Hanover County’s GIS became operational in 1995 primarily in support of implementation of the County’s Enhanced 911 program. The County’s GIS data layers originally included fourteen planimetric-based (physical features) data layers, street centerlines, street addresses, and tax parcel boundaries. Additional data layers have since been developed, including historic and battlefield sites, towers, land use, zoning, digital aerial photography, flood plains, and water and sewer data. Today the GIS has over 300 data layers.

County GIS staff maintain 25 of these data layers on a regular basis. Standard map products are produced for distribution, including tax maps, zoning maps, topographic maps, address map books, aerial photographs, and a County street map. In addition, a number of custom maps are available that depict election districts, school districts, etc. Please go to the “Ordering Mapping & Data” link for information on purchasing digital or hard copy map products.

The County has expanded its access to GIS data for staff and the public using web-based technology. A series of intranet (internal) web pages have been developed to provide general access to GIS data for all County staff and to meet specific Department GIS needs. The County has two public GIS web sites, one for general users and a second that contains more detailed data layers for specific job functions. The intent of the GIS internet web pages is to make it easier for private companies to conduct business in Hanover County.

The GIS program is designed to leverage data that is maintained by other County management information systems. Hence, the ownership and assessment data that is displayed on this web page is actually maintained by the Commission of the Revenue and the Assessor. The design of the County’s GIS is such that individual Departments continue to be responsible for their data while the GIS provides staff and the public an easy to use application to review County data.