GPIN
GPIN is a county-specific name for a parcel identification number. Prince William County spells it out as Grid Parcel Identification Number, a unique 10-digit number built from grid coordinates at a parcel's center. Carroll County calls its own parcel number a Tax Map/Parcel ID number.
Grid, parcel, identification, number: a definition borrowed from one county
G, P, I, N: as Prince William County's GIS department spells the letters out, Grid Parcel Identification Number. That reading belongs to one county, not to Virginia law, and it is quoted here only because that county spells the idea out.
The Grid Parcel Identification Number (GPIN) is a unique 10-digit number
Prince William County GIS, frequently asked questions
The first word does the most work. Prince William's GPIN is based on the Easting and Northing values at the center of a parcel, measured on that county's own grid, and the county calls it a coordinate identifier rather than a hierarchical one. Two consequences follow from the county's own description. Each time a parcel's boundary changes, a new GPIN is calculated to reflect the new center. And because the number is a coordinate identifier, it is not related to the parcel's size or its other characteristics.
Statewide texts name the number differently. The recording statute, Va. Code 17.1-252, speaks of a "tax map reference number" or a "parcel identification number (PIN)". The boundary survey standard, 18VAC10-20-370, speaks of a tax map designation or geographic parcel identification number. Neither text uses the letters GPIN.
How a parcel number and a plat sit side by side in a land file is laid out in the plat and parcel number behind a tract.
A different name in Carroll County, and a place on the deed's first page
Carroll County's own pages use a different name for their parcel number. The Circuit Court Clerk's Office speaks of a Tax Map/Parcel ID number, and the Commissioner of the Revenue's maps are tax identification maps.
Which number to give when a form asks for a GPIN, and where to find it in this footprint, is answered in what a GPIN is and which number to use here.
The number can also ride on the deed: where a locality has a unique parcel identification system, the recording statute puts it on the deed's first page or cover sheet, whatever the deed's form, a general warranty deed or a special warranty deed alike.
What a parcel number does not do is settle the facts about the land. The name listed as owner on a tax assessment is there for convenience in collecting the taxes. Tracing an owner through those records is covered in how to find out who owns a piece of land.
Only a county tax bill to go on for the parcel?
If the tax bill carries a tax map or parcel number, send it with the county, and Lowell will look the parcel up and say what the county record shows about it. No cost, no obligation.
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Questions about this term
Does a GPIN tell you how many acres a parcel has?
Not in Prince William County's system, which describes its GPIN as a coordinate identifier that is not related to the size or other characteristics of the parcel. A parcel's legal acreage comes from its recorded plat and deed, which Carroll County's Web GIS names as the authoritative source, and a land surveyor measures it on the ground.
What do the ten digits of a GPIN stand for?
In Prince William County, whose definition this entry quotes, the GPIN is a unique 10-digit number calculated with GIS software from a combination of the Easting and Northing values at the center of the parcel, on the county's own grid. The digits record where the parcel's center lies, not how large the parcel is. How any other county builds its parcel number is that county's to say.
Where this page's facts come from
Every rule, office and figure above traces to one of these. Rules change; check the office before you act on one.
- GIS frequently asked questions: Grid Parcel Identification Number (GPIN) Prince William County, Virginia
- Va. Code 17.1-252: tax map reference number or parcel identification number on recorded instruments Code of Virginia
- 18VAC10-20-370: minimum standards and procedures for land boundary surveying practice Virginia Administrative Code
- Carroll County Web GIS: public access terms Carroll County, Virginia
- Land records and VADeed Alert Carroll County Circuit Court Clerk
- Commissioner of the Revenue Carroll County, Virginia