Minnesota Counties

There are 87 counties in Minnesota and two county datasets have existed on the commons for many years. One was developed and maintained by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MnDNR), “County Boundaries, Minnesota”, and another by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT), “County Boundaries in Minnesota”. For counties encompassing the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area, the Metropolitan Council also maintains the “Counties and Cities & Townships 2020, Twin Cities Metropolitan Area” dataset. Thus, the Minnesota State Agency GIS Collaborative’s Authoritative Data Workgroup identified the need to develop a single, authoritative, Minnesota County Dataset. <br/><br/>This dataset represents the standard Minnesota state county boundaries and is intended as a general reference layer. It was developed by the Minnesota Geospatial Informational Office (MnGeo) using existing county boundary datasets from the Minnesota Department of Transportation, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Metropolitan Council, and International Boundary Commission (United States and Canada). Various county survey records were used to verify and resolve topologic conflicts.