Free GIS Data 

Do you need GIS data for use in your own GIS software? Here at St. Joseph County, we feel strongly that our data is a much more valuable resource when it can be freely utilized by citizens and businesses to make better, more informed decisions. Therefore, all county GIS data is FREE to download and use. 

The following St Joseph County GIS data is available to download at no cost. Simply fill out the GIS Data & Services Request Form and you will be provided a link via email to download each package. The GIS data is updated and made available annually. All data is provided in compressed .shp file format unless otherwise indicated.  (PLEASE NOTE: the following datasets do not include information for the cities of Sturgis or Three Rivers. Please contact the cities directly for data availability).

Data is grouped and compressed in .zip format for easy download. Packages include:

Basic GIS Data Package

• Parcels (attributes: Tax_ID, Parcel Address, Owner Name, Owner Address, Calculated Acreage, Assessed Acreage, School District, Last Sale Date and Tax Description) polygon
• Parcel Accuracy and Remapping Status Map .pdf
• Platted Lots (attributes: Subdivision Name, Block Number, Lot Number, Date Approved) polygon
• PLSS Sections (attributes: Section Number, Town/Range) polygon
• PLSS Quarter Sections (attributes: None) line
• Water Bodies (attributes: Name) polygon
• Drains (attributes: Name) polygon
• FEMA Flood Hazards polygon
• Road Centerlines line
• Railroad Centerlines line
• Governmental Units (attributes: Name) polygon
• School Districts polygon
• Zip Codes polygon
• Voting Precincts polygon
• County Commissioner Districts polygon
• Addresses point

Elevation GIS Data Package (LIDAR)

• 1-meter Digital Elevation Model (DEM) 7 Gb .tiff
• 2 ft Contours line
• 5 ft Contours line

• 2019/2020 1-ft resolution color .tiff (this is our most current)
• 1955 black & white .tiff (this is the oldest available)
• Other years can be made available but will require a fee for additional processing (see below).

Fee-Based GIS Data or Services

The St Joseph County GIS Department can also provide additional data or services at our standard rate of $60/hour with a $60 minimum charge per request (unless otherwise indicated). If you are interested in requesting a custom data set or service, please fill out and submit Section 2 of the GIS Data & Services Request Form including a brief description of what you need and a representative from the GIS Department will contact you to discuss details. Typical services include:

• GIS Data Analysis
• Custom Mapping
• Data Subsets
• Mid-Year Data Updates
• Older Air Photos
• Additional GIS Data
• Data delivery in alternate format or medium
• Printing

Free GIS Desktop Software

To get the most out of our GIS data, you will need your own GIS desktop software. We use the free QGIS 3 open source desktop GIS software here at the county for most of our needs, but there are many GIS software platforms out there to choose from. Some are free and some are very expensive. Visit GISGeography.com for a good discussion and links to free GIS software offerings.