Penn State Surveying Program

SUR 272
Cadastral Surveying


Catalog Data 272. CADASTRAL SURVEYING (3) Evolution of US land survey systems, US Public Land Survey System, property ownership and conveyancing, common and statute law, rules of construction, boundary location procedures. Prerequisites: SUR 111.
Textbooks Brown, C.T., W.G. Robillard and D.A. Wilson. 1995. Brown's Boundary Control and Legal Principles, 4th ed. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. New York. ISBN 0-471-04312-5. 410 p.

Brown, C.T., W.G. Robillard and D.A. Wilson. 1994. Evidence and Procedures for Boundary Location, 3rd ed. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. New York. ISBN 0-471-55219-4. 512 p.

References References: Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior. 1973. Manual of Instructions for the Survey of the Public Lands of the United States 1973. Tech. Bull. No. 6, US Gov. Printing Off., Washington, DC.

Wattles, G.H. (latest edition). Writing Legal Descriptions in Conjunction with Survey Boundary Control. Wattles Publications, PO Box 1706, Tustin, CA 92681-1706.

Coordinator Wesley Parks, PLS, PhD
Goals To introduce the student to the history and practice of land surveying in the US and to the techniques of writing and interpreting property descriptions.
Prerequisites by Topic
  1. Ability to document measurements and results of calculations including basic procedures of statistics and determining significant figures.
  2. Ability to make and interpret surveying field notes.
  3. Ability to make and understanding of distance and angle measurement.
  4. Understanding of theory and field procedures of traversing and traverse and area computations.
Topics
  1. Evolution of US land survey systems: English and Colonial surveys
  2. Evolution of US land survey systems: US Public Land Survey System (PLSS)
  3. Property ownership and conveyancing; land descriptions
  4. US land law, common and statute law
  5. Rules of construction: creating and retracing PLSS boundaries
  6. Rules of construction: creating and locating sequentially created boundaries
  7. Rules of construction: creating and locating simultaneously created boundaries
  8. Exams
  9. Review
  1. 3 hours
  2. 4 hours
  3. 3 hours
  4. 3 hours
  5. 5 hours
  6. 5 hours
  7. 3 hours
  8. 2 hours
  9. 2 hours
Computer Usage Students use word processing software to prepare written reports. Students also use CAD software to draft boundaries described in legal descriptions.


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Last Update: March 31, 2005