It is the land’s boundary lines that also have terminal points and angles. Just imagine you are to layout an area of land based on the geography, the meets, and bound system will show you the visible marks of the land. 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. But the final plan included subdivision of the lands into townships, then into sections and further into aliquot parts. Many plans have been made on how to subdivide the public domain lands. This system is also needed to divide all of the lands in the public domain which is possessed by the US federal government to benefit the American citizens. It is considered as one of the most significant subdividing of the United States’ mainland. An online table shows PLSS Cadastral National Spatial Data Infrastructure (CadNSDI) data set availability.The Rectangular Survey System is a method of surveying designed to divide the real property into specified plots. Use the 'Add Data' tool at the top of the map.įor GIS users, PLSS data layers are available through the BLM’s REST service endpoint. The National Map Viewer displays 'BLM Public Land Survey System (PLSS)'. US Topo maps published 2013-present have a Public Land Survey System layer that can be turned on and off. US Topo maps published 2009-2012 do not include any PLSS data. PLSS was created to divide parcels of public land it is not useful for the accurate location of points and should not be confused with coordinate systems like latitude/longitude, UTM, or the State Plane Coordinate System.įor states that have Public Land Surveys:Īlmost all historical topographic maps (1884-2006) include PLSS tic marks or gridlines.

Sections can be further subdivided into quarter sections, quarter-quarter sections, or irregular government lots. Townships are subdivided into 36 one-mile-square sections. The PLSS typically divides land into 6-mile-square townships. PLSS surveys, which are available for portions of land in 30 southern and western states, are made by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The Public Land Survey System (PLSS) is a way of subdividing and describing land in the United States.

American township and range system