NEW Mapping Challenge!! City / Town Halls in Michigan

As you can see from this map, there are a few points to start with, though there are still many to be collected.  Like our previous city/town hall challenges, most of the features for this challenge will be collected from scratch.

Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details

Tips and tricks for this challenge: 

Michigan’s Local Government: Incorporated vs. Unincorporated

1. Local government in Michigan consists of cities, villages, and townships. 
   1. Cities and villages are incorporated while townships are not. 
   2. Even though townships are not incorporated, they may still have a township hall from which administrative activities are performed.  Baraga Township is an example.  These buildings fit the TNMCorps definition of a city/town hall.  
   3. However, if you’ve searched and searched and cannot find a designated building from which the township’s administrative activities are conducted, that’s ok, too.  We anticipate that some townships will have such a building while others will not; it all varies by community.  
   4. See the Cities vs. Towns vs. Villages article in our September 2019 newsletter for more information.
2. Remember to find an authoritative source (e.g., the city or village’s website) for each feature before adding it to the web editor.  
   1. Not sure why we can’t just rely on information provided in these lists below?  See the How to Spot an Authoritative (Re)Source article in our November 2017 newsletter for more information.  

Possible Sources

1. Michigan’s state website maintains a list of cities, townships, and villages. 
   1. Note that this list also includes Census Designated Places which typically fall under county government and therefore are not likely to have a city/town hall.  
2. The Michigan Townships Association also allows users to search for townships by county.   

Proper Point Placement

1. Our November 2018 newsletter includes an article on aerial interpretation for city/town hall structures. This article walks readers through how to find the correct building to place a point on when examining aerial photography.

Interested in collecting city/town halls elsewhere?

Remember that we’re collecting city/town halls nationally, so feel free to research these features throughout the entire U.S.  Other priority states include (in order of priority): NM, UT, WA, OR, ID, MT, and ND. However, note that only city/town halls for Michigan will count towards this challenge.  

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