Table of Contents
How do you read a property boundary survey?
Degrees, minutes, and seconds are the units of measure for property survey bearings. For example, N 38° 03′ 09″ E would translate as 38 degrees, 3 minutes, 9 seconds from the north to the east. The boundary lines, or “legs,” are often denoted in feet and listed directly below or after the bearing.
What do the numbers mean on a survey?
Each segment will contain numbers and letters indicating the direction from North that the line proceeds as well as the distance to the next point. For example, a segment may have the notation N 15° 30′ 45″ E on one side of the line and the notation 166.25′ on the other side of the line.
How do you read a survey description?
The more common method used in land surveys and property descriptions uses quadrants. The quadrants are northeast, southeast, southwest and northwest. For an example of N25°E, face north, then turn 25 degrees to the east and go that direction. If your bearing is S40°W, face south and turn 40 degrees to the west.
What do survey colors mean?
It shows where the digging will occur. Pink indicates temporary survey markings. When a land surveyor visits to precisely draw the exact lines between adjoining properties, he or she will mark the ground in pink. This indicates the legal boundaries affecting the project. Red is the color for electrical equipment.
How do you read land survey elevations?
The elevation is calculated by subtracting the foresight rod reading from the height of instrument. A foresight is the elevation reading of a point of unknown elevation. The rod could be moved to other points as shown in Figure 13, and similar calculations would determine the elevations of these points.
What are blue tops in surveying?
Subgrade stakes (blue tops) are set to guide the grading contractor in trimming and finishing the earth subgrade after the rough grading has been completed.
What does a surveyor pin look like?
What are property pins, where are they located, and what do they look like? Property pins are thin iron bars, two to three feet long, and sometimes capped with plastic, which the original survey crew inserted on the property lines. Surveyors may also place a metal T-bar post at the property pin location.
What kind of markers do surveyors use?
The three most commonly used markings are the simple stakes, flags and pins. These surveyor symbols are common to any construction project and guarantee that everything gets put in the right place.
What do surveyors markings mean?
Survey markers, also called survey marks, survey monuments, or geodetic marks, are objects placed to mark key survey points on the Earth’s surface. They are used in geodetic and land surveying. A benchmark is a type of survey marker that indicates elevation (vertical position).
How do you read a metes and bounds?
A metes and bounds description, which means distance and direction, begins and ends at a landmark called the point of beginning (POB). The property is measured and described in a point of direction from a starting point using angles, distance, directions, and landmarks.
What does FF mean on a survey?
Also referred to as FF is Finished Floor Elevation. The term FFE refers to the top of the structural slab and its elevation above sea level. FG. Finished grade. The term FG refers to the elevation above sea level for the finished grade or finished ground.
How do you read township and range description?
Sections in each township are numbered consecutively beginning with number 1 in the northeast corner of the township, and counting right to left then left to right and so on weaving back and forth through the sections of the township, and ending with number 36 in the southeast corner.
How do you read legal land descriptions?
The legal description pinpoints the location of a given property within its particular township, range, and section. For example, each township is six square miles, or 23,040 acres, and contains 36 square sections, which are each intended to be one square mile (or 640 acres).
What do pink flags on property mean?
Pink flags – These are used as temporary survey markings. As surveyors measure, they mark their work with pink flags. Measure twice, cut once, and use plenty of pink flags. Pink is also used to mark mysteries. If a utility can’t be identified, a worker will pink flag it.
What is the Orange underground line?
Red: Electric power lines, cables or conduit, and lighting cables. Yellow: Gas, oil, steam, petroleum, or gaseous materials. Orange: Communication, alarm or signal lines, cables or conduits, and fiber.
What does orange spray paint on grass mean?
YELLOW: Gas, Oil, Steam, Petroleum or Gaseous Materials. ORANGE: Communication, Alarm or Signal Lines, Cables or Conduits. BLUE: Potable, Water. GREEN: Sewers and Drain Lines.
How do surveyors measure distance?
To measure distances, land surveyors once used 100-foot long metal tapes that are graduated in hundredths of a foot. To measure the horizontal distance between two points, one surveyor uses an EDM instrument to shoot an energy wave toward a reflector held by the second surveyor.
How do you find your elevation grade?
How to Find Grade of an Elevation. Grade can be found by measuring the horizontal length of an elevation, the run, and the vertical height of the elevation, the rise. Grade is expressed as rise/run, so if the rise is 25 and the run is 80 the grade is 25/80.
