Dunn County Maps

Last revised July 27, 2006

With a DSL line this site seems very slow.  It could be the same speed for a dial-up modem.  With either be very patient.
The Dunn county web site is:
http://dunncountywi.govoffice2.com/
There is a link to an excellent map viewer for aerial photos of Dunn county, 2004 color and 2004 black and white.  From the home page click on GIS Map on the menu on the left side of their web page.  Then click on
View Dunn County Interactive GIS Map
(or just click on the above link)
Once there, you can drill down to locations inside the county.  

This help page is to walk the user through using the site the first time.  It's only one way.
Turn off the little picture-in-a-picture by clicking on in the menu icon section on the left.  Click on a township to zoom in one step.  Only about eight townships will be visible.  Click once more on the township to zoom in some more.  Now there should be little more than one township in view.  With just one township use the menu boxes on the right to change some settings.  Turn off everything except:
 I changed "Active" from Federal to County by clicking on the (o) County Roads.  At the bottom of the Layers menu click on [Refresh Map], you may need to scroll down to it.   Now you should have a township map with lots of local roads identified.  Like this:


Notice on the left side a red square surrounds the + magnifier.  The red square identifies what will happen when you click on the map.  So click once on the map to drill down some more.  Click on the map once more to drill in even more.  Now the roads are getting thin!

OK at this size you can now go back to the Layers menu on the right side and see something more interesting.  For a first choice I like to add the option of [X] 2004 6" BW then click on [Refresh Map].  Now I can see good images and town roads.  

Want to find an address such as N13346 490th Street in Sheridan Township?
Toggle on [X] Parcel and [X] Address and click on [Refresh Map]
 
In the above map you can see the street name in the upper right, vertical text.  Also you can see the fire numbers for the parcels.  The number ties to the parcel not the house so it may put you on the wrong side of the street.  Here though N13346 shows right below the house.
Now drill in a couple more times.  

At this level you can inspect the parcel boundaries.  The intersections of red lines are where you might find survey pins.  I think it is extremely accurate.  We have survey pins in three of the corners.  The red lines look "spot-on" as they say.
I can see the house easily now and spot the camper in the east side of the yard.  Still there is more detail available.  Click on the the screen to magnify some more.  Magnify too many times and it's just squares of shades gray.  At one point though you can get this:

Lots of detail now.  Shadows on the roof top are from the chimneys.  Camper on right, sheds, dark blue pickup truck.  The truck has a chrome bumper.  The white spot on the back of the truck is the sun reflecting off the bumper
.
What if you drill down into the trees when you really want the house, or want to check out that truck closer?  On the left there is an icon that looks like a hand.  Click on the hand and the red box now surrounds it.  Now the hand can grab the photo to move it around (click-and-drag).  I'll drag it around to see the neighbor's ponds. You'll see white space around the new area.  When you let go of the mouse the white area will be downloaded and filled in.  So moving around and zooming in I can inspect the truck closer:
I can see the shadow of the truck, the bed (truck is pointing toward the southwest) and the glare off the rear bumper.  Also at this level of magnification the image is starting to break down into pixels (little squares) causing the shadow to look like stair steps.

The black and white photos are nice for detail.  The color photos are nice too.  
To see the same place in color just click off [ ] 2004 6" BW and click on [X] 2004 2M Color:

The color images turn to pixels much faster, so you can not drill down into detail like with the Black & White.

Have Fun!

Oh yeah, experiment with all the Layer settings, such as [X] DNR Lands and [X] StateForest CropLand.  It will show parcels involved, but not accurate boundaries.  Want to hunt on more land?  There is a lot of private land in Dunn county open to the public for hunting.  These two settings are a start.  The DNR can help you learn the actual boundaries though.  Using just the web-site maps you could get arrested for trespassing.