Land Use

Land use is totally dependent on physical features. But with more than 500,000 parcels in Phoenix, Arizona, totaling 512 square miles, it is difficult with a small staff to maintain a current map. To solve this dilemma, the Planning Department utilized the Maricopa County Assessor’s parcel base and its associated tax codes (2,086 categories) to derive this land-use map. The county tax codes have been regrouped into 27 logical land uses. These simplified uses were selected for analysis purposes to correspond to the city’s General Plan. Thus, the municipal government uses its county assessor inspectors as land-use personnel to maintain an up-to-date database and effectively save the City of Phoenix Planning Department many hours of aerial photo analysis.

Courtesy of the City of Phoenix, Arizona.