Wake County and the City of Raleigh have collaborated to launch an updated version of the popular iMAPS application — an online, interactive mapping tool that provides easy access to reliable property information.

“Wake County strives to provide user-friendly, efficient services that exceed expectations and meet the changing needs of our residents,” said Shinica Thomas, chair, Wake County Board of Commissioners. “This enhanced version of iMAPS ensures people can get the information they need easily and quickly.”

iMAPS is a joint project that began more than 20 years ago between the Geographic Information Systems teams of both Wake County and City of Raleigh. These teams, who specialize in gathering and analyzing data to create maps, charts and other visualizations, worked to create a tool that would allow the public to look up properties by owner name, address, place of interest or intersection and retrieve a variety of information.

Users can find property boundaries, zoning jurisdictions, topography — even tax and deed information. iMAPS is widely cited as a business-critical application used by the public, real estate professionals, developers and staff at local municipalities who need centralized access to information about property.

"Our community relies on iMAPS to access city and county information. We are excited to release improvements that make it easier to explore and access this essential information,” said Jim Alberque, manager, City of Raleigh GIS and Emerging Technology. “Community feedback is invaluable, and we're committed to enhancing user experience every step of the way.”

iMAPS users will benefit from some new or updated functionality in the latest version, including:

• Tools now appear in the toolbar on the right.
   
• Panels that were on the left have been removed and now appear floating in the top-right corner of the map. Panels are collapsible, which can be helpful when viewing on mobile.
   
• Property search results now include half addresses (ex. 401 ½ Carolina Ave.).
   
• You can export the address table with multiple results.
   
• Property search results display cluster bubbles when zoomed out, and you can zoom in on the map to see the detail.
   
• If a property is in Durham County, there is a new button you can click to be directed to Durham County’s property application.
   
• We’ve added a Blend tool to the base map that allows you to control the image opacity.
   
• The property search tool will display your 10 most recent searches when you click the clock icon next to the property search widget.
   

A user guide is available at wakegov.com/imaps. Anyone with questions or in need of assistance can contact gis@wake.gov.