CA Land Surveyor key terms

A boundary principle holding that a properly established physical monument generally outweighs conflicting written calls such as bearings or distances, because it best reflects the original surveyor's location of the corner.

The order in which boundary evidence is weighed, generally natural monuments first, then artificial monuments, then courses and distances, then area, along with calls for adjoining boundaries.

The rule that, when two land descriptions conflict, the parcel or boundary created earlier in time (the senior right) generally prevails over a later junior conveyance.

A boundary line established when adjoining owners, faced with a genuinely uncertain line, agree on its location and afterward treat it as their boundary; courts may enforce the agreement.

The mutual recognition of a boundary line by adjoining owners over a long period without objection, which can support an implied boundary agreement even if the line differs from the deed.

Acquisition of title to another person's land by possession that is open, notorious, hostile, exclusive, and continuous for the statutory period, with property taxes paid in California.

Oral testimony or evidence of surrounding circumstances offered in a boundary case to explain an ambiguity or show the parties' intent, not to contradict clear written terms.

The California Coordinate System of 1983, a statewide plane-coordinate system based on NAD83 that expresses positions as northing and easting within defined zones.

A defined geographic region within a plane-coordinate system, having its own projection constants and origin so that scale distortion is kept small within the region.

The ratio between a distance computed on the map projection (grid distance) and the corresponding distance on the reference ellipsoid; it varies with position in the zone.

The product of the grid scale factor and the elevation factor, used to convert between horizontal ground distances measured at the surface and grid distances on the projection.

The angle at a point between grid north and true (geodetic) north, arising from the map projection and needed to convert between geodetic and grid azimuths.

An azimuth measured clockwise from true or geodetic north, as opposed to grid north, used in geodetic computations and converted to grid azimuth for mapping.

The North American Datum of 1983, the geodetic reference frame and ellipsoid on which CCS83 coordinates and most modern GPS-derived positions in California are based.

The federal Public Land Survey System, which divided public lands into townships, ranges, and sections using initial points, baselines, and principal meridians; it underlies many California descriptions.

A nominally six-mile-square unit of the PLSS containing 36 sections, identified by its township number north or south and range number east or west of a principal meridian.

A nominally one-square-mile unit within a PLSS township, containing 640 acres and numbered from 1 to 36 in a standard boustrophedon pattern.

A regular subdivision of a section described by halves and quarters, such as the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter, which can be located by proportionate subdivision.

California's Government Code statutes governing the division of land, requiring tentative and final maps or parcel maps and setting standards for design, improvements, and monumentation.

A preliminary subdivision map submitted to a local agency for review and approval; approval, often with conditions, must precede preparation and recording of a final map.

A subdivision map prepared after tentative approval and in compliance with the Map Act and local ordinance, then recorded to create lots and dedicate streets or easements.

The line on a non-tidal watercourse that ordinary high water reaches, marking the limit of the bed and typically the boundary of adjacent riparian ownership.

The average level of all high tides over a long tidal period, used in California as the boundary between private uplands and state-owned tidelands.

The gradual and imperceptible addition of land by natural water action, such as sediment deposition, which generally belongs to the adjacent upland owner.

The gradual and permanent withdrawal of water from land, exposing previously submerged ground; the exposed land generally belongs to the adjacent upland owner.

A sudden, perceptible change in a watercourse or shoreline, such as a flood cutting a new channel; boundaries remain where they were before the change.

The rights of landowners adjacent to a watercourse to reasonable use of the water and access to it, subject to state regulation and the rights of other riparians.

The principle that the state holds tidelands and navigable waters in trust for public uses such as navigation, fishing, and recreation, limiting private ownership and use.

A survey consisting of connected lines whose lengths and angles are measured, running from known control to determine the coordinates of intermediate stations.

Real-time kinematic GNSS surveying, in which corrections from a base station or network are transmitted to a rover to give centimeter-level positions in the field.

The contemporaneous written record of field measurements, observations, conditions, and decisions, which supports the survey and may be used as evidence.

A map filed with the county surveyor under California's Professional Land Surveyors' Act when a survey reveals new or conflicting boundary evidence or establishes new monuments.

A document filed with the county surveyor to perpetuate a PLSS corner or to record the establishment, rehabilitation, or replacement of a corner.

The process of preserving a boundary corner's physical location, or reestablishing it in the same position, and documenting the action so later surveyors can rely on it.

A statistical method that distributes random errors among redundant measurements to compute the most probable coordinates and estimates of their uncertainty.

A gross mistake in surveying, such as misreading an instrument, sighting the wrong target, or transcribing a number, which is not a random error and must be found and corrected.

Small, unavoidable errors of varying sign and magnitude that occur in repeated measurements; they tend to cancel and are treated statistically.

A consistent error with the same sign or pattern, such as an incorrect prism constant or temperature effect, which does not cancel and must be corrected or modeled.

The amount by which a traverse, level loop, or other survey fails to close on a known value, indicating accumulated error in the measurements.

A statistical measure of the spread of repeated measurements about their mean, often used to express the precision of observations and positional uncertainty.