Last year, we launched a new website feature for Crawford County, Iowa’s Secondary Road Department: a Section Corners module and an interactive map/chart where website users can find section corner certificates by township.
The feature has since been implemented for Jones County’s and Marion County’s new websites after their Road Departments saw it in action. The module makes it easy for county staff members to upload a new section corner certificate and browse ones already added. Multiple certificates can be added which then creates a history of certificates for the corner.
”The new setup is amazing. It is so nice to search through and find the location you want to update ... It makes my life much easier.
Brian Hatch2nd Assistant to Engineer | Marion County Road Department
For website users, the feature makes it convenient for them to quickly access a section corner certificate by clicking on their desired township and then their desired section corner, represented by squares. A pop-up window tells the user everything they need to know: the date the certificate was filed, the surveyor company, the surveyor name, and a link to the certificate file.
On the back end, in Mint Chip Lab, county staff members can add new section corner certificates by clicking the “add” button and filling out details about the section corner such as the township it’s in, its section and position numbers, the date of the certificate, its book, if the section corner should have multiple certificates, and its GPS coordinates. From there, the certificate can be uploaded.
The Section Corners module in Mint Chip Lab.
Crawford County’s Bridges module is laid out similarly to our Section Corners module.
In addition to our Section Corners tool, we’ve also created a feature for Crawford County’s bridges. Our Bridges module, allows county staff members to upload maps of each township’s bridges. The data is populated on the front-end of the website much like the section corners information through a map of the townships.
A huge thank you to Paul Assman, Crawford County engineer, for bringing his department’s section corner and bridge data needs to our attention and helping us develop these modules. If you’re interested in learning more about our engineering modules, please email hello@neapolitanlabs.com. We would love to help your county make this data more accessible.
”I found Brian and his staff to be very knowledgeable of both the web page buildout process and the needs of our department. They listened to us, learned about us, and tailored a product that met or exceeded our expectations.
Paul AssmanCounty Engineer
