Cadastral surveys and the public land survey system of the United States of America
United Nations
Working paper; No. 9.
Cadastral surveys of federal lands in the United States trace their lineage to the Land Ordnance Act of 1785 which created the Public Land Survey Systems (PLSS). The PLSS is a rectangular survey system, with townships 6 miles square. Each township contains 36 one mile square sections. Over the years, a number of improvements to the Land Ordnance Act have been legislated including monumentation of section corners, procedures for subdividing sections into aliquot parts, provision for surveying to be performed by employees of the federal government to reduce fraud and allowing reasonable access on private lands to define federal ownership through surveys.
Event: Sixth UN Regional Cartographic Conference
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