Modernization of the Public Land Survey System (1982) / Chapter Skim
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centered on the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) as a significant focus of federal interest and responsibility in the noncoordinate side of the coordinate-noncoordinate data dichotomy.
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The needs for coordinate data for PLSS corners can be met most effectively by creating a national digital coordinate PLSS data base. This file should contain data-quality codes that would facilitate the progressive improvement of coordinate data.
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Meeting the increased requirements for more accurate and up-to-date maps, charts, surveys, and land-related information is critical for the prudent use of resources and for the national defense. At the federal level, these activities are primarily the province of three separate agencies: the National Geodetic Survey of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the Department of Commerce is responsible for the horizontal and vertical control networks, the Division of Cadastral Survey of the Bureau of Land Management in the Department of the Interior is responsible for cadastral surveying on federal lands and for the Public Land Survey System on such lands, and the National Mapping Division of the U.S.
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4 MODERNIZATION OF THE PUBLIC LAND SURVEY SYSTEM group be formed with participation of all relevant federal agencies and interested groups at the state, local, and private-sector levels to integrate the geodetic, cadastral, and mapping activities necessary for the modernization of the Public Land Survey System. The Office of Management and Budget could encourage this kind of cooperative program by revising the scope of Circular No.
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Spatial data that have been stored in map form are used for a wide variety 5 l
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It is clear that many of us must carry out the integration of complex spatial data files on a routine, day-to-day basis. Fundamental to the effective integration of spatial data files is the nature and accuracy of the coordinate system on which they are based.
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The basis for modern computer processing of spatial data lies in the creation of consistent digital data files. There are two methods for developing these files: Digitization of existing maps that meet national map accuracy standards (Appendix B)
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For example, a resource manager working with digital spatial data files can integrate spatial data pertaining to such characteristics as soils, terrain, and mineral resources, but he cannot subsequently relate this composite information to patterns of land ownership. A substantial portion of the lands in the United States and a very large proportion of those in federal ownership were surveyed under a cadastral system known as the Public Land Survey System (PLSS)
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reference system for all states except for 18 eastern states, Hawaii, and Texas. The PLSS has been extended or is now being extended over this area as the basis for the identification, administration, and disposal of the public lands and for the legal description of private lands.
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10 V: Cal Cal C)
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The east-west township lines deviate about the same amount and intersect the range lines at
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Muskingum River Base (~) Miomi River Base (~)
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and the boundary between Ohio and Indiana. Jared Mansfield, who had replaced Putnam, extended his Indiana Baseline to the Mississippi River and established the Third Principal Meridian near the center of the Illinois Territory.
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As more land was surveyed, Edward Titian, who was appointed Commissioner of the General Land Office in 1812, found a need for more control lines and established the system of guide meridians and standard parallels that are important aspects of the PLSS. Thus, by extension of baselines and establishment of new baselines and principal meridians the PASS was extended to the west and to Alaska (Figure 2.1~.
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However, no effort was made to establish the geodetic coordinates of these corners as the PLSS monuments and original cadastral survey data were and are the only legal basis for delineation of property boundaries. Hence, when monuments are lost the original survey must be retraced (Bureau of Land Management, 1974)
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At each integral multiple of 24 miles north and south of the initial point on the Principal Meridian, an eastwest line was determined in a manner similar to that used for the baseline; these lines are called standard parallels. At 6-mile intervals between standard parallels, east-west lines (township lines)
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The range lines are not numbered, but the tiers or ranges within these lines are numbered successively to the east and to the west of the Principal Meridian. The township lines, like the range lines, are not numbered.
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18 MODERNIZATION OF THE PUBLIC LAND SURVEY SYSTEM TOWNSHIP 2 SOUTH RANGE 3 WEST 6 5 ~ 3 2 7 8 9 10 ~ 12 18 17 16 O Section 13 19 2 21 22 23 24 30 29 28 27 26 2S 31 32 33 34 35 36 FIGURE 2.5 Boustrophedonic numbering of sections. SECTION 14 '\h - ~\F Northeast a_ _ _ _ __ ~ quarter Nl/2SWl/4 W`Lot ' ~ ' tot 2 Lake ~ i I 14West Half of South ea st quarter (NEl/4)
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229~. A dependent resurvey consists of a retracement and re-establishment of the lines in the original survey in their true original positions according to the best available evidence of the positions of the original corners (Bureau of Land Management, 1973~.
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Recently BLM retraced much of the 1967-1969 resurvey and found many original corners, which resulted in nearly all of the lines that were re-established in 1967-1969 being corrected to conform with the original corner monument evidence; this resulted in displacement of some monuments established in 1967-1969 by several feet. In the interim, local surveyors used the uncertified BLM monuments to make private land surveys; title companies and lending institutions have accepted these as "certified surveys" for clear title descriptions, as there was nothing of record to indicate that a particular monument was not the official monument (Domenici, 1981~.
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Hence, accurate correlation of such property boundary maps and topographic maps is nearly impossible (Committee on Geodesy, 1982~. In recognition of this problem, the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission has combined the best features of the PLSS and the State Plane Coordinate systems (Claire and Adams, 1935; Mitchell and Simmons, 1945~.
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" Responses to these questions must be examined and a decision reached within the constraints imposed by the capability of current technology to supply the desired data base and the institutional restrictions within which it would have to be created and maintained. 3.1 THE NATIONAL ROLE OF THE PUBLIC LAND SURVEY SYSTEM A fundamental question must be asked in considering the creation of a digital PLSS data base.
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Conflicts in title between federal and private interests are extensive; as many as 50,000 title claims and trespass situations exist through just one federal management entity, the National Forest System, and close to 100,000 title claims exist within the Department of the Interior (Domenici, 1981~. In addition, federal agencies often use the PLSS system to define areas within the public lands for purposes such as leasing for oil and gas, timber, grazing, and Minerals.
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~ / l ~ ~ l ~ FIGURE 3.1 The status map above shows 7.5-minute quadrangles where digital elevation models have been completed. A digital elevation model is a digitized file of ground positions normally at 30-m intervals.
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The effort has resulted in an interactive digital file from which the UTM coordinates can be recalled for any section corner in the state. The system can also be used to extract any needed subset of section corners as well as to generate approximate corners for 40-acre parcels and other subdivisions of the PLSS.
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