A 10,000-meter buffer was created around the 1:2,000,000-scale Wisconsin state boundary. The buffered area was used to "tile" all layers in the DNR GIS database library ("WISLIB"). This tiling scheme provided for statewide coverage in a single tile as well as an overlap area of up to 10,000 meters into areas adjacent to Wisconsin.
The principal modification to the DLG feature attribute coding design was the creation of separate items for thematically distinct feature groups. In general, thematically similar feature attributes were grouped together in the same items. The DLG major codes were dropped to avoid redundancy, but DLG minor codes were generally retained to accommodate users already familiar with the codes. New attributes of potential use were added to some coverages. An attribute identifying the largest polygon in multi-polygon units was added to some coverages to support statistical summaries and labelling.
Following data verification, all coverages underwent spatial indexing (by use of the ArcInfo INDEX command) to reduce data display times. Projection files were added to each coverage\ to enable users to display coverage projection parameters by entering the DESCRIBE command. All coverages were then inserted into the DNR GIS Database statewide library structure (WISLIB).
In 1997, WISLIB data layers were projected from WTM based on NAD27 to WTM based on the 1991 adjustment to NAD83 (WTM83/91), and placed in the DNR GIS Database statewide library WISLIB91. The Hydrography (2M version) polygon shapefile was generated in 1998.