\u00a9 2023 wikiHow, Inc. All rights reserved. Latitude and longitude are measured in degrees rather than absolute units of measurement (such as miles or kilometers) because the Earth is spherical. 2. The plat map that you receive for a title search or when you buy a home will include a significant amount of symbols and numbers, which are used to set the boundaries of property lines, trees, geography, and utilities. This image is not<\/b> licensed under the Creative Commons license applied to text content and some other images posted to the wikiHow website. Use it to try out great new products and services nationwide without paying full pricewine, food delivery, clothing and more. SE: Subtract angle from 180. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. Nicki & Karen | Southern California Luxury Real Estate | Copyright 20082022, How to Read a Plat Map: The Basics You Need to Know, How to Buy an Investment Property with No Money Down, What to Consider When Building Wrap-around Porches, A Step-By-Step Guide on How to Build an Outdoor Kitchen, Nicki & Karen Southern California Luxury Real Estate, 9 Nightlife Hotspots for Ventura Residents and Visitors, Provides a precise description of a portion of land, Ensures that public land continues to be used by the public, Allows property owners to have access to necessary utilities, Prevents trespass onto your private property by anyone who isnt authorized to be on the property, Makes sure that all lots adhere to zoning guidelines and restrictions. Use the help tab for assistance. 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. Its also important to know of any easements or public access roads on your property. Were committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Sure seems like we're in violent agreement on the key points: as stated in the programs 'frequently asked questions:'. Not just anyone can come up with a plat map. All you have to do is provide your location below and submit. In this case, several readers have written to tell us that this article was helpful to them, earning it our reader-approved status. List Latitude before Longitude in your spreadsheet. But first I want to . 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. This will open a pop-up window. The plat map will help you determine where your property ends and where the other begins. Tips for formatting your coordinates. Reading a plat map is a straightforward process if you know what youre looking for. 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. Once youve obtained the plat map, you can use it to make sure that youre buying exactly whats been advertised to you. By using our site, you agree to our. Use the degree symbol to indicate degrees. Another tip is when in doubt, pay for a land survey. For information about how to understand the property boundaries, read on! Persons interested in purchasing a surplus property (county has title to property) must provide a written request to purchase with the following details: a) one single Parcel id and property address b) petitioner's name and mailing address Read more Parcel boundaries shown on the maps and the GIS data sets are approximate. These maps are used in a wide range of different real estate transactions. Whether youre a homeowner or prospective buyer, these maps can be used to your benefit. First, learn what the many small numbers on a plat map mean. By signing up you are agreeing to receive emails according to our privacy policy. Although you'll have to schlep all the way to your county courthouse to get your hands on the physical plat map, you might be able to find a copy online. In this concept, you will learn how to use coordinates to locate a place on a map. All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published. Site Map. 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. Not just anyone can come up with a plat map. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. So, when you need to find or read the coordinates on the map. The Go To XY tool also keeps a record of recent locations, which you can return to by clicking the Recent . If a piece of land is going to be divided into separate lots for building homes, a plat map is required. The scale of your plat map will be in the maps legend. Email notifications of recently filed Oil & Gas related documents including Leases, Mineral Deeds, Royalty Deeds, Pooling Agreements, etc. This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Megaera Lorenz, PhD. ". An indication as to whether the property is zoned for residential or commercial use. Access the online map server. Next, find the survey legend. This article was co-authored by wikiHow Staff. The map will show the size of the land, any nearby streets, boundary locations, easements on the land, and possible flood zones. We can help you find approximate property lines and corners and by producing the most accurate GPS coordinates possible without hiring a surveyor. wikiHow is where trusted research and expert knowledge come together. Third three numbers of the assessor's parcel number (APN). This document is intended to help the average person understand how to interpret the information provided on a typical land survey. Verify that the survey is signed, dated, and embossed with the surveyor's official seal. The lot number will be included in the center of each plot of land. Longitude lines run from north to south and are perpendicular to the equator. The Great Sphinx of Giza in Egypt is located at 295831N, 31815E. You may find that the satellite images in aerial mode are useful in visually locating the parcel. Then, take the numbers you got for the latitude and longitude of your point and put them together. Thanks wikiHow!". Setback lines are dashed and prop-erty lines are solid, interspersed with large dashes. Most plat maps have these numbers in feet. Plat maps can look confusing, but with a bit of basic knowledge you can decode yours and use it to your advantage. Once youve accessed the most recent plat map of your property, get the most out of reading it with a few additional tips. "A township measures the north/south distance from its parallel base line. A plat map is an accurate, unbiased, and trustworthy assessment of a piece of property, if it is based on the most recent and updated land survey. The addresses must match exactly as written on the homeowner's deed. "Metes and bounds" refers to the surveyor's measurements of each portion of the property boundary. FileViewer provides access to scanned indexes and image of (handwritten and typed) Real Property, Plats and Oil and Gas Records all over Texas and New Mexico. area's high point, and I wanted to know exactly where it was. Understanding your land survey. While the distance between degrees of latitude is constant (60 nautical miles or 111.12 km), the Earths shape causes the distance between degrees of longitude to decrease as you approach the poles. While a plat map can be highly beneficial for a homeowner, it can also be useful when accessed by a prospective buyer. Light detection and ranging (lidar) data are collected from aircraft using sensors that detect the reflections of a pulsed laser beam. On the far left of our example, you can see an arrow pointing to "Shed 0.58" and another pointing to "Fence 0.11". This article has been viewed 250,673 times. Later in the book I will be showing you the exact steps for preparing map data using a desktop GIS. If your map shows seconds, find the second closest to where each line intersects the latitude or longitude scale at the edge of the map. Please do not submit your actual street address, just a city, town or regional location. This includes Run Sheets, Property Reports and Mineral Ownership Reports. Latitude lines run horizontally across the Earth and are parallel to the equator. For example, you could end up with 32205N, 1201412E as your coordinates. Review the documents so that to avoid any problems in the future. If there have been property changes, the plat map will list these as well. Write down the vertical coordinate, which is latitude, and the horizontal coordinate, which is longitude. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. There are sixty seconds in a minute (60" = 1') and There are sixty minutes in a degree (60' = 1). Site created and maintained by CourthouseDirect.com, Inc. 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. She has also developed and taught Egyptology courses at The University of Chicago and Loyola University Chicago. The old (now changed) parcel number. Add Excel lat long coordinates table to ArcGIS. Based on the numbers you have stated, that would be the page number and then book number. If there are any easements on the land, this information will be positioned just below the lot number. Plat Maps, Property Lines, and Land Ownership View a free map of ownership boundaries delineated by tax parcel property lines. For example, N 38 03' 09" E would translate as 38 degrees, 3 minutes, 9 seconds from the north to the east. 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. For instance, the tract orientation will be listed, which displays the directional orientation of the property in question. A plat map is a type of map thats used to show the divisions of a parcel of land. The number and name of the subdivision that your land is in will also be included on the plat map. Click Expand to reveal additional location options.