Each township is further divided into 36 sections of one square mile each, or 640 acres, by horizontal and vertical section lines. I feel like its a lifeline. (This description refers to a 10-acre parcel of land. The Public Land Survey System (PLSS) is the surveying method developed and used in the United States to plat, or divide, real property for sale and settling.Also known as the Rectangular Survey System, it was created by the Land Ordinance of 1785.. For example,Lot _ Block _ of Subdivision __ in the County of ______, State of ______________. The second row down continues being numbered west to east or left to right. As with most things, there are pros and cons of using the Rectangular Survey System. So, in the example above, Township 4 South would be T4S. Remember, a township is 6 miles by 6 miles. Metes and bounds were used as the primary survey method before 1785 and were fairly inaccurate, especially before GPS technology. The area created by the intersection of a township line and a range line is a township. What Is Chattel in Real Estate and Property? This point will be the basis for all government surveys in the area it controls, and its latitude and longitude are fixed by astronomical observations. The following is a list of helpful terms: Correction lines and guide meridians were established to correct this problem in the government survey system. This version has a more visual interface, which was optimized to explore the dataset. However, rivers can be moved, and trees can die, so as you can see, this method is wildly inaccurate over time. Also Check: When Is Open Enrollment For Government Healthcare. It is known that Jefferson proposed a rectangular survey system, although his system was based on the decimal system -- townships 10 miles by 10 miles. The real estate exam probably wont ask you what states use the Metes and Bounds system or the Rectangular Survey System, but they may ask you which system your state uses. Using the land noted on the image, a parcel could be defined as the West half of the Southeast quarter of Section 14 of Township 2 South, Range 3 West. The principal meridians and baselines are based respectively on lines of longitude and latitude.\r\n\r\nYoure likely to see at least a few questions on the on calculating the area of part of a section, and youll also see questions about terminology and some of the measurements that the rectangular survey system uses. Since nothing is perfect, some sections of land ended up being larger or smaller than they should. Township lines, which run east and west, parallel to baselines, are horizontal parallel lines that form township tiers.\r\n\r\nThink about two lines running from left to right across this page about an inch apart. This system was part of the Land Ordinance enacted in 1785 by President Thomas Jefferson. For example, you would say, it is in township 3 north, range 5 east, to identify a property. are further subdivided into 36 one-mile-square, (each section is one square mile or 640 acres), then into quarter sections, quarter-quarter sections, or irregular, Beginning at an initial point, townships are surveyed in all directions. Principal meridians, baselines, and where they intersect (cross each other) are used as the basis for formulating property descriptions in this system. ","description":"The rectangular survey system, often referred to as the government survey system, is based on a system of lines that form rectangles and squares throughout the United States. The lot and block survey system is a method used in the United States and Canada to locate and identify land, particularly for lots in densely populated metropolitan areas, suburban areas, and exurbs. The rectangular survey system is comprised of principal meridian lines that cover most states in the US, running north to south and baselines running east to west. The grid creates six-mile square townships that can then be further divided into 36 sections of one square mile each. These townships are not the same as political subdivisions.\r\n
Each township is further divided into 36 sections of one square mile each, or 640 acres, by horizontal and vertical section lines. As a member, you'll also get unlimited access to over 88,000 As mentioned above, basically you can think of the US as a huge checkerboard, with vertical and horizontal lines splitting it up. Simply multiply 640 by or 0.25, which equals 160, then multiply 160 by 1/2 or 0.5, which equals 80. As each territory or state opened new public lands, the government identified a meridian (running north and south) and a base line (running east and west) to guide all future land surveys in that area. In reality, because of this earth curvature issue, many sections and townships vary from their exact area measurements. [/caption]\r\n\r\nEach section of 640 acres can be divided into halves and quarters called, get this, half sections and quarter sections. The numbering continues directly beneath the sixth section, except that it progresses from left to right on the second tier. Metes & Bounds System in Real Estate | Metes & Bounds Survey Examples & Legal Description. ","hasArticle":false,"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/9566"}}],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/books/282532"}},"collections":[],"articleAds":{"footerAd":"
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