This polygon shapefile is an index for parcels maps of for the County of Santa Cruz, California. A parcel is a piece of real property under a defined ownership, or it can be a lot in a subdivision. County governments administer and legislate through the creation of and maintenance of land records that are associated with a parcel of land. Thus the Parcel is often the vital administrative unit of local government. Parcel maps must meet the requirements of the General Plan and all applicable laws and ordinances. Parcel maps are alternately called tax maps, plat maps, plot maps and assessor maps. This layer is part of a collection of GIS data created for Santa Cruz County, California.The Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Unit falls under the purview of the County of Santa Cruz Information Services Department. The GIS Unit serves all County departments and external customers and provides data on land, features and people of Santa Cruz County. Santa Cruz County encompasses 4 cities and approximately 265,000 people. This coverage can be used for basic applications such as viewing, querying and map output production, or to provide a basemap to support graphical overlays and analyses of geospatial data.