FL Land Surveyor key terms

Rules in Chapter 5J-17, F.A.C., setting the accuracy, documentation, and quality requirements a Florida surveyor must meet when performing surveys and preparing survey documents.

The statutory and rule-based conduct obligations for Florida surveyors, including competence, truthfulness, recordkeeping, and proper use of the professional seal and signature.

A Florida registration issued to a business entity permitting it to offer surveying services, which must employ a licensed surveyor to supervise and take responsibility for the work.

A person licensed under Chapter 472, F.S., to practice surveying and mapping in Florida; the license authorizes boundary, control, topographic, and related professional work.

The licensed surveyor who personally directs and controls the surveying work, accepts professional responsibility for it, and signs and seals the resulting documents.

The surveyor's signed statement on a map or report affirming that the work was performed under their responsible charge and meets applicable standards; it carries legal weight.

A written record accompanying a survey that documents research, field procedures, measurement results, discrepancies found, and the basis for decisions shown on the map.

The regulatory board within the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services that licenses surveyors, adopts rules, and handles discipline under Chapters 472, F.S., and 5J-17, F.A.C.

A deed, plat, judgment, or other instrument recorded in the public records that conveys or establishes rights affecting real property and is relied upon in boundary research.

The chronological sequence of recorded conveyances and encumbrances tracing ownership of a parcel from an earlier source to the present owner.

A physical object, natural or artificial, set or accepted to mark a boundary corner or line; it controls over conflicting measurements when it is the original undisturbed monument.

A point where boundary lines meet or terminate, which may be evidenced by a monument, a reference monument, or a recorded description when the original marker is lost.

The process of establishing or replacing boundary corner markers, often under a government program, using record evidence and field recovery to restore the original position.

A corner whose original monument cannot be found and whose position must be restored by proportionate measurement or other accepted methods rather than by simple resetting.

A corner whose original evidence is gone but whose position can be reliably recovered from traces, collateral evidence, or the testimony of a qualified person who saw it.

Physical or documentary facts indirectly supporting a corner's location, such as accessory monuments, blazes, fence junctions, or early field notes.

A method of restoring a lost corner by distributing the record discrepancy along the line in proportion to the measured distances between surviving corners.

A technique for restoring a lost corner on a line between two found corners by applying the ratio of record to measured distance to the measured position.

A method of restoring a lost corner at the intersection of two lines by proportioning in both directions simultaneously, commonly used for interior section corners.

All physical and written facts a surveyor collects and weighs, including monuments, occupation, deeds, plats, and testimony, to determine a boundary's location.

A doctrine by which a person may acquire title through open, notorious, exclusive, hostile, and continuous possession for the statutory period; it is a legal question, not a survey determination.

An agreement between adjoining owners fixing a disputed or uncertain boundary; when properly executed and recorded it can bind the parties and successors.

A written instrument that conveys an interest in real property, identifying the parties, the land by description, and the granting language, and executed with required formalities.

The written words in a document that identify a parcel of land with enough certainty to locate it on the ground, such as metes and bounds, lot and block, or section references.

A description method tracing the boundary by courses and distances from a point of beginning, ideally closing on the same point and tied to monuments or record references.

The starting point of a metes and bounds description from which the boundary traverse proceeds and, for a closed parcel, to which it should return.

The amount by which a boundary traverse fails to return exactly to its starting point, expressed as a linear error or ratio and used to judge measurement quality.

A map of a subdivision or land division recorded in the public records that creates lots, blocks, streets, and easements and serves as the controlling description for those parcels.

A map prepared for approval and recording under Chapter 177, F.S., subdividing land into lots and blocks and meeting statutory content, survey, and approval requirements.

The Chapter 177, F.S., standards for plats, including title, surveyor certification, owner dedication, approval signatures, scale, monumentation, and closure accuracy.

The surveyor's contemporaneous written record of field observations, measurements, instrument setups, monument recoveries, and conditions, kept as a permanent and reliable record.

A connected series of measured lines and angles between points, used to establish control or locate boundaries and checked by closure computation.

A system of monumented points with known coordinates or elevations, such as the National Spatial Reference System, used to reference and check survey measurements.

A referenced surface from which heights are measured; in Florida work the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 is the standard reference.

A stable monumented point of known elevation used as a reference for leveling and vertical control in surveys and construction.

A right held by one party to use another's land for a specific purpose, such as utilities or access, often depicted on plats and located by its recorded description.

A reference connecting a parcel's starting point to a monument, recorded corner, or street intersection so the description can be located and reestablished on the ground.

A document recorded to preserve the location and ties of a monumented corner, commonly used in Florida for perpetuating boundary evidence.