All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. Prior to the land ordinance of 1785 and the Rectangular Survey System, the state lands state which would be the 13 colonies, surveyed their land with meets and bound system. The area created by the intersection of a township line and a range line is a township. Many areas in the other states are also more accurate. View Rectangular Government Survey System.pdf from PLST 222 at Liberty University. 1. Those quadrangles are divided into smaller squares called townships. It is considered as one of the most significant subdividing of the United States mainland. The numbering changes directions in the third tier from right to left. The first is the Metes and Bounds surveythe second is the Rectangular Survey System, also known as the Government Survey System or Public Lands Survey System. The first sets of lines respectively are called principal meridians, which run north and south, and baselines, which run east and west. . There is more than one type of legal description you must know for your exam. [/caption]\r\n

Each half or quarter section can be further subdivided into halves and quarters. Using principal meridians and baselines as points of reference, land areas are divided by two kinds of lines, township lines and range lines. These range lines form ranges. They are the starting points for describing a propertys boundaries. Guide meridians and standard parallels form quadrangles. Marketable Title Overview & Importance | What is a Marketable Title? The guide meridians occur every 24 miles east and west of the principal meridian. Figuring out the size of a piece of property, which sometimes is called a parcel, is simple, if you keep in mind that youre always dealing with a section of 640 acres. The numbering then moves from right to left across that first upper tier. Then the numbering drops down to 13 and goes right to left again and so forth:

\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_274749\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"532\"] Townships are divided into 36 sections numbered consecutively. 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.. Those states are: An error occurred trying to load this video. The township is the basic unit of measurement in the rectangular survey system. The federal government developed the rectangular survey system, or government survey method, to simplify and standardize property descriptions as a replacement for the cumbersome and often inaccurate metes and bounds method. The rectangular survey system was enacted by the Land Ordinance Act of 1785. These divisions mean just that. - Definition & Types, Rectangular Survey System: Definition & Uses, Measuring the Area of a Rectangle: Formula & Examples, Fair Housing & Consumer Protection Laws in Real Estate, Property Condition Disclosure Statements in Real Estate, Real Estate Closing & Settlement Procedures, Real Estate Taxes, Warranties & Insurance, Real Estate Ethics & Professional Responsibility, DSST Business Ethics and Society: Study Guide & Test Prep, CLEP Principles of Marketing: Study Guide & Test Prep, NES Business Education (309): Practice & Study Guide, How to Positively Influence Others in the Workplace, OSAT Marketing Education (CEOE) (041): Practice & Study Guide, Maintaining Records in a Florida Real Estate Office, Seamless Application in a Wireless Network: Definition & Requirements, Working Scholars Bringing Tuition-Free College to the Community. As with most things, there are pros and cons of using the Rectangular Survey System. The description is abbreviated as T1N, R2E. Which States Use the Rectangular Survey System. It is also known as the rectangular survey system and geodetic survey system. Beginning with the Seven Ranges in present-day Ohio, the PLSS has been used as the primary survey method in the United States. For instance, a quarter section always contains 160 acres, or a fourth of the total 640 acres in a section. In reality, because of this earth curvature issue, many sections and townships vary from their exact area measurements. 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. ","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 system was created by Thomas Jefferson in 1785. Where a baseline meets a principal meridian is called a point of origin. Simply multiply 640 by or 0.25, which equals 160, then multiply 160 by 1/2 or 0.5, which equals 80. For a government survey to be valid, the official plat must have been approved by the government . In the survey method, there has to be the creation of an initial point. You need to know what these lines are called and how they intersect for your real estate license exam. The range lines run north and south parallel to the principal meridians. The line intersections have established a large grid that controls the subdivision of grids to smaller ones. Also Check: When Is Open Enrollment For Government Healthcare. For example, a Bound could be a road, tree, river, or large rock. TRID Guidelines & Compliance Checklist | What is TRID? Previous to the Public Land Survey System, land was surveyed using a confusing landmark-based system called metes and bounds. The Metes and bounds system dates back centuries to the original 13 colonies, while the rectangular survey method was established in 1785 and used in all 36 states formed after that point. The PLSS is actually a series of surveys that divide land into townships that are six miles. ","blurb":"","authors":[{"authorId":9566,"name":"John A. Yoegel","slug":"john-a-yoegel","description":"

John A. Yoegel, PhD, is a certified real estate instructor and former board member of the Real Estate Educators Association. [/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 boundary of each township is 6 miles long, so a township contains 36 square miles and is described as being 6 miles square. ","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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