However, the less precise the original survey, or in cases in which the markers are no longer present, surveying the property can be difficult. If all the markers are still present, you can use modern technology to improve the survey and make it more precise. If you must survey a plot of land that originally used metes and bounds, it is best to try to follow the directions included in the original survey. Photographs and maps can help identify the boundaries described in a metes and bounds survey. Even images using technology as simple as MapQuest can help to more precisely mark a parcel of land that would otherwise be defined by measuring tools and compasses. says that now, photographs often accompany these loosely measured parcels in order to more definitely define the borders. From this point, the surveyor follows the compass needle for a specified number of feet, until reaching another point, be it a physical marker, tree, or rock. This may be at an intersection of roads, a particular point on a stream or something even more nebulous. When using this method to survey land, the description directs the surveyor to start at a certain point. They may appear in a description as a building, rock, or other nonpermanent marker. Metes are distances between two points measured with straight lines, regardless of what is in between them. What, Specifically, Are Metes and Bounds? Thus, considering the impreciseness of these tools and descriptions, numerous lawsuits have been filed over the years disputing the borders in states that used metes and bounds. Land was described as starting at a certain point and continuing in a line based on the compass needle. These can fall over on their own, or malicious neighbors can intentionally move them.Īccording to, compasses, which are not always a 100 percent reliable indicator of direction, were often used in these surveys as well. Worse, when no obvious marker or indicator was present, a pole or stake may have been driven into the ground to mark the boundary. Of course, trees eventually die, rivers can erode land, and roads can be moved. Parcels were often defined by formations such as rivers, trees, roads, or other landmarks. The plots could be large, often encompassing many acres of farmland or heavily forested areas. It was the principle way to measure land before the Land Act of 1785, so much of the land in the original 13 colonies was measured this way, as well as in Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Texas.īefore technology, or even before sophisticated measuring instruments, land surveying was fairly imprecise. Metes and bounds is a method of surveying land that is centuries old. Possible relationships between the results from the quantitative analysis and underlying household social processes are also discussed and evaluated.When using a metes and bounds survey, it might be difficult to find a parcel’s borders. The results from the transition matrix analysis suggest that the history of a parcel is of importance in that it does enable and constrain future parcelization types. Results show that the most common type of parcelization is one where a parent parcel splits into two equally sized child parcels. These types were then used to describe the trajectory of parcelization, or life history, of a parcel using a transition matrix approach. The patterns of ownership parcelization were categorized into a typology based on characteristics of the parent and child parcels using a cluster analysis. For a study area in south-central Indiana, a digital spatial dataset of ownership parcels was created from historical plat maps for the period of 1928–1997. Parcelization of land ownership is a process that has dramatic implications for how landscapes are managed and how socioeconomic changes ultimately affect the pattern, composition and characteristics of the landscape.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |