Connecticut Towns for Clipping is a 1:24,000-scale polygon feature-based layer that should only be used to clip other 1:24,000-scale feature-based layers by town. The layer includes one polygon feature for each Connecticut town (municipality). For inland towns, town polygon features are entirely based on political boundary information depicted on the U.S. Geological Survey 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle maps. For towns along the Connecticut coastline, town polygon features are based on a combination of political boundary information published on the U.S. Geological Survey 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle maps and a two-mile buffer along the Connecticut coastline that artificially expands the geographic area for coastal towns into the waters of Long Island Sound. The shoreline has been generalized and extended seaward by a distance of two miles to ensure features near the true shoreline (as depicted on the USGS topographic quadrangel maps) are included with the (clipped) output dataset results. The layer is based on information from USGS topographic quadrangle maps published between 1969 and 1984. There is one polygon feature in this layer for each Connecticut town with attribute information that denotes the Town number and Town name. This layer was originally published in 1994. With the exception of the Middletown-Portand town boundary, the 2005 edition includes the same features originally published in 1994. The Middletown-Portand town boundary was corrected and changed from its location, as depicted on the USGS topographic quadrangle maps, from along the banks of the Connecticut River in Portand to the middle of the Connecticut River south of Wilcox Island to the Pecausett Meadows area in Portland.

Connecticut Towns for Clipping is a 1:24,000-scale layer that is only intended to be used for clipping other 1:24,000-scale spatial datasets by town. For example, use this layer to clip other layers such as Hydrography or Drainage Basins and create datasets of information for individual towns. Note, when this layer is used to clip features in other layers, features in the Connecticut portion of Long Island Sound that are within two miles of the Connecticut shoreline are included with the (clipped) output dataset results. Do not print the Towns for Clipping polygon features on a map. These polygon features were specifically designed for clipping other datasets and are not intended for displaying or printing town boundaries on a map. In particular, the polygon features for towns along the Connecticut coastline have been artificially enlarged to extend into Long Island Sound by a distance of two miles. The artificial nature of the southern portion of this layer ensures that features near the actual shoreline are included with the (clipped) output dataset. Use the layer named Town, which is also published by the State of Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, to depict 1:24,000-scale Connecticut town boundaries on a map.

The Towns for Clipping layer was originally created in 1994 from an early version of the Town Master from USGS layer, also published by the State of Connecticut, Department of Environmental Protection. For additional information related to the original source of data from the U.S. Geological Survey, refer to the Data User Guides and Standards for 1:24,000-Scale Digital Line Graphs and Quadrangle Maps available from the U.S. Geological Survey, National Mapping Program.

Publication dates of the USGS 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle maps for the State of Connecticut through 1984.

None. The data is in the public domain and may be redistributed.

No restrictions or legal prerequisites for using the data. The data is suitable for use at appropriate scale, and is not intended for maps printed at scales greater or more detailed than 1:24,000 scale (1 inch = 2,000 feet). Although this data set has been used by the State of Connecticut, Department of Environmental Protection, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by the State of Connecticut, Department of Environmental Protection as to the accuracy of the data and or related materials. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the State of Connecticut, Department of Environmental Protection in the use of these data or related materials. The user assumes the entire risk related to the use of these data. Once the data is distributed to the user, modifications made to the data by the user should be noted in the metadata. When printing this data on a map or using it in a software application, analysis, or report, please acknowledge the State of Connecticut, Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Geological Survey, National Mapping Program as the source for this information. For example, include the following data source description when printing this layer on a map: Towns - From the Towns for Clipping layer, compiled and published by CT DEP and USGS. Source map scale is 1:24,000.

Includes one polygon feature for each Connecticut town (municipality). For inland towns, town polygon features are based on political boundary information published on the U.S. Geological Survey 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle maps. For towns along the Connecticut coastline, town polygon features are based on the political boundary information published on the U.S. Geological Survey 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle maps that is combined with a two-mile buffer along the Connecticut coastline, artificially expanding the geographic area for coastal towns into the waters of Long Island Sound. When this layer is used to clip features in other layers, features in the Connecticut portion of Long Island Sound that are within two miles of the Connecticut shoreline are included with the (clipped) output dataset results. Label polygon feature with the TOWN attribute to display town names.

Includes one polygon feature for each Connecticut town (municipality). For inland towns, town polygon features are based on political boundary information published on the U.S. Geological Survey 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle maps. For towns along the Connecticut coastline, town polygon features are based on the political boundary information published on the U.S. Geological Survey 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle maps that is combined with a two-mile buffer along the Connecticut coastline, artificially expanding the geographic area for coastal towns into the waters of Long Island Sound.

State of Connecticut, Department of Environmental Protection and U.S. Geological Survey, National Mapping Program

Polygon features conform to the following topological rules. Polygons are single part. There are no duplicate polygons. Polygons do not self overlap. Polygons do not overlap other polygons. There are no line features. The tests of logical consistency were performed by the State of Connecticut using ESRI ArcInfo software to maintain feature topology in ArcInfo coverage format. The data is topologically clean. The ArcInfo Clean function was repeatedly used following edits to verify topology and enforce a minimum distance between vertices of 4 feet (fuzzy tolerance) and a minimum allowed overshoot length of 10 feet (dangle length).

The completeness of the data partially reflects the USGS National Mapping Division standards for feature content of the data sources, which are the Large Scale (7.5 minute) Digital Line Graph (DLG) files available from the USGS. For Connecticut, the Large Scale DLG files used to create this layer are for the 1:24,000-scale topographic quadrangle maps published between 1969 and 1984.  The data is complete in the sense that it accurately reflects the contents of the most recently published USGS topographic quadrangle maps available at the time the State of Connecticut, Department of Environmental Protection began creating the layer. More recent quadrangle maps have been published by the USGS since 1984; however, the State of Connecticut did not incorporate this information into the layer. This data is not updated.

This data is partially derived from political boundary (linear) feature types identified by the USGS that are used to outline town polygon features. All attributes have valid values. Values are within defined domains. The TOWN_NO (Town number) polygon attribute was manually entered and visually inspected and compared to information on the USGS 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle maps. The TOWN (Town name) attribute is the English equivalent of (decodes) the TOWN_NO polygon attribute and was populated though a table join to a town lookup table. There are no line features or attributes.

All town polygon outlines that not generated from the two-mile buffer of the Connecticut coastline comply with United States National Map Accuracy Standards for 1:24,000 scale maps. According to this standard, not more than 10 percent of the points tested are to be in error by more than 1/50 inch (40 feet) measured on the publication scale of a USGS 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle map.

Connecticut Towns for Clipping

Although this data set  has been used by the State of Connecticut, Department of Environmental Protection, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by the State of Connecticut, Department of Environmental Protection as to the accuracy of the data and or related materials.  The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the State of Connecticut, Department of Environmental Protection in the use of these data or related materials. The user assumes the entire risk related to the use of these data. Once the data is distributed to the user, modifications made to the data by the user should be noted in the metadata.

Geographic information sytem (GIS), computer-aided drawing or other mapping software is necessary to display, view and access the information.

The data distributor does not provide custom GIS analysis or mapping services. Data is available in a standard format and may be converted to other formats, projections, coordinate systems, or selected for specific geographic regions by the party receiving the data.