how to read coordinates on a plat map

\u00a9 2023 wikiHow, Inc. All rights reserved. area's high point, and I wanted to know exactly where it was. wikiHow, Inc. is the copyright holder of this image under U.S. and international copyright laws. The amp must ensure that it meets the requirements detailed in the municipal subdivision regulations. Metes and bounds are used on plat maps to describe the land and the properties that are found on the land. How to add lat, long coordinates from an Excel spreadsheet into ArcGIS. Any easements that may exist on the property. Convert degrees/minutes/seconds to decimal degrees. I wish I was eligible for the Egyptology courses. wikiHow, Inc. is the copyright holder of this image under U.S. and international copyright laws. This means it is just under 30 north of the equator in latitude, and about 31 east of the prime meridian in longitude. Be careful with that. Map Coordinate Systems. Thank you. A 1:24000 scale, for example, means one inch on the map equals 24,000 inches of real-world terrain. . Discussion in 'Mapping & Navigation' started by Gert, Apr 5, 2007. How do you read latitude and longitude on a map? Ensure the data frame is set to your geographic coordinate system. This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer. Finally, youll see any roads on or around your property, clearly outlined and likely with the road name written in its boundary. Plat maps list the house number for each parcel, along with the shape of the parcel, or the parcel boundary. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. GPS coordinates converter. If a piece of land is going to be divided into separate lots for building homes, a plat map is required. To read a property survey, start by familiarizing yourself with the legend so you can get your bearings and make sense of the document. Label each column properly so Maptive knows which coordinate is which. Some plat maps will provide geographical information of the property, such as exact latitudes and longitudes. The plat map will help you determine where your property ends and where the other begins. from the File menu. This image is not<\/b> licensed under the Creative Commons license applied to text content and some other images posted to the wikiHow website. There are five main types of plat maps you might encounter upon purchasing a piece of land: Learning the type of plat map that youre looking at will give you a good foundation as to what you might expect the map to tell you. 2. One can gather the following information from a plat map: Learning how to read a plat map can help you during tasks such as buying or selling real estate, building additions to your property, taking on renovation projects, investing in solar power, and protecting your rights as a landowner. While property lines can easily be obstructed or covered by plants, buildings, and other forms of development, the land wont need to be resurveyed as long as the plat map can be accessed. How to find a coordinate. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. As a landowner, the type of plat map you receive can vary according to the history of the parcel of land. This way, locations can be found using easting/northing (or x, y) pairs. Figure it's a box with 6600' sides. Parcel boundary data, map viewers and ownership records are maintained at the county level, usually by the recorder's, assessor's or land surveyor's offices. All measurements and square footage are approximate. The Earth is nearly 25,000 miles around, so once divided into 360 degrees, it means each degree is about 69 miles wide. Land survey plats show adjacent land and its utilities and easements. However, parcel boundaries and corners will only appear in street mode. The small numbers along the bottom of the parcel is the width, and the number along the right side of the parcel is the depth. For instance, the tract orientation will be listed, which displays the directional orientation of the property in question. The descriptions are generally read from front to back. During GIS-based research consultations, I often help people understand the importance of coordinate reference systems (or spatial reference systems if you prefer, aka "map projections"). By using this service, some information may be shared with YouTube. Please do not submit your actual street address, just a city, town or regional location. First let's look at how to break down an APN or Assessor's Parcel Number. The map will show the size of the land, any nearby streets, boundary locations, easements on the land, and possible flood zones. Seeing an easement in a plat map could influence your decision to purchase a property. . When you purchase a home, one of the documents you receive is typically a plat map; reading it can help you make the most out of your investment. You can find your latitude and longitude in decimal format at the top. While a plat map can give you a wealth of information about your property, it might not be hyper-accurate or the latest version of events on your land. It is a legal document that a professionalland surveyor must createafter establishing boundary lines and assessing the property. Latitude and longitude are measured in degrees rather than absolute units of measurement (such as miles or kilometers) because the Earth is spherical. It gave the coordinates, and wikiHow taught me exactly what those numbers meant. If youre creating your own home, you might also want to use this map to determine which direction you should build the home. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. A metes and bounds measurement might use monuments, angles, or structures to describe a property instead of feet. Start by finding the parcel map for your county. Thank you for this article! If a piece of land is going to be divided into separate lots for building homes, a plat map is required. If you know how to read latitude and longitude on a map, you can determine the geographic coordinates of any spot on the map. References. Another tip is when in doubt, pay for a land survey. This will show the boundaries of the lot. A. site plan is a drawing that is a bird's Use a ruler to draw vertical and horizontal lines from the location to the edges of the map. A plat map shows a piece of land, drawn to scale, with details such as nearby properties, boundaries, land size, flood zones, the surrounding neighborhood, easements, and monuments. The following will talk about what a plat map is, how to properly read one, and why you should know how to read one. If youre trying to understand what a plat map is, this type of map: Whether youre looking to buy a home or place your property on the market, having a plat map on hand can prove useful for a wide variety of scenarios that could arise. To learn how to put your measurements together to find the coordinates of your location, keep reading! Not just anyone can come up with a plat map. Megaera Lorenz is an Egyptologist and Writer with over 20 years of experience in public education. When you purchase a new home, you will almost certainly receive a plat map, which will allow you to know where the boundaries on your land are and if your land is located in a flood zone. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. The coordinates are along the edges of the map. Latitude lines run horizontally across the Earth and are parallel to the equator. Any other property improvements that may have occurred since the latest survey on file. First, find out if you canfind your plat map online. If 1 (minute) equals 1.2 miles, and we can divide it into 60 (seconds), then 1 (second) equals 0.02 miles. There is an extensive amount of information that can be found on a plat map, which is why this map can be used in numerous situations. To read a plat, first locate the North arrow. Later in the book I will be showing you the exact steps for preparing map data using a desktop GIS. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. County assessor. Learn the difference between platted and unplatted properties. DWF or DWG files: Due to compatibility issues we have decided to focus our support efforts more toward the Adobe's PDF file format, we still do provide access to Autodesk's DWG and DWF file formats. As a convention, the pair is typically represented easting first, northing second. Understanding Bearing Coordinates Introduction These techniques apply to basic CAD programs such as AutoCAD. Here are the best places to start your search for your local plat map: County clerk. If you want to purchase a home or a plot of land, this map will allow you to compare the information on the plat map with the information that the seller is providing to you. To find a location of the map, complete the following steps: In Map Viewer, open the map you want to view. To get a more in-depth look at a property, hire a land surveyor. If you are willing to put the time and effort into learning what the information on your plat means, where it comes from. To begin a land platting project it helps to have a transcription or copy of the deed that you can mark up as you identify the metes (corners or descriptive markers) and bounds (boundary lines) from the legal land description. If there are any easements on the land, this information will be positioned just below the lot number. Plats ensure lots comply with zoning rules and restrictions. Plat maps, also called land maps or land survey maps, come in a few different types depending on the purpose of the plat and the situation. If you're using a map with longitude and latitude lines, stick a pin where you're located. E. private road. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only and is compiled from sources deemed reliable but has not been verified. Home Press How to Read a Plat Map: The Basics You Need to Know. This is a wonderful quick tutorial and fun to do for, "I had a basic understanding of longitude/latitude, but I didn't know what the min/sec indicated. You can use a plat map for numerous situations. All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published. When a buyer performs a title search, the title records will include a plat map, which allows the buyer to be confident that the seller is advertising their home properly. Corners for which the best information was available are identified with a point symbol. The point of beginning shows the location where the metes and bounds legal description of the land begins. You can give any location on Earth latitude and longitude coordinates. The Public Land Survey System is based on a principal meridian - an imaginary north-south line - and a baseline or imaginary east-west line from which other survey lines are projected. How to Write Latitude & Longitude in Degrees, Minutes, Seconds, & Decimals, How to Find Out What Indigenous Land You're On (Using Native Land Digital). In order to read latitude and longitude correctly, you must first understand the basic concepts behind these measurements. Latitude coordinates should be between -90 and 90, and longitude coordinates should be . Grantor Grantee Indexes and filtered searches for Counties in Texas, California & New Mexico. Locate the evenly-spaced horizontal (latitude) and vertical (longitude) lines on a map. For example, the description above would be read "The north 1/2 of the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 24, township 32 north, range 18 east." However, the easiest way to interpret descriptions is from back to front (or, right to left). The official Assessor tax parcel maps. Its used for very specific pieces of property wherein the deed assigns a subdivision lot number to the property. Lines and tangent curves Let's say you have a paper plot or a legal description of a closed boundary. 1. Nationwide Google Maps with overlay of Tax, Sales, Mortgage, Oil & Gas Leases, Pipelines and RRC information in Texas. They ensure land for public use remains public. Tips for formatting your coordinates. Changes in price, condition, sale or withdrawal may be made without notice. Reading a plat map starts with learning the different types of plats. Review the entire written report and discuss any questions, discrepancies, or concerns with the surveyor immediately. wikiHow, Inc. is the copyright holder of this image under U.S. and international copyright laws. Your property lines are noted in a few different locations, including in the legal description for the lot, which would be on your property deed and on a plat map, which is typically available through your local assessor's office or planning office. Step 1: Go to Google Maps In Google Maps there is street mode and aerial/earth mode. For example, when you give your neighbor permission to park in your driveway or allow a utility company to run electrical lines run through your property. https://www.statesurveys.com.au/surveying/cadastral/boundary-survey-plan/, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6h5yALeMMA, http://www.chastainassociates.com/understanding-surveys.aspx, http://realestate.findlaw.com/neighbors/top-10-reasons-to-have-your-property-surveyed.html, http://homeguides.sfgate.com/read-land-survey-map-1304.html, http://allegiancetitle.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/How-to-Read-a-Survey11.pdf. Step 2 Run the legal description if the land is described by metes and bounds. This document is intended to help the average person understand how to interpret the information provided on a typical land survey. "I've never been curious enough to learn about map coordinates, but we just bought some land; it seemed to have the, "I just wanted to understand how latitude and longitude worked. Last Updated: September 19, 2022 ). Here's a fun post to close out the year. If you hold down the shift key and type the first digit (or number) of the ZIP code, the region of the United States is highlighted. This image is not<\/b> licensed under the Creative Commons license applied to text content and some other images posted to the wikiHow website. Once you have the basics down, learn how to identify latitude and longitude markers on a map and pinpoint exact locations. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. The old (now changed) parcel number. For example, N 38 03' 09" E would translate as 38 degrees, 3 minutes, 9 seconds from the north to the east. Along the right side of your plat map, youll see where the information came from typically a county assessor. First, learn what the many small numbers on a plat map mean. Your calls are likely to get you tens of feet if not hundreds of fee out of position. A plat map displays how a large area of land is effectively separated into lots. If you are the owner of any content used on our website and would like us to remove your content, please contact us immediately and we will promptly remove this content from our website. An easy way to remember which is which is to think of longitude as "long" like hair that hangs down. These descriptions will include distances, directions, and various physical features of the overall geography. These are slightly different than the ones posted by QOCMike, but they're pretty close (138 feet) to his first point. The addresses must match exactly as written on the homeowner's deed. These maps are used in a wide range of different real estate transactions. 6 Tips for Reading Plat Maps: 1. Alternatively, to find longitude, look for a series of vertical lines from the North Pole to the South Pole. Approved. It is a legal document that a professional, Now that you know why you should read a plat map and the. Unplatted lots are not recorded subdivisions. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. On the Settings (light) toolbar, click Map tools and choose Location . Here's an example for your 1000 acre parcel. If there is only one block on the map, however, the number will be 0. This image may not be used by other entities without the express written consent of wikiHow, Inc.
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