Mapping & Surveying of small holdings

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Hello to the forum -

Does anyone have a source of instructions/methods of performing a survey or map of a piece of property?

I can find all sorts of books on doing a 'professional' survey but I'm looking for something that might come from a state extension office or conservation service.

I'm not looking for anything along the line of 'legal' descriptions; more like a 'property inventory that describes the lay of the land' .

Any help would be appreciated.

J

-- j (jw_hsv@yahoo.com), June 22, 2001

Answers

Hi J:

Do you have a college nearby? Many of them have government documents in them pertaining to many subjects. I'm sure surveying is one of them.

In the magazine Fur Fish and Game, they use to sell an old book named 'Land Prospecting' (I think), which had "old timey" (early 1900's) information on staking claims; it was part of the old A. R. Harding historical collection. Pretty cheap; about five or six dollars back then (early '90s).

I did my own survey on our ranch, using a compass and my truck odometer as a distance reader. One mile = 5,280 feet; 1/10th of a mile = 528 feet. Guestimated smaller increments as best as I could. Crude method but the results were pretty close to a GPS survey done much later and the boundary lines jive with a government map purchased also.

Hope this helps some. . .

-- j.r. guerra (jrguerra@boultinghousesimpson.com), June 22, 2001.


Why not make a grid on a map and then catalog what you find there in each square. You might list the inventory as tree cover/plants, animals, water resources, soil type,etc.

-- Anne (HealthyTouch101@wildmail.com), June 22, 2001.

Your local state DOT office might be the place to start if you have a county maintained road next to your property. Their maps will help you define one primeter correctly.

-- mitch hearn (moopups1@aol.com), June 22, 2001.

you your next to state or federal land,, check with Dept Natural rescources,, or fish and game, ect,,,, they will have topo maps of the areas

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), June 22, 2001.

Jay, I'm a Professional Land Surveyor in Washington State. I'd be happy to try to answer your questions and point you to resources that might help. What State and County are you located in and what exactly do you wish to accomplish? You need to be more specific about what you want to do and why. "performing a survey or map of a piece of property" is really broad and can mean many different things. Also, describe the general characteristics of the property you want to survey: approximate acreage, open or wooded?, hilly or level?, urban, suburban, rural farm, "in-the-middle-of-nowhere"? What are your strengths in math, specifically, geometry?

George Washington was a land surveyor and did a significant amount of surveying in the colonies. His tools were crude by today's methods: large compass with sighting vanes, measuring chain, and a book of trigonometric tables and basic survey formulas. There are lots of "tricks" that the layman can master to accomplish many surveying tasks for yourself. It will just take a whole lot longer than if done by a Professional with the latest electronic gadgetry. Email me privately if you wish.

-- Skip Walton (sundaycreek@gnrac.net), June 22, 2001.



I had a surveyor friend of mine do something similar for me recently and his method was incredibly simple yet effective. He'd stand with both arms extended out at his sides at the known, existing property line to square himself looking straight ahead focusing on something in the distance. That got him started out at 90 degrees. He'd then walk off whatever distance required to get to the first corner. There he'd turn to the new direction and repeat the process starting by pointing each extended arm out, one pointing to his point of origin, the other to the distant point he'd focused on for his first walk off.

To get your distances better, take a few walks counting your steps then measure between your start and finish points. That should give you a good idea what your stride measures so it's just simple math then.

In my case, I later had a professional survey done and was really impressed that it came in within 3% for the total acreage and that included a curved property line, too. I hope this helps.

-- Gary in NE Indiana (gk6854@aol.com), June 24, 2001.


Try this site: http://www.simtel.net/pub/msdos/engin/

sly253a.zip (CD) Survey land yourself quick/easy/inexpens, 1of2 sly253b.zip (CD) Survey land yourself quick/easy/inexpens, 2of2 If you have any surveying questions, please feel free to ask me.

Bart

-- Bart Dominick (Dominickwb@dot.state.sc.us), July 19, 2001.


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