10 attribute fields, profiled from the March 2024 vintage.
Columns in Buena Vista County
| Field | Type | Filled | Distinct | Example values |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| parcel_id | OFTString | 19.7k | 1332100003, 1332300001, 1332300003 | |
| pid | OFTString | 19.7k | 1332100003, 1332300001, 1332300003 | |
| altid | OFTString | 18.6k | 0001078410, 0001080900, 0001080910 | |
| owner | OFTString | 8.7k | ANDERSON BRENDA, JYOUNG FARMS INC, JYOUNG FARMS INC | |
| mail_addr | OFTString | 7.0k | 120 WEST LINKS DR ALTA, IA 51002, 2375 H 186TH ST MARSHALLTOWN, IA 50158, 2375 H 186TH ST MARSHALLTOWN, IA 50158 | |
| situs | OFTString | 9.0k | 6412 20TH AVE ALTA, 6458 20TH AVE ALTA, 138 640TH ST GALVA | |
| use_code | OFTString | 7 | A, A, A | |
| acres | OFTString | 3.1k | 38.48, 38.48, 37.48 | |
| legal | OFTString | 19.4k | 32-90-38 ALTA MAPLE VALLEY-GFD SW NW, 32-90-38 GAL-HOL MAPLE VALLEY NW SW, 32-90-38 GAL-HOL MAPLE VALLEY SW SW | |
| key | OFTString | 19.7k | 1332100003, 1332300001, 1332300003 |
Why this differs from the next county over
There is no national parcel schema. Every assessor's office built its own, usually decades ago, usually inside whatever CAMA system it bought at the time. One county's owner column is OWNER_NAME, the next one's is own1, and a third splits it across four fields. Shapefile's ten-character DBF limit truncated a generation of them into things like TOTLNDVAL.
Nothing here is renamed or remapped. The columns above are exactly what is in the file, because a normalisation layer that quietly guesses wrong is worse than no normalisation at all — and every guess it makes is one you cannot audit.
The Filled column is the share of rows with a real value. Placeholder text such as n/a counts as empty; a column that is 100% present but 90% placeholder is a column that will disappoint you, and the profiler treats it accordingly.