NEW TNMCorps Mapping Challenge for City / Town Halls in NC!

The US Census lists over 500 incorporated municipalities in this state. So, as you can see from the map, most of the edits for this challenge will be new points that volunteers add.

Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details

Not sure what each point color means?   

These colors are part of our tiered editing process and signal to other editors that a point has passed through a specific tier. Our November 2018 newsletter has an article titled Editor Roles and Point Colors that describes this process further.  

Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details

Tips and Tricks for this challenge:  

Local Government: Incorporated vs. Unincorporated 

1. North Carolina has 532 municipalities which consist of cities, towns, and villages.   

2. See the Cities vs. Towns vs. Villages article in our September 2019 newsletter for more information on the different types of governing bodies. 
   See the full newsletter: 

   File icon TNMCorps Newsletter: September 2019 (Vol.5, Iss.4)

Possible Sources 

1. Remember to confirm each entry in a list with an authoritative source (e.g., the city or village’s website) before using it to update the map.   

   • See the How to Spot an Authoritative (Re)Source article in our November 2017 newsletter for why this is important.   Read the full newsletter: 

     File icon TNMCorps Newsletter: November 2017 (Vol.3, Iss.6)
2. The United States Census Bureau maintains downloadable lists of all the incorporated places in each state by population; here is North Carolina's.   
3. The North Carolina League of Municipalities also contains a list of member municipalities along with websites.  
4. Here is Wikipedia’s list of cities, towns, and villages. 

Proper Point Placement 

Our November 2018 newsletter includes an article on aerial interpretation for city/town hall structures. This article walks you through how to identify which building to place a point on when examining aerial imagery. Read the full newsletter: 

Interested in collecting city/town halls elsewhere? 

We’re collecting city/town halls nationally, so feel free to research these features throughout the U.S.  Other states that still need to have city halls collected include: Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin.  Note that only city/town halls in North Carolina will count towards this challenge.   

If you have any questions during the mapping process, reach out to us at nationalmapcorps@usgs.gov and we’ll will be happy to assist!  Thank you for all that you do, and happy mapping!