Welcome to Preservation Online! Preservation Online is where Old Towne meets new technology to bring you Old Towne information with modern convenience. It’s a portal to an interactive map application that allows you to access parcel-based historic resource data through the City of Orange Internet site. As you browse through the preservation online website, information is at your fingertips to meet all your Old Towne informational needs.

Preservation Online is an extension of the City’s commitment to provide excellent customer service to the Orange community. The purpose of Preservation Online is to provide the public with easy access to hands on information, answering questions about property characteristics in Old Towne.

The Planning Division of the Community Development Department has been working diligently with the City’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to provide the public with the most up-to-date historic resources information in an easy and efficient manner.

The Planning Division of the Community Development Department gathered much of the information made available on preservation online through the General Plan update. The General Plan update included an update to the city’s historic resources survey, land use database, and various mapping improvements providing information that would be beneficial to the public. With the cooperation of the Public Works GIS section, the ability for this information to reach a wide range of people at one time has become possible through GIS.

To create Preservation Online, the City of Orange used GIS technology to integrate our existing databases and create interactive web-based mapping applications. We compiled a collection of geographic information that includes city wide parcel maps, land use database, and historic resource database, aerial photography, land use and property information, as well as a variety of digital static maps and an interactive web application.

Preservation Online means that you can now access the City’s GIS maps data without the use of any additional GIS software on your own computer and without having to go to City Hall.

Preservation Online is also available and featured at the Main Orange Public Library Local History Room terminals.

What information is available through Preservation Online?

Our goal is to provide you with easier access to citywide data in a user-friendly application. With Preservation Online, you are now able to access parcel based information through web-based maps pertaining to historic structures, view historic district boundaries, view city historic building survey forms, historic tree locations, properties under Mills Act contracts, search for information

by addresses, view 1938, 1947, and 1955 aerial maps to see how Orange has grown yet preserved its historic fabric through the years, and much more.

Web-based maps have many similarities to traditional paper maps, however there are some important differences. Web-based maps allow you to explore vast amounts of information for a large geographic area at different scales. You are able to learn more about specific features by clicking on map features to “query” information.

Paper maps (also referred to as static maps) only give you a single map view with limited information that you cannot manipulate.

Below is a list of the interactive web-based maps and data made available in Preservation Online:

Orange Parcel information includes Accessor Parcel Numbers, lot size, existing building square footage, General Plan and zoning information, construction dates for existing historic buildings and much more. The shaded parcels contain a historic resource and identify architectural styles within the Old Towne Orange Historic District boundaries.

The Mills Act layer identifies the location of properties with Mills Act contracts, contract number and provides the contract approval date.

Aerial Photographs for 1938, 1947, and 1955 (provided courtesy of the Orange County Archives) can be turned on/off to show an aerial history of a specific parcel and how its changed over time.

The Historic Trees layer identifies the location of city-designated historic trees and information such as the scientific name of the historic tree, its dimensions, and the closest address.

Preservation Online also provides several static maps in pdf format. These maps show the distribution of historic structure characteristics (such as age, architectural style, floor area ratios, contributing/non-contributing structures, etc):

• Contributing/Non-Contributing Structures (pdf)
• Architectural Styles (pdf)
• Construction Dates (pdf)
• Mills Act Contracts (pdf)
• Historic Trees (pdf)

Static Maps provide the user with a paper map that show the wide range of architectural styles, contributing historic features, construction dates, Mills Act contracts, historic trees, and floor area ratios within Old Towne Orange.

As technology and our databases grow we will be able to provide more information to the public through our static and web-based maps. So, keep in mind that there is more to come and keep checking our e-Planning website for more exciting updates!

How do you use Preservation Online?

When you open the GIS application with the icon at the bottom of this page, you should see something that looks a lot like this.

The map information is displayed in the Map Window. On the right side of the map window is the Search Panel, which allows you to search information from our database. The Activation Icons on the bottom of the page allow you to maneuver and manipulate the map window, print or save images, inquire info for a particular parcel, and displays layers in the layers box. The Overview drop box allows you to turn the overview map on/off and the Navigate drop box allows you to choose tools such as zoom in/out, zoom full extent, pan, info, and clear selection to help you navigate and identify specific parcels. With preservation online you can look at a specific area of interest or a specific panel. You can move around the map using the pan tool. The Pan tool lets you slide around to different parts of the map. Take the Pan tool and grab (press and hold down the mouse button) onto the map pulling it down. Whatever part of the map you grab with the little hand will end up where you let go of the mouse button. This works for moving any direction on the map.

Alternatively, you can click on the Zoom In/Zoom Out icons to view maps in more or less detail.

The Zoom tools are unique to digital maps. They are very much like using an actual magnifying glass, as the icons imply. The magnifying glass with the plus sign allows you to 'zoom in', while the one with the minus sign lets you 'zoom out'. There are a few ways to use these tools.

First, click on one of them to select it, then go to the map and press the left mouse button. If it is the Zoom In tool the map zooms in. The center of the new map is the point on the map you clicked the mouse button. The Zoom Out tool zooms out the same way.

Second, you can zoom in more precisely by pressing the mouse button somewhere on the map, holding it down, and dragging the mouse to create a box. When you let go of the mouse button the new map extent will be the area defined by the box. The Zoom Previous icon jumps back to the previous map extent.

You may notice as you zoom in or out the number of visible layers may increase or decrease. This is because some map layers are only available for viewing at certain scales.

To get information about a specific map feature, use the Info icon. The Info icon allows you to get information about a parcel, tree, or Mills Act Contract by clicking on the parcel or symbol. To obtain parcel information, select the Info icon then activate the parcel you want information from by clicking on that parcel. Historic information pertaining to that parcel will be displayed in the information panel at the right side of the screen. If you're looking for Mills Act Contract 2006 or Historic Tree information, click on the Select drop down menu -> Identify All -> and select either "Historic Trees" or "Mills Act Contracts 2006". By selecting either of these layers, you've activated the layer you want information from. Finally click on the tree or Mills Act symbol that is associated with the active layer and a separate information box will appear displaying the inforation within the active layer.

Aerials can be viewed by clicking on the Aerial (1938, 1947, or 1955) layer you wish to view. Aerials should be viewed one at a time, when making a particular aerial layer “visible”, be sure to turn-off all other aerial layers by un-checking the layers in the layers box. Once the desired layer is checked, click the “Refresh Map” button and you will be able to view your chosen layer.

To get information by address, use the Address Search function in the Information Panel. Click on the Address Search and type in your street number and street name in the information panel. Once you’ve entered your address, click “search”. Preservation Online will then take you to the following pages.