NC Land Surveyor cheat sheet

North Carolina regulates land surveying through the Board of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors; boundary, control, and cadastral surveying for others requires licensure.

A conveyance of an interest in land must be in writing, signed by the grantor, and contain a description sufficient to identify the property under the statute of frauds.

A licensee's seal certifies that the survey work was prepared by the licensee or under the licensee's direct supervision and complies with applicable standards.

In boundary retracement, natural monuments generally control over artificial monuments, artificial monuments control over courses and distances, and area or quantity is the weakest evidence.

Under senior rights, when overlapping conveyances conflict, the earlier conveyance generally prevails to the extent of the overlap and the later grantee takes the remainder.

Adverse possession in North Carolina commonly requires actual, open, notorious, exclusive, hostile, and continuous possession for the statutory period, generally twenty years.

A prescriptive easement requires adverse, open, notorious, continuous use under claim of right for the statutory period, commonly twenty years in North Carolina.

Riparian owners on non-navigable streams generally own to the thread of the stream; navigable waters are held by the State in trust for public use.

An original government monument is evidence of the original survey and generally controls later retracement measurements and later-set corners.

A deed call to an identifiable adjoiner is treated as a monument and can control over courses and distances in resolving a boundary.

A boundary by agreement or acquiescence can be established when adjoining owners recognize and treat a line as the boundary for the statutory period, even if it differs from the deed line.

Accretion is gradual and imperceptible, moving a water boundary with the water; avulsion is sudden, leaving the boundary at its former location.

A recorded plat referenced in a deed is incorporated into the deed, and its lot lines, dimensions, and monuments become part of the legal description.

In metes and bounds descriptions, the point of beginning and calls must close; a deed misclosure is resolved from evidence of intent rather than by simply rotating the figure.

When a deed states a quantity 'more or less,' the quantity is generally subordinate to monuments and courses and distances.

Horizontal distance from slope distance and vertical angle: HD = SD × cos(vertical angle from horizontal), or HD = SD × sin(zenith angle).

Coordinate computation: Northing = N0 + HD × cos(azimuth); Easting = E0 + HD × sin(azimuth).

For a closed polygon traverse with n sides, the sum of interior angles equals (n − 2) × 180 degrees, and the difference from that sum is angular misclosure.

The compass rule adjusts latitude and longitude corrections in proportion to traverse leg length; the transit rule uses the magnitudes of the latitudes and longitudes.

Differential leveling elevation difference = backsight − foresight; the sum of backsights minus the sum of foresights should equal final elevation minus initial elevation.

RTK GNSS requires a fixed integer ambiguity solution; poor PDOP, multipath, and obstructed sky degrade accuracy, and vertical accuracy is generally weaker than horizontal accuracy.

Systematic errors follow an instrumental or physical cause and can be modeled or corrected; random errors are statistical, and blunders are mistakes to be rejected.

A backsight establishes instrument orientation; the operator occupies the station, sets zero on the backsight, and turns to the foresight to measure the angle.

Orthometric height H = ellipsoid height h − geoid undulation N; GNSS provides ellipsoid heights while leveling provides orthometric heights.

Grid distance = ground distance × combined factor, where combined factor = projection scale factor × elevation factor.

A large-scale map shows a small area in more detail, such as 1:1,000; a small-scale map shows a large area with less detail, such as 1:100,000.

NAD83 is the horizontal datum for most current U.S. mapping, NAVD88 is the vertical datum, and WGS84 is a global GNSS datum that differs slightly from NAD83.

Vector GIS represents discrete features as points, lines, and polygons with attributes; raster GIS represents surfaces as a grid of cells, each holding a value.

A parcel layer in a GIS is a graphical and administrative representation and does not by itself establish legal boundary location.

A representative fraction such as 1:24,000 is unitless and means one map unit represents 24,000 of the same units on the ground.

Projection scale factor equals 1.0 only along standard lines, so ground-to-grid corrections are required for precise surveys away from those lines.

Horizontal curve tangent: T = R tan(Δ/2), where R is radius and Δ is the central deflection angle.

Horizontal curve length: L = RΔ in radians; long chord: LC = 2R sin(Δ/2).

Horizontal curve external: E = R[sec(Δ/2) − 1]; middle ordinate: M = R[1 − cos(Δ/2)].

Vertical curve K value: K = L/A, where L is curve length and A is the algebraic grade change in percent; K gives the rate of curvature.

Vertical curve elevation: y = y_BVC + g1x + [(g2 − g1)/(2L)]x², with grades as decimals and x measured from the BVC.

Percent grade = (rise/run) × 100; a +2.00% grade rises 2.00 feet per 100 feet of horizontal run.

Average end area volume = L × (A1 + A2)/2; the prismoidal formula is more exact when cross sections change nonlinearly.

Cut or fill = existing ground elevation − design elevation; positive indicates cut and negative indicates fill.

North Carolina regulates land surveying through the Board of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors; boundary, control, and cadastral surveying for others requires licensure.

A conveyance of an interest in land must be in writing, signed by the grantor, and contain a description sufficient to identify the property under the statute of frauds.

A licensee's seal certifies that the survey work was prepared by the licensee or under the licensee's direct supervision and complies with applicable standards.

In boundary retracement, natural monuments generally control over artificial monuments, artificial monuments control over courses and distances, and area or quantity is the weakest evidence.

Under senior rights, when overlapping conveyances conflict, the earlier conveyance generally prevails to the extent of the overlap and the later grantee takes the remainder.

Adverse possession in North Carolina commonly requires actual, open, notorious, exclusive, hostile, and continuous possession for the statutory period, generally twenty years.

A prescriptive easement requires adverse, open, notorious, continuous use under claim of right for the statutory period, commonly twenty years in North Carolina.

Riparian owners on non-navigable streams generally own to the thread of the stream; navigable waters are held by the State in trust for public use.

An original government monument is evidence of the original survey and generally controls later retracement measurements and later-set corners.

A deed call to an identifiable adjoiner is treated as a monument and can control over courses and distances in resolving a boundary.

A boundary by agreement or acquiescence can be established when adjoining owners recognize and treat a line as the boundary for the statutory period, even if it differs from the deed line.

Accretion is gradual and imperceptible, moving a water boundary with the water; avulsion is sudden, leaving the boundary at its former location.

A recorded plat referenced in a deed is incorporated into the deed, and its lot lines, dimensions, and monuments become part of the legal description.

In metes and bounds descriptions, the point of beginning and calls must close; a deed misclosure is resolved from evidence of intent rather than by simply rotating the figure.

When a deed states a quantity 'more or less,' the quantity is generally subordinate to monuments and courses and distances.

Horizontal distance from slope distance and vertical angle: HD = SD × cos(vertical angle from horizontal), or HD = SD × sin(zenith angle).

Coordinate computation: Northing = N0 + HD × cos(azimuth); Easting = E0 + HD × sin(azimuth).

For a closed polygon traverse with n sides, the sum of interior angles equals (n − 2) × 180 degrees, and the difference from that sum is angular misclosure.

The compass rule adjusts latitude and longitude corrections in proportion to traverse leg length; the transit rule uses the magnitudes of the latitudes and longitudes.

Differential leveling elevation difference = backsight − foresight; the sum of backsights minus the sum of foresights should equal final elevation minus initial elevation.

RTK GNSS requires a fixed integer ambiguity solution; poor PDOP, multipath, and obstructed sky degrade accuracy, and vertical accuracy is generally weaker than horizontal accuracy.

Systematic errors follow an instrumental or physical cause and can be modeled or corrected; random errors are statistical, and blunders are mistakes to be rejected.

A backsight establishes instrument orientation; the operator occupies the station, sets zero on the backsight, and turns to the foresight to measure the angle.

Orthometric height H = ellipsoid height h − geoid undulation N; GNSS provides ellipsoid heights while leveling provides orthometric heights.

Grid distance = ground distance × combined factor, where combined factor = projection scale factor × elevation factor.

A large-scale map shows a small area in more detail, such as 1:1,000; a small-scale map shows a large area with less detail, such as 1:100,000.

NAD83 is the horizontal datum for most current U.S. mapping, NAVD88 is the vertical datum, and WGS84 is a global GNSS datum that differs slightly from NAD83.

Vector GIS represents discrete features as points, lines, and polygons with attributes; raster GIS represents surfaces as a grid of cells, each holding a value.

A parcel layer in a GIS is a graphical and administrative representation and does not by itself establish legal boundary location.

A representative fraction such as 1:24,000 is unitless and means one map unit represents 24,000 of the same units on the ground.

Projection scale factor equals 1.0 only along standard lines, so ground-to-grid corrections are required for precise surveys away from those lines.

Horizontal curve tangent: T = R tan(Δ/2), where R is radius and Δ is the central deflection angle.

Horizontal curve length: L = RΔ in radians; long chord: LC = 2R sin(Δ/2).

Horizontal curve external: E = R[sec(Δ/2) − 1]; middle ordinate: M = R[1 − cos(Δ/2)].

Vertical curve K value: K = L/A, where L is curve length and A is the algebraic grade change in percent; K gives the rate of curvature.

Vertical curve elevation: y = y_BVC + g1x + [(g2 − g1)/(2L)]x², with grades as decimals and x measured from the BVC.

Percent grade = (rise/run) × 100; a +2.00% grade rises 2.00 feet per 100 feet of horizontal run.

Average end area volume = L × (A1 + A2)/2; the prismoidal formula is more exact when cross sections change nonlinearly.

Cut or fill = existing ground elevation − design elevation; positive indicates cut and negative indicates fill.