Look at GIS Maps of Conway

A multi-layer web-based map of Conway is now available. To access Conway’s GIS mapping site:

On your browser, go to www.axisgis.com/ConwayMA; the program is open to all. The data comes through a link with the Assessors’ Office; assessment data is for the most recent year that has been certified by the State, maps are updated annually, and other information may be added or updated more frequently.

A tan map of the region will appear, with Conway in the center. You may zoom in on the map by clicking anywhere in Conway and left-clicking the spot – wherever your cursor is will be the center of your view as it zooms in. Just move your cursor to get to another location. The closer in that you zoom on a property, the more information you will see, such as acreage, then exact dimensions, etc. If you go in too close, information will disappear, so just back out again, using the “-“ sign.

Along the upper left edge of the screen is a set of three blue tabs and a small “AxisGIS Overview Tour” box. Clicking on the “Next” arrow in the Overview Tour box will scroll you down through the blue tabs beside it, or you can choose one tab by clicking directly on it.

“Search” tab: you will be able to enter a street address OR a map and parcel number in the gold bar at the top of the column on the left. Names and contact information for owners are still being withheld for privacy purposes, but are public information and available through our office. When you type a street address in the gold bar, that specific property will show up on the column beneath your entry. Some extra properties may also show up, if they are similar to the address you entered. For example., enter 5 Academy Hill (the Town Hall) and you will see that 15 Academy, 85 Academy and 125 Academy Hill Rd. also appear as options for your search, because they all contain the numeral “5” and “Academy Hill” in their identifications. If you type a new entry into the gold box, say “315” as the start of an address, all of the properties that have the number 315 on any road in town will appear as choices. When you see the property you want in the left column, double-click on it. The map will jump to that property and highlight it in yellow. Another small bluish box will appear in the center of your screen specifically for the property you requested. In this new box, you have a photo of the house, its map and parcel number in the upper left corner, and two tabs below the photo. The “Documents” tab will give you a printable copy of the assessors’ property record card for that property. The “Assessment” tab brings up a list of the various individual characteristics and values for the property. Most people find that the information they want is on the property record card. If you search for a property by its map and lot numbers, use this format, adding zeroes as needed: 401-6.2 would be “401-006-002”.

“Abutters” tab: this is helpful if you need a list of who owns property within a certain distance of yours or how far from the river is the 200’ affected by the Rivers Act or any other proximity information. Fill in the two gold boxes at the top of the left column. You can choose feet or meters from the drop-down as your measuring unit, then enter the distance you want in the left gold box. Click “Select”. The image on the map will zoom out to show you all of the properties that are within that distance from any part of the property you are interested in – and will highlight them in light red. The bright red line around your property will be the exact perimeter of that distance from any part of your property. If you need a certified list of abutters for any reason, the Assessors’ Office can provide it for you, but this tool is great for general information purposes. Note: the small bluish property box with the house picture that is on your main screen can be closed, enlarged, or moved out of the way (just click on the dark blue top bar and drag to another location on your screen).

“Layers”tab: This allows you to add layers of information to your map. You will see that “Conway, MA” and “Property Map” are already chosen with a check mark, so those are the information that you can see now. If you uncheck “Property map”, all the property lines and roads, etc. disappear. Check “Property Map” and that information reappears. Then try some of the other maps listed – just check their box and give it a few seconds. The new information will appear “on top” of the property map info. You can layer as many of these informational maps as you like. We have added more every year – such as state-owned land, Chapter land, when houses were built, etc. More to come!

The fourth tab, a left-pointing arrow, just closes the tabs column and takes the tabs over to the left edge of the screen. You can still just click on a tab to use it.

Main Screen

The small blue icons at the upper right corner of the screen are very useful tools. Click on any of these to use it – you will see that the icon turns slightly darker blue while that tool is in use. To close any of these tools, click “Clear” and then you may need to also click on the icon itself to completely clear the process.

Pencil: this is like a mini Paint program and allows you to draw on your map. Anything that you add to a map will be visible on your screen only and will be printable. It won’t be saved by the program.

Ruler: this provides three measurement tools. The left box in the drop-down allows you to measure area. Select your measuring unit from the gold drop-down. Move your cursor to a spot on the perimeter of what you want to measure. Left-click there, then move the cursor to the next point along the perimeter and left-click, continuing all the way around what you are measuring until you are back at the starting point. The measurement result is shown in the box. To stop measuring, click on “Clear”. To measure distance, choose the plain ruler icon in the middle and use it in the same manner as you would measure area. The third icon, a square with a plus sign on it, will give you the longitude and latitude (GPS coordinates) of any point that you choose.

Four-Square: this is a drop-down list of other information layers, many of which are aerial photography, that have been imported for our use from other sources, such as government agencies or Google. The “Google Satellite” layer is particularly useful and quite recent photography.

Star: this drop-down lets you quickly find places of particular interest, such as the school or library or covered bridge and the map will jump to that site.

“i” in white circle: if you click your cursor on any property, then click on this icon, it will zoom to that site and bring up an information screen.

Trash can: lets you reset to the regular screen settings or discard lines or words that you have added.

Plus sign (+)= zoom in, minus sign (-) = zoom back out.

Diamond: this will “jump” you to a ”home” parcel if you have designated one.

Four arrows, left and right arrows: these will zoom the map

Magnifying glass: lets you click on the map, then drag the red line diagonally from that point to make a box around the area to which you want to zoom.

Road: if you click on a map location, then click on this icon, it will pop up a box showing the Google street-level view at that location (if available, they’ve driven most of Conway). You can enlarge this street view, rotate it to see in any direction, zoom in and out, and get the GPS coordinates for that spot.

Globe: this gives you a “birds’-eye” view of the location you have chosen.

Printer: choosing this icon lets you set up a great-looking map to print. Move the area that you want to print to the center of your screen, then choose this icon. A “Print Options” box will appear; click on the gold “Map” drop-down to choose the page orientation of your map. Unless you specifically choose the 11x17 paper, your map will print on 8.5x11. Click on “Print Map” and a second “Print Options” box will appear. Here you can enter a title for your map and fine-tune the scale. This information will print on your map as a heading and legend. Click “Print Map”. The Options box will disappear and a small blue box will appear in the top center of your screen, with the spinning circle indicating that the map is being prepared. When that box turns green, choose “Print” and the map you have created will appear on the on a new browser tab on your screen, ready to be changed or printed. This is the time to look carefully at it, to see if it shows the layers that you want. Do you want a different or more detailed title? Is the scale right? If you need to change anything about your map, just close this tab in your browser and start the “Print” process again.

That’s pretty much it! Please contact us at assessors@conwayma.gov with any other questions or requests. We hope that you find this site useful – we will be adding new layers and we welcome suggestions!