View Metadata

Land Economic Inventory (Bordner Survey), Wisconsin 1930s - 1940s

Identification Information

Citation
Title
Land Economic Inventory (Bordner Survey), Wisconsin 1930s - 1940s
Originator
Wisconsin State Cartographer's Office
Creation Date
2025-06-23
Publication Date
2025-06-23
Abstract
These maps give insight to what the landscape of Wisconsin looked like at a time of peak deforestation and land abandonment in addition to how this legacy has impacted the current landscape. Furthermore, these maps offer a tool for future landscape management including but not limited to: shore line changes, erosion, reforestation, and wetland restoration. Included in this geodatabase are: economic natural features (points); land use-land cover (polygons); transportation water infrastructure (lines). At present, Bordner polygon data is available for the entire state, with the exception of Milwaukee and Menominee Counties, which were never surveyed. Point and line data exist for selected areas of the state. Digitizing of these features is not yet complete .A user guide for this data may be found here: https://maps.sco.wisc.edu/bordner/about/
Purpose
The Wisconsin Land Economic Inventory, better known as the Bordner Survey, was a depression-era project to map Wisconsin’s resources. By the late 1920’s deforestation for agricultural use was rampant, and much of the land cleared had unsuitable soils for farming. John Bordner was commissioned to develop a strategy to inventory land. These survey maps (from the 1930s -1940s) provided information about what land was suitable for agriculture, and a recommendation of land to be reforested or otherwise put to productive use.
Supplemental Information
This is an archived copy of the data held at UW-Madison.
Temporal Extent
Currentness Reference
1930s-1940s
Time Period
Begin
1930-01-01T00:00:00
End
1949-12-31T00:00:00
Bounding Box
West
-92.967572
East
-86.696635
North
46.966402
South
42.466389
Bounding Box
West
-92.967572
East
-86.696635
North
46.966402
South
42.466389
ISO Topic Category
farming
economy
environment
planningCadastre
Resource Constraints
Use Limitation
Although this data is being distributed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, no warranty expressed or implied is made by the University as to the accuracy of the data and related materials. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the University in the use of this data, or related materials.
Status
completed
Maintenance and Update Frequency
notPlanned
Language
eng
Credit
The Forest Landscape Ecology Lab, in the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, worked for several years on the effort to digitize the Bordner maps. Work was then taken up by Environmental Sciences and Society at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, where GIS students completed digitizing the state. The State Cartographer's Office at University of Wisconsin-Madison, coordinated final assembly of the statewide layer. Over time, several hundred students and staff have been involved in the project. Over its history, the Bordner digitizing project has received funding from a variety of sponsors. a) Grants to the University of Wisconsin-Madison Forest Ecosystem and Landscape Ecology Lab from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Graduate School, University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation Research Fund, and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation Kellett Mid-Career Faculty Award. b) Grants to the Department of Environmental Sciences and Society at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and the State Cartographer's Office at University of Wisconsin-Madison from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. c) A grant from the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office for Coastal Management under the Coastal Zone Management Act, Grant #NA16NOS4190108.
Point of Contact
Contact
Howard Veregin
Position Name
State Cartographer
Point of Contact
Contact
Wisconsin State Cartographer's Office

Spatial Reference Information

Reference System Identifier
Code
3071
Code Space
EPSG
Version

Data Quality Information

Absolute External Positional Accuracy
Lineage
Statement
This dataset was digitized from hard-copy paper maps, by several hundred University of Wisconsin students and staff, over a period of about 10 years. No quantitative assessment of accuracy has been performed. However, there are some known issues with the data. A) Paper Bordner maps at county boundaries often depict overlapping areas differently. To construct a statewide layer, a choice had to be made about which representation to use. B) Positional errors along township and county lines may cause slivers to occur. C) Attribute values on either side of a township or county may not be the same. D) Polygon boundaries may not line up perfectly across township or county boundaries. E) Paper maps are not always legible, and judgement calls sometimes needed to be made.

Distribution Information

Distributor
Online Access
https://web.s3.wisc.edu/rml-gisdata/WI_BordnerSurvey_1930s.zip
Protocol
WWW:DOWNLOAD-1.0-http--download
Name
GeoData@Wisconsin
Function
download

Metadata Reference Information

Hierarchy Level
dataset
Metadata File Identifier
1A36A3A2-EA1F-404C-8CF1-D5BFDC2070C5
Metadata Date Stamp
2025-06-24
Metadata Standard Name
ISO 19139 Geographic Information - Metadata - Implementation Specification
Metadata Standard Version
2007
Character Set
utf8
Download