2024 Status of Foundational Layers Report and Scorecard Published

Each year, the WLIA Technical Committee evaluates the status of mapping layers needed for critical business areas affecting Wisconsin. The goal of this evaluation is to communicate the status of these layers to stakeholders and advocate for their well-planned improvement.

The Status of Foundational Layers Report and Scorecard for 2024 are complete and can be accessed from the WLIA website: https://www.wlia.org/foundational-layers

In 2024, slight changes were made to improve the layout of the report. In situations where additional entries have been added – both are recorded in a single record under the primary layer heading (instead of on separate pages in the report). For example, there are two entries for road centerlines (with and without addresses); hydrography (24K and 5K); land use (existing and planned); and municipal boundaries (LTSB and WisDOT). 

Highlights for 2024 include working closely with data stewards at the WI DNR to determine the best path for including 5K Hydrography as a new layer with updates and scorecard results handled separately from the 24K Hydrography. This will be a good way to document 5K Hydro beginning in 2024, then utilize the information in the report going forward to promote further production of higher-resolution data and its expansion in Wisconsin. It will also be useful to track progress over time as more of the state is mapped at this scale.      

The 2024 scorecard process resulted in insignificant changes from 2023. One shift showed a very slight drop in the score for parcels after a discussion about base attribute completeness. Other score shifts included increases for address points and street centerlines – with the continual work on these layers for NextGen 911 applications resulting in more complete and accurate data. Score increases were also present for 24k hydrography, lidar, wetlands and floodplains. Frequency of updates, higher resolution mapping, and all 72 counties having some lidar publicly accessible contributed to these scores.

A working group within the Technical Committee is currently investigating new ways to display the information in the report and scorecard to allow for a more interactive experience.

Questions or comments about this year’s report and scorecard can be directed to Jaime Martindale (jmartindale@wisc.edu) or Zach Robinson (Zach.Robinson@legis.wisconsin.gov) for the WLIA Technical Committee.