A State-wide View of “Section Corner” Data

Naming Convention allows IndianaMap users to link directly to County Section Corner

Information

Lorraine Wright, Geologist, & GISP

IGIC Cadastral, Boundaries, PLSS Workgroup Chair

Engineering and GIS SectionScience Services BranchOffice of Land QualityIndiana Department of Environmental Management

Indiana Geographic Information Council Cadastral, Boundaries, PLSS Workgroup

Tie Card ProjectWorkgroup members

– IDEM– IGIC– Indiana Society of Professional Land Surveyors– County Surveyor’s Association– Office of Geodetic Advisor– Public and private companies– Local, County, and State Government and Universities – Joe Mullins, Hamilton Co.– John Milburn, County Surveyor’s Association– Beth Hippensteel, Volunteer– Phil Worrall, IGIC– Jim Sparks, IN GIO– Robert Mueller, Land Office– Steve Claycomb, INDOT– Lorraine Wright, IDEM– Jim Swift, Boone Co.– Bryan Catlin, Marion Co. – Beth Hippensteel, Volunteer– Henry Aldridge, INDOT– Danielle Kindig, Newton Co.– Mike Williamson, Newton Co.– Bob Wilkinson, DNR

Section Corner

• A section corner is a basic unit of the Public Land Survey System (PLSS)

– It is used to locate and identify land, particularly for titles and deeds.

– Sections are referenced by using the basic units of the PLSS: Township (T), Range (R), and Section (ex: T15N,R3E,9).

Section Corners

• Section Corner information is obtained from the County Surveyor’s Office.

• Each county has it’s own Section Corner naming convention.

• Section Corner description cards are also referred to as Tie Cards.

• Only recently have traditional surveying methods included GPS coordinates.

• Most surveying information does not have GPS coordinates.

Surveying Our Public Lands 2002- Latest Edition, BLM

Public LandSurvey System

Section Divisions as referenced indeeds, titles, and plats.

PLSS County Section Corner Description and Grid Point Name

Correlate Grid Point namingconvention associated with PLSS corner

Cadastral, Boundaries, PLSS Workgroup

• The Workgroup was tasked with developing a state-wide PLSS section corner GIS layer

• GIS layers are based on coordinates• Most Surveyor’s PLSS section corners don’t

have coordinates• How could we develop a state-wide layer?

Tie Card Project: A GIS Framework LayerProcess for Combining County Tie Cards into a Statewide GIS System

1. Developed a File Naming Convention

-Surveyors describe a Public Land Survey Section corner (ex. NE ¼ corner, NE 1/4, NE1/4, Section 03,T23N, R06W)-Counties have different names for the ¼, ¼, ¼ corners-Needed a way to link different data together

Statewide naming conventionIN02_T23NR06E03_08Computer File Name will include – (example)State Name and Principal Meridian – IN02Township number – T23Township direction – N Range number – R06Range direction – E Section – 03Grid Number – 08 (Grid numbering system begins with 00 in upper left hand of section and ends in 80, bottom right corner)

2. Developed a GRID Point GIS Layer

-The Grid Point GIS layer was computer generated using the GIS section boundary layer

Bartholomew Co. IN02_T9NR5E (sections 1-36)Grid Points

Sections

-The Grid Point layer was develop as part of the Tie Card Pilot Project -Each point is named with the statewide naming convention

3. Developed the Renaming Software

-Tie Card Renaming Software (created by Brian Wood)-Created to enable the scanned image of the Tie Cards to be renamed with the statewide naming convention -Creates a database of the scanned images with County name and new naming convention

4. Created a Geographic Information System (GIS) Surveyor Tie Card Layer

-Link the Grid Point layer to the database created after using the renaming software

5. Bartholomew County – -Click on Grid Point and the Tie Card pops up

Section 20. T9NR5E, Second Meridian Grid Points, Bartholomew Co.

6. Scanned Tie Card

-Pops up when you click on the point

7. Created a website to provide easy access to Surveyor Tie Card information

-Tie Card Layer includes: Bartholomew, Newton, Jennings, Marion and Wayne County data -Available on the IndianaMap website -GIS allows one to click on a point associated with a scanned image of the tie card and the tie card will pop up on the computer screen

8. Disclaimer added to inform the public of use restrictions

9. Tools added to make it easy to search

-Zoom to location or Area-Enter the Township, Range and Section -Use the hyperlink tool to click on the Corner of interest-The Tie Card pops up

Definition - A Tie Card is a scanned image of a County’s Public Land Survey System Section Corner Description

By Lorraine Wright, IDEM, November 9, 2010, Source: Lorraine Wright – IDEM (lwright@idem.IN.gov); IGIC Cadastral, Boundaries, PLSS Workgroup; Bartholomew, Jennings, Newton, Marion, and Wayne Co Tie Cards; Brian Wood –Grid Points and Renaming Software; IndianaMap; and Indiana Geological Survey – website

Developed a state-wide naming convention• Grid Point file naming convention

– IN02_T23NR06E03_08

– State Name and Prime Meridian – IN02 – Township number - T23 – Township direction – N – Range number – R06 – Range direction – E – Section – 03 – Grid Number – 08 (Grid numbering system begins with 00 in

upper left hand of section and ends in 80, bottom left corner)

LAKE

ALLEN

JAY

KNOX

WHITE

VIGO

JASPER

CASS

LAPORTE

RUSH

PIKE

PARKE

GREENE

CLAY

GIBSON

PORTER

RIPLEY

MIAMI

NOBLE

OWEN

POSEY

GRANT

PUTNAM

BOONE

DUBOIS

JACKSON

WAYNE

HENRY

PERRY

CLARK

WELLS

SHELBY

ELKHART

PULASKI

DAVIESS

MARION

MADISON

WABASH

KOSCIUSKO

BENTON

SULLIVAN

HARRISON

ORANGE

FULTON

CLINTON

ADAMS

MONROE

MORGAN

DEKALB

MARTIN

ST JOSEPH

MARSHALL

RANDOLPH

WARRICK

SPENCER

WARREN

LAWRENCE

TIPPECANOE

HAMILTON

BROWN

FOUNTAIN

FRANKLIN

CARROLL

WASHINGTON

DECATUR

STARKE

JENNINGS

WHITLEY

DELAWARE

HENDRICKS

LAGRANGE

TIPTON

STEUBEN

JOHNSON

HOWARD

JEFFERSON

HANCOCK

CRAWFORD

SCOTT

FAYETTE UNION

FLOYD

NEWTON

MONTGOMERY

HUNTINGTON

DEARBORNBARTHOLOMEW

VERMILLION

SWITZERLAND

VANDERBURGH

OHIO

BLACKFORD

Landsurvey_County_Poly_IN

Landsurvey_Townships_Poly_IN

Landsurvey_Sections_Poly_IN

Layer used to generateGrid Point layer

Tie Card Project

Grids points were created for ¼, ¼, ¼section corners

Computer generated Grid Point layer(numbering00 - 80)

Grid points used for locating section cornersthat define County Boundaries

(00, 04, 08,36, 40, 44,72, 76, 80)

NW cornerNE corner

SW cornerSE corner

Renaming Software for

Tie Card Project

Each Grid Pointwould have a different T,R, Section reference

08

80 72

00

Each section corner can have up to 4 grid pointsThe Grid point description depends on which section the PLSS corner was surveyed from

Disclaimer: Most of the counties (in color)showed interest in participating in the projectduring 2007 or earlier. Some of the counties polled may not have the same County Surveyor in office that was there in 2007 orearlier. A new poll should be conducted sincethe data is outdated and because there is a newmechanism available that allows easier data sharing than the method used in 2007.

Newton

Marion Wayne

Bartholomew

Jennings

The Surveyor Tie Card layer is located on the IndianaMap(five counties are completed)

Tie CardProject

Summary• Tie Card Project

– Created a Tie Card Video – includes a summary of IGIC and the process steps to participate in the Tie Card Project

– Working with participating County Surveyors– Working with County Surveyors Association and

ISPLS– Linking to participating Counties data as time permits

Cadastral, Boundaries, PLSS Workgroup

• Cadastral, Boundaries, PLSS Workgroup– Comments and suggestions welcome

For more information contact:Lorraine WrightIndiana Department of Environmental Management(317) 234-0618lwright@idem.IN.gov

IGIC website: www.igic.org

Workgroup Website:http://igic.org/committees/cadboundplss.html