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    • This is a Non-Federal dataset covered by different Terms of Use than Data.gov.

    Square Boundaries

    Metadata Updated: March 25, 2026

    Squares are calculated by the outer extents of the record or tax lots within a defined area (typically a city block). There are roughly 4896 active squares. A Square is similar to a city block. Squares were numbered starting at 1 and are currently in the 6000 series. Not all squares are active. A common cause of squares becoming inactive has been through street closing and combining squares. When the squares are combined usually the lower square number is killed and the higher square number is used for the combined square. For example if squares 1 and 2 are combined, square 1 is killed and the combination becomes square 2.

    Spatial locations:

    Each Square is an Island, alone unto itself. There is not now, and has never been, any citywide Survey Coordinate System in D.C. Most squares are unrelated to other Squares by “Measured.” They are related by Record. Street width is approximate. You cannot rely on the published official street widths to set up property lines or determine right-of-way. There is digital scan information available from DDOT regarding Right-of-Way. Some Squares are divided by streets. That is, the same Square continues on the other side of the street. Since there is no citywide Survey Coordinate System, squares were placed in their approximate location. This process is known as “best fit”.

    Access & Use Information

    Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. Non-Federal: This dataset is covered by different Terms of Use than Data.gov. License: Creative Commons Attribution

    Downloads & Resources

    Dates

    Metadata Created Date April 30, 2024
    Metadata Updated Date March 25, 2026

    Metadata Source

    Harvested from DC data

    Other Data Resources

    Additional Metadata

    Resource Type Dataset
    Metadata Created Date April 30, 2024
    Metadata Updated Date March 25, 2026
    Publisher Department of Buildings
    Maintainer
    Identifier https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=84ab8b676a384c339062b53dca3bdfa2&sublayer=41
    Data First Published 2015-02-27T21:10:08.000Z
    Data Last Modified 2026-03-21T11:31:23.000Z
    Category geospatial
    Public Access Level public
    Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
    Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
    Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
    Harvest Object Id d273fefa-9251-42e6-ab8d-2356f53788ab
    Harvest Source Id b05f955a-65d6-4288-9558-15a5ebc74e36
    Harvest Source Title DC data
    Homepage URL https://opendata.dc.gov/datasets/DCGIS::square-boundaries
    License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
    Metadata Type geospatial
    Old Spatial -77.1142,38.8103,-76.9095,38.9960
    Source Datajson Identifier True
    Source Hash 1a7188e770c34ff3677f491ccc66f7d020457c0e69964d734e0053acf916afc6
    Source Schema Version 1.1
    Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -77.1142, 38.8103, -77.1142, 38.9960, -76.9095, 38.9960, -76.9095, 38.8103, -77.1142, 38.8103}

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