the right side of the map and left-mouse click on the icon that looks like two sheets of paper with an arrow across it. This allows you to paste to the clipboard the displayed map so that it can be used in other applications such as Microsoft Word, etc.

Using the Red Line Tools

Users have the ability of adding text and markers to their map by using the Red Line Tools feature. To do this, go to the tool bar on the right side of the map and left-mouse click on the icon that looks like a red pencil (alternatively, you can also go to “Tools” on the menu at the top of the screen and select “Red Line Tools”). Once you have selected this feature, a small screen will pop up and give you options for adding to the map a point (such as a star or other marker), a line (such as an arrow), a polygon (such as a square), a circle or text. Selecting any of these features generates a pop-up menu that allows you to select feature size and color. You can also erase features you add using Red Line Tools.

**If you forget what the items on the toolbar allow you to do, hold your cursor over each item and a brief function description will pop up.