CSLB Cadastral Surveying cheat sheet

A boundary is created by a written conveyance (deed, patent, judgment) or by operation of law; a survey only locates an existing boundary and never creates one.

Call hierarchy when a description is internally inconsistent: natural monuments control over artificial monuments, which control over courses and distances, which control over area or quantity.

California adverse possession requires five years of open, notorious, hostile, continuous possession plus payment of all taxes levied on the parcel during that five-year period (Code of Civil Procedure 325).

A prescriptive easement in California requires five years of open, notorious, continuous, hostile use under claim of right; payment of taxes is not an element.

California is a race-notice recording jurisdiction: a subsequent purchaser who takes in good faith, for value, without notice, and records first prevails (Civil Code 1214).

A grant deed implies only two covenants: that the grantor has not previously conveyed the same estate to another, and that the property is free of encumbrances made by the grantor (Civil Code 1113).

Accretion (gradual and imperceptible) shifts a water boundary and the added land belongs to the riparian owner; avulsion (sudden and perceptible) leaves the boundary at the former water line.

Boundary by agreement requires an uncertain or disputed line, a mutual agreement fixing the line, and subsequent acquiescence or acceptance by the parties affected.

The California Marketable Record Title Act (Civil Code 880.020 et seq.) extinguishes interests older than a 30-year root of title, subject to enumerated exceptions.

Weight of evidence in retracement: original monuments, then accessories such as bearing trees and mounds, then lines of occupation and improvements, then measurements.

An obliterated corner is one whose monument is gone but whose original position can be recovered from accessories, testimony, or other evidence; it is restored, not proportioned.

A lost corner is one whose original position cannot be recovered from any evidence and is reestablished by proportionate measurement between existent controlling corners.

Single proportionate measurement restores a lost corner on a line between two existent corners; double proportionate measurement is used for a lost interior corner controlled by four surrounding corners.

The retracement surveyor follows in the footsteps of the original surveyor and does not correct or improve the original survey's errors.

Parol evidence is admissible to explain a latent ambiguity in a deed description but not to contradict or vary the written terms.

Lines of occupation, such as fences, walls, hedges, and improvements, are strong collateral evidence of where a boundary was intended and understood to lie.

Accessories are evidence of the original corner position and may control over the physical monument currently occupying the site.

Filing a record of survey or corner record perpetuates evidence; it does not cure a boundary location that was established in error.

A township is six miles square and contains 36 sections of 640 acres each; section 1 lies at the northeast corner and numbering runs serpentine to section 36 at the southeast corner.

A regular section is 5,280 feet square; a quarter section is 2,640 feet square (160 acres); a quarter-quarter section is 1,320 feet square (40 acres).

Standard parallels (correction lines) are run east-west every 24 miles, or four townships, north of the base line; guide meridians are run every 24 miles east and west of the principal meridian.

Ranges are numbered east and west from the principal meridian; townships are numbered north and south from the base line.

Fractional lots occur along the north and west tiers of a township because of meridian convergence and correction-line offsets, and contain less than the regular aliquot area.

Meander lines follow the bank of a navigable water body for area computation only; they are not boundaries, and the water body itself is the boundary.

California principal meridians include Mount Diablo (MDM), Humboldt (HM), and San Bernardino (SBM).

An original government corner is controlled by its monument; record plat distances are evidence of position only and yield to the monument found.

Quarter corners are established at the midpoint of each section line, and the center of the section is the intersection of lines joining opposite quarter corners.

The chain of title is the successive series of conveyances linking the present owner back to the sovereign or earliest grantor of the parcel.

A deed requires a grantor, a grantee, words of grant, a description of the land, execution by the grantor, and delivery; recording gives constructive notice but is not required for validity between the parties.

The Subdivision Map Act requires a tentative map plus a final map for divisions creating five or more parcels, and a parcel map for four or fewer parcels.

A lot line adjustment under Government Code 66412(d) relocates a line between four or fewer existing parcels, creates no new parcel, and requires no map filing.

An unrecorded conveyance is valid against the grantor and against later takers with actual or constructive notice, but is void against a good-faith purchaser for value who records first.

A call in a deed to a recorded map incorporates that map into the deed; the deed and map are read together, with monuments controlling over courses and distances.

A metes-and-bounds description needs a point of beginning, a run of boundary lines with bearings and distances, a terminus, and a closure back to the point of beginning.

A certificate of compliance is recorded by the local agency to confirm that a parcel was lawfully created under the Subdivision Map Act.

Where senior and junior conveyances overlap, the senior conveyance prevails over the junior to the extent of the overlap.

Latitude of a course equals distance times the cosine of the bearing; departure equals distance times the sine of the bearing; both sums to zero in a perfectly closed traverse.

The Bowditch (compass) rule distributes closure error in proportion to each course length; the transit rule distributes it in proportion to the magnitudes of the latitudes and departures.

Angular closure for a closed polygon: the measured sum of interior angles minus (n minus 2) times 180 degrees gives the misclosure.

Electronic distance measurements require atmospheric correction for temperature and pressure, plus the instrument's prism constant and any scale correction.

Corners are perpetuated with durable monuments such as an iron pipe with a cap or a brass cap in concrete, referenced by ties to at least two permanent nearby features.

A closed loop level run is compared to a known benchmark before the observations are accepted as a basis for elevations.

GNSS observations require a clear view of the sky; multipath and elevated PDOP degrade accuracy and are mitigated by repeating observations at a different time of day.

Combined factor equals scale factor multiplied by elevation factor; ground distance equals grid distance divided by the combined factor.

Field notes must be legible, permanent, dated, and signed, and must record evidence found as well as measurements taken.

The Subdivision Map Act is Government Code 66410 et seq.; local ordinances set lot design, frontage, improvement, and dedication standards that a map must satisfy.

A tentative map is approved or conditionally approved by the local agency and expires unless a final or parcel map is filed within the period allowed by statute or ordinance.

Typical design criteria include minimum lot area and width, street frontage, legal access, slope, flood hazard, and utility easements.

Dedications and offers of dedication shown on a final map transfer or offer interests to the public and take effect only upon acceptance by the local agency.

A lot line adjustment may not create a new parcel and may not reduce a parcel below the local minimum size without the required findings.

Resolving a disputed boundary follows the sequence: gather and evaluate evidence, file a record of survey, then settle title by agreement or by a quiet title action.

Excess or deficiency in a tract is distributed among the lots in proportion to their record areas or frontages rather than assigned entirely to one lot.

ALTA/NSPS land title surveys follow the current minimum standard detail requirements plus the optional Table A items the client selects.

Orthometric height equals ellipsoid height minus geoid separation: H = h minus N.

Combined factor equals map projection scale factor multiplied by elevation factor and is used to convert between grid and ground distances.

Ground distance equals grid distance divided by the combined factor; grid distance equals ground distance multiplied by the combined factor.

State plane coordinate systems use conformal projections, either Lambert conformal conic or transverse Mercator, with defined origins, central meridians, and false eastings and northings.

NAD83 and NAVD88 are the current horizontal and vertical datums in the conterminous United States; NAD27 coordinates differ from NAD83 by tens to hundreds of meters.

One second of latitude is approximately 30.9 meters; one second of longitude is approximately 25 meters at latitude 35 degrees.

True north, grid north, and magnetic north differ by convergence and declination, so every bearing must state which north it references.

UTM zones are six degrees of longitude wide with a central meridian scale factor of 0.9996.

Positional accuracy is stated as a confidence level and confidence region, for example 95 percent, not as a single bare number without a stated statistic.

The California Land Surveyors Act, Business and Professions Code 8700 et seq., governs licensure; the determination of boundaries is the practice of land surveying.

Business and Professions Code 8762 lists the conditions that require filing a record of survey, and 8773 governs corner records.

A land surveyor's seal and signature on a map or report certify that the work was performed by or under the responsible charge of the licensee.

The standard of care is that of a reasonably prudent and competent surveyor practicing in the same community at the same time under similar circumstances.

A licensee must not accept work outside his or her competence without obtaining the knowledge or expertise required to perform it properly.

Errors discovered after delivery must be disclosed to the client and, where public reliance or safety is affected, corrected in the public record.

A conflict of interest must be disclosed; accepting compensation contingent on a particular boundary location is improper.

Records of survey, corner records, and field notes are public records and must be prepared, filed, and retained as the statutes and board rules require.