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Second Party Records Repository
A few recent posts have touched on the state of public records, or even what could come of public land records.
I am fortunate to live in a State that leaves that up to each County. And, probably not unique to Oklahoma, each County has its idiosyncrasies. Largely populated Counties have their problems with volume and access; rural and remote Counties have their own unique brand of problems also.
I worked in one of the least populated Counties in Oklahoma, Kay Co., a few years ago. I was pleasantly surprised to see such a ‘sleepy’ place that had just implemented a GIS oriented database that was light years ahead of everybody else. Pull up an aerial with parcels overlayed, clickety-click on a parcel and a window pops up with all the latest conveyances and recordations that were associated with that particular piece of property. Something that would be impossible undertaking in say, Tulsa County. But with sparsely populated Kay County, it was possible.
I agree that “at the vanishing point” it appears that GIS and property records could somehow ultimately merge. As a surveyor I can see a use for such records. But sadly, I don’t really see local governments being able to fund the implementation and maintenance of such a database. Some County Clerks barely can afford toner cartridges.
The lion’s share of our work at the moment is utility R/W..statewide. It would almost be prohibitively expensive for me to travel to all of the 77 Counties I work in for record retrieval. I subscribe to a number of second party records libraries that have almost the entire State’s land records available..for a price. Record Books, Recorded Plat images, even Recorded Surveys are all available.
I spend a few thousand dollars a year for these services. It is an expense. I don’t so much see a future with the Public Offices providing a plethora of digital data. What I do see are second party providers picking up the slack. It will happen. Heck, it’s happening now.
Get out the VISA folks, they don’t take American Express…
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