Wake County GIS Data

Wake County

Wake County Geographic Information Systems Services maintains an extensive database of features and attributes that can be freely downloaded.

List of all of NCSU Libraries' Wake County data holdings - For questions about archived data, contact Data Services.

Digital Orthophotos

NCSU Libraries has Wake County digital orthophoto holdings as summarized below.  If you need imagery from 1981 to the present, it may be more convenient to use the Wake or Raleigh Images services, detailed further down.

Year Format Source Notes Index Access
1938 TIFF USDA via UNC Libraries Not Georeferenced UNC Google Earth Index UNC, NCSU*
1958 TIFF Wake Co   AA_OLD_TAX_GRID_NAD83.shp in folder NCSU*
1959 TIFF USDA via UNC Lbraries Not Georeferenced UNC Google Earth Index, TIFF scans UNC, NCSU*
1971 TIFF USDA via UNC Lbraries Not Georeferenced UNC Google Earth Index, TIFF scans UNC, NCSU*
1974 TIFF Wake Co   AA_OLD_TAX_GRID_NAD83.shp
in folder
NCSU*
1981 TIFF Wake Co 1981 and later may be viewed on IMaps or via the Image Service 0_OLD_TAX_GRID_NAD83.shp
in folder
NCSU*
1988 TIFF Wake Co   0_OLD_TAX_GRID_NAD83.shp
in folder
NCSU*
1993 various USGS Statewide collection, B/W. See DOQQ page
1998 SID USGS Statewide collection, Color IR. See DOQQ page
1999 TIFF, SID Wake Co Color & B/W,
stored in "Disk" folders
index shapefiles or PDF Ortho Grid from Wake downloads NCSU*
2002 ECW USGS Only Raleigh, North and West. See Urban High-Res page
2004 SID City of Raleigh Extent is just Raleigh index shapefile NCSU*
2005 TIFF, SID Wake Co Color & B/W.
Contact Data Services for TIFFs
index shapefiles or PDF Ortho Grid
from Wake downloads
NCSU*
2006 SID City of Raleigh Extent is just Raleigh index shapefile NCSU*
2007 SID City of Raleigh Extent is just Raleigh index shapefile NC OneMap
NCSU*
2008 TIFF City of Raleigh Extent is just Raleigh, 6" resolution index shapefile NCSU*
2009 TIFF City of Raleigh Extent is just Raleigh, 6" resolution index shapefile NCSU*
2010 TIFF, SID Wake Co,
NC OneMap
Subset of statewide flight,
NCSU has IR band and neighboring county TIFFs, 6" resolution
index shapefiles NC OneMap
NCSU*
2011 TIFF, SID City of Raleigh Extent is just Raleigh, 6" resolution index shapefile NCSU*
2012 TIFF City of Raleigh Extent is just Raleigh, 6" resolution index shapefile NCSU*

NCSU*: Unless otherwise noted, Wake County imagery may be accessed via mapped drive or downloaded by NCSU affiliates from the Geodata Server:

  • If the extent is all of Wake County, go to \localgov\Wake_County\ in the corresponding folder
  • If the collection was provided by City of Raleigh, with an extent of just Raleigh, go to \localgov\Raleigh\

Contact Data Services if you have any further questions.

Other orthophoto options are discussed on the Digital Aerial Imagery and Orthophotographs page.

Public Download

Digital orthophotos (MrSID compressed) and vector feature data may be downloaded by the public from the Wake County Geographic Information Services site.

Image and Feature Services

Wake County and the City of Raleigh share Image and Feature Services for data streaming into your GIS software:   https://maps.raleighnc.gov/arcgis/rest/services/  This makes data viewing, especially for orthoimagery, very convenient.  Specify ArcGIS Server for adding the link.

Online Mapping

Wake County and Raleigh City iMAPS allows interactive access to parcel and other GIS data.