California Coverage · Kern County
Kern County base maps & site data for designers
The existing-conditions base map and pre-design site analysis that normally takes a half-day across county GIS portals and hand-tracing into CAD — for any Kern address, from Bakersfield to the Tehachapis, in about a minute.
What Lekua resolves in Kern County
Every layer below is pulled at export time from county, state and national GIS sources the moment you enter an address — no manual tracing, no generic insets, and the sheet cites which source drew each layer.
County assessor parcel boundary with APN, address, and lot area, with the statewide CA parcel layer as fallback.
Fine 1–2 ft contours generated on-demand from the 1-meter USGS 3DEP elevation model — far finer than the 10-ft national data most tools show.
National building outlines (Overture Maps’ mixed mapped and machine-learned outlines where a county cut is imported, otherwise FEMA USA Structures with Microsoft machine-learned outlines where FEMA has none), drawn dashed and tagged as remote-sensed. The county publishes no footprint layer of its own, and the export says exactly which source drew.
USGS 3DEP lidar point clouds: each structure’s roof is read from the lidar points inside its footprint and its base from bare earth around it, and the sheet names the flight. The 2021 San Joaquin Valley flights hold points at Bakersfield and Delano, and the 2022 Sierra Nevada flight at Tehachapi (coverage checked 2026-10-28); FEMA’s 2010 to 2012 lidar heights stand behind them in the city. Where the flight holds no points over a lot the sheet says which rung answered instead. Where a record carries no height, the structure is labeled as having none rather than drawn at a confident wrong number.
CAL FIRE FHSZ severity (2024–25 remap) with Zone 0 / 1 / 2 defensible-space perimeters drawn around structures — pointed where it counts: the Kern River canyon, the Tehachapis, and the Sierra foothill edge.
USDA SSURGO soil profile, historical rainfall, and modeled seasonal sun-hour heat maps for the parcel.
California natives matched to the site’s soil and microclimate, plus the serving water supplier’s lawn-replacement rebate, shown only while it was verified on the supplier’s own page within 60 days.
Tuned for Kern’s fire interface
The Kern River canyon, the Tehachapis, and the Sierra foothill edge sits in mapped fire-hazard severity zones, and defensible-space planting rules now shape those projects. Lekua draws the CAL FIRE Zone 0 / 1 / 2 perimeters on the plan and filters the plant palette to what each zone allows — fire-wise from the first pass.
- Zone 0 (0–5 ft ember-resistant), Zone 1 (5–30 ft), and Zone 2 (30–100 ft) perimeters drawn around the structures.
- Every recommended plant carries a defensible-space zone rating, so you place the right species in the right zone.
- Flammability ratings draw on Las Pilitas burn-time research and UCANR / CAL FIRE-aligned fire-safe lists.
A native palette, enriched beyond the plant list
Start from the Calscape native plant database — then get the research-backed traits Calscape alone doesn’t put at your fingertips, matched to the parcel’s mapped soil, sun, rainfall, and microclimate. Hand a client a list checked against the code, climate-appropriate, and built to perform.
Flammability and defensible-space zone suitability from Las Pilitas burn-time research and UCANR / CAL FIRE-aligned fire-safe lists — not just a name on a list.
Slow / moderate / fast growth plus mature height and spread, so spacing and time-to-fill are realistic from day one.
Calscape cultivation and longevity guidance, so the palette reads for how it performs over 10–20 years, not just at install.
WUCOLS-aligned water-use ratings (for the MWELO budget) and pollinator / bird support scores on every species.
Plant data: Calscape / CNPS, enriched with Las Pilitas burn-time research, UCANR & CAL FIRE-aligned fire-safe lists, and WUCOLS water-use ratings.
Water suppliers
Main water suppliers in Kern County: Cal Water — Bakersfield District.
Kern County base map FAQ
Can I get a CAD base map for a Kern County parcel?
Yes. Enter any Kern address and export a layered DXF (AutoCAD-compatible) with parcel lines, building footprints, on-demand 1–2 ft contours, and spot elevations — plus a designed PDF site report for the client.
What contour interval is available in Kern County?
Lekua generates fine 1–2 ft contours on-demand from the 1-meter USGS 3DEP elevation model — far finer than the 10-ft national fallback most tools show, which matters wherever grading and drainage drive the design.
Are the building heights on a Kern County base map measured or assumed?
Measured, wherever the county record carries one. USGS 3DEP lidar point clouds: each structure’s roof is read from the lidar points inside its footprint and its base from bare earth around it, and the sheet names the flight. The 2021 San Joaquin Valley flights hold points at Bakersfield and Delano, and the 2022 Sierra Nevada flight at Tehachapi (coverage checked 2026-10-28); FEMA’s 2010 to 2012 lidar heights stand behind them in the city. Where the flight holds no points over a lot the sheet says which rung answered instead. A structure whose record has no height is labeled as having none — the sheet prints an explicit no-data note instead of a plausible number, because a wrong ridge height is worse on a shade study than an admitted gap.
Does it include zoning setbacks for Kern County?
Only where a table has been encoded and reviewed — the cards above list each one and say whether its envelope is drawn or only cited. Tables for Bakersfield and most of the county’s cities are not yet encoded, and the export never guesses: where a setback isn’t verified it says so plainly instead of drawing lines.
How does it handle defensible space and fire-safe planting?
Lekua checks the parcel against current CAL FIRE FHSZ maps, draws Zone 0 / 1 / 2 defensible-space perimeters around the structures where designated, and tags every recommended native with the zones it’s suited to.
Is the data current and reliable enough for submittals?
Layers are pulled live from county GIS, USGS, and CAL FIRE at export time, and any encoded setback table cites its source with a date. Everything is labeled “for planning reference — not for construction.” Verify against the current code and a stamped survey before submittal.
Start with a Kern address
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