Alaska Land Surveyor (AKLS) Exam key terms

A parcel of up to 160 acres granted to individual Alaska Natives under the 1906 Native Allotment Act, now generally vested and conveyed in trust or fee, and often surveyed only after entitlement was recognized.

The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, which extinguished aboriginal claims and conveyed land and cash to regional and village corporations and to Native allotment holders, shaping much of Alaska's current ownership pattern.

The gradual and imperceptible addition of land to a shoreline by natural action of water, which generally belongs to the riparian or littoral owner without a new conveyance.

Land exposed by the permanent and gradual recession of a body of water, which typically accrues to the adjacent upland owner rather than the state.

The gradual wearing away of land by water action, which ordinarily shifts the boundary with the water but does not deprive the owner of title to the lost acreage.

A sudden, perceptible change in a watercourse or shoreline, such as a flood-cut channel, that does not move property boundaries; the old line remains the legal boundary.

The line on a shore reached by water in ordinary conditions, marked by physical evidence like vegetation change or a distinct bank, used to locate state-owned submerged land boundaries.

A survey line run along a bank or shore to compute water area, not a boundary of the upland; it does not limit title where the water is the true boundary.

Land and submerged beds owned by the State of Alaska under the equal footing doctrine and Alaska Constitution, generally including navigable waters and their beds at statehood.

The factual test of whether a water body was used or susceptible of use for commerce in its ordinary condition at statehood, determining whether its bed passed to the state.

A public easement, generally 50 feet wide on each side of a section line, reserved to the state across certain conveyed lands for access, defined by Alaska statute and federal patents.

A map filed with the recording district documenting the results of a survey, such as monument locations or boundary determinations, without necessarily creating new parcels.

A map of a subdivision or survey showing parcels, boundaries, monuments, and dedications, prepared and approved according to statute and local ordinance for recording.

The division of land into two or more parcels for sale, lease, or building development, triggering platting, review, and approval requirements under Alaska law and local ordinances.

The formal legal process of abandoning a platted street, easement, or lot, returning the land to the adjoining owners or the public domain, usually by ordinance or court action.

The intentional gift of private land to public use, such as streets or parks shown on a plat, which becomes effective upon acceptance by the public authority.

A physical object set or found to mark a survey corner, such as a brass cap, pipe, or scribed tree, whose position and character control the location of the boundary.

A point established by a survey at the intersection of boundary lines, such as a section corner or lot corner, whose position governs the lines that terminate there.

The act of recording and preserving evidence of a corner's location, such as filing a corner record or setting a durable monument, so later surveyors can find it.

A method of restoring a lost corner by dividing the excess or deficiency in a line among the original parcels in proportion to their recorded lengths, used only after better evidence fails.

A corner whose original position cannot be recovered from physical evidence or reliable records, requiring reestablishment by proportionate measurement or other accepted rules.

A corner whose monument is gone but whose location can still be established from physical evidence or testimony, so it is not treated as lost and is not proportioned.

Facts, documents, testimony, or physical traces that a surveyor relies on to locate a boundary, ranked by reliability from original monuments down to hearsay.

Oral testimony about boundary locations, such as statements by a now-deceased original surveyor, that may be admissible to clarify or locate monuments when written records are silent.

The chronological sequence of recorded conveyances and encumbrances tracing ownership of a parcel from the sovereign to the present owner, used to identify the controlling description.

A written instrument that conveys an interest in real property, whose description, granting clause, and recording determine the extent and priority of the conveyed rights.

A nonpossessory right to use another's land for a specific purpose, such as access or utilities, which may be appurtenant or in gross and may arise by grant, prescription, or implication.

A court action determining ownership and resolving conflicting claims or boundary disputes, often used to confirm title to accreted or disputed land.

A survey that establishes or reestablishes boundaries of public land parcels, including the rectangular system and Alaska Native allotments, performed under federal or state authority.

The federal rectangular system of townships, ranges, sections, and aliquot parts established by the General Land Office and used as the framework for most Alaska land descriptions.

A public land survey unit nominally six miles square, divided into 36 sections of about 640 acres each, identified by its position relative to a principal meridian and base line.

A reference surface and set of parameters, such as NAD83, used to define latitude, longitude, and elevation coordinates consistently across surveys and mapping.

A system of projected plane coordinates defined for each state, including Alaska's zones, allowing survey positions to be computed and recorded in a consistent grid.

A mathematical transformation that converts positions on the curved earth to a flat map or grid, introducing scale and direction distortions that surveyors must account for.

A survey establishing a network of points with known coordinates or elevations that serves as the framework for subsequent boundary, topographic, or construction surveys.

Global Navigation Satellite Systems, such as GPS, used to determine positions by satellite ranging, requiring attention to datum, coordinate systems, and correction methods for survey accuracy.

A survey method in which positions are determined by measuring successive distances and angles along a connected series of lines, then adjusting for closure error.

A mathematical model of the earth's surface used as the reference for geodetic coordinates, differing from the actual terrain and from the geoid by measurable amounts.

The equipotential surface of the earth's gravity field approximating mean sea level, used as the reference for orthometric elevations and related to the ellipsoid by separation values.

The degree of care and skill a reasonably competent surveyor would exercise under similar circumstances, used to judge negligence and professional conduct in Alaska.