[Talk-us] County borders vs. State borders

[Alexander Roalter]

On 10/21/2011 03:27 PM, Toby Murray wrote:
> On Fri, Oct 21, 2011 at 5:29 AM, Alexander Roalter<alexander at roalter.it>  wrote:
>> I'll be pushing Michigan back for a bit and continue westwards of Iowa.
>
> FYI I've already relationalized the counties in most states west of
> Iowa. The first few I did I did not combine with the state boundaries
> though. I was planning on doing this with Kansas in the near future.
> (someone else relationalized Kansas counties before I started)
>
> Toby
Today, I encountered a strange situation: When looking at the 
Missouri/Illinois Border, I came upon Pike County (there is one in both 
states, and it is adjacent). An island in the Mississippi called South 
Fritz Island (and North Fritz Island) is shown, which apparently belongs 
to the Illinois Pike County.
So far, so good. But I used the USGS Topographic Maps to check upon the 
borders in between states (especially alongside rivers), and the map in 
question, dating from 1995, shows these islands to belong to the 
Missouri Pike County.
So my question is: how reliable are the USGS topo maps, and 2nd have 
there been border changes since 1995 which would explain the situation?


-- 
Cheers,
Alex