People come to Catawba County’s web site for many reasons. One is for the information and data that they find there.  The site has always been rich in information about the county and services that are provided. In recent years, as more and more people wanted data in digital format, many datasets were moved to the web so citizens could have instant access to data from their homes or anywhere.

So what are they looking at?  Listed below are the top 10 data sets that are being downloaded.

1. GIS Parcel Report: By far the most downloaded information is the GIS Parcel Report. This report contains owner information about the parcel as well as tax value, acreage, references to the Deed Book, school district, zoning and even Census tracks. The GIS Parcel Report can be found at http://gis.catawbacountync.gov/parcel/  .
2. Registered Voters in Catawba County: Given all the excitement with the 2012 election, it should be no surprise that voter information is the second most downloaded data set. This data set contains the names and addresses of registered voters in Catawba County, their party affiliation, race, gender, age, municipality, school district and other information. The Registered Voters in Catawba County can be found at http://bit.ly/ozQTMX.
3. Issued Building Permits and Building Permit Inspections: If you want to know what is being built beside you or the status of the inspections, you can go to the Permits Issued page.  This site will give you information about a single permit or of every permit issued for a certain date range. The Permit Inspections page will give you a list of all inspections in a date range and the approved or failed status.  The Issued Building Permits can be found at: http://bit.ly/nCOgC5 and the Permit Inspections can be found at: http://bit.ly/nQ2xLH
4. Cell Phone Towers in Catawba County, NC: Want to know where the cell towers are located? Check out Cell Phone Towers in Catawba County, NC. This spreadsheet will give you the latitude and longitude of towers, the height, the type of tower, and owner information. This data set can be found at:  http://bit.ly/noWD1N
5. Who’s In Jail?: The Catawba County Who’s In Jail page has been popular since it went up. On this page you can find the name and address of the person confined, the age, the charges, and court date information. The Catawba County Who’s In Jail page can be found at:   http://injail.catawbacountync.gov/WhosInJail/
6. Restaurant & Lodging Inspection Scores: Want to know the inspection score of that restaurant you are planning on going to tonight? The Restaurant & Lodging Inspection Scores dataset will give you the scores for all the restaurants in Catawba County, along with their inspection date.  Depending on the date range entered, you can get a history of inspections for the restaurant. The Restaurant & Lodging Inspection Scores can be found at: http://bit.ly/xp9rRQ
7. Cemeteries in Catawba County, NC: Do you know how many cemeteries are in Catawba County? To find out how many and where they are located, you can go to the Cemeteries in Catawba County, NC at: http://bit.ly/nXyk7v
8. Mobile Homes: Mobile homes have generated a lot of discussion in the past and there is still a lot of interest.  The Mobile Homes data set contains owner information, location information, the year built, and sales information. The Mobile Homes data set can be found at:  http://bit.ly/nb9udC
9. Apartments: Apartment downloads have almost the same interest as mobile homes and includes very similar data. The Apartments data set contains owner information, location information, structure type, number of bedrooms, and sales information. The Apartments data set can be found at:   http://bit.ly/pKMreV
10. Historic sites in Catawba County, NC: And coming in at number ten is Historic sites in Catawba County, NC.  This dataset contains 34 historic sites, their location, the year established and whether or not they are on the National Registry of Historic Places. The Historic sites in Catawba County, NC data set can be found at: http://bit.ly/oJWb3W

If you found these data sets interesting, all of the data sets can be found at: http://www.catawbacountync.gov/datasets/ .  For those of you using mobile devices, My Catawba County contains several of the top 10 data sets including access to Who’s In Jail and What’s the Score.  Want to download, My Catawba County for your mobile device?  Go to http://m.catawbacountync.gov/mycatawbacounty/ .