OH Land Surveyor cheat sheet

Ohio boundary surveys are governed by OAC 4733-37; the minimum standards address research, monumentation, measurement accuracy, and plat/map content for urban and rural surveys.

Ohio licensed surveyors are regulated under ORC Chapter 4733 by the State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Surveyors; practice or offering to practice without a license is prohibited.

The surveyor's seal and signature, with license number and expiration date, must appear on final plats and reports; sealing work not performed or directly supervised by the licensee is a violation.

Continuing professional development: Ohio requires 15 PDH per annual renewal, including at least 2 hours of Ohio ethics/laws-and-rules content, reported on the honor system with audit authority by the board.

Ohio recognizes the U.S. Public Land Survey System in most of the state; the Virginia Military District, Connecticut Western Reserve, and Ohio Company lands retain metes-and-bounds or special tract systems.

Common law boundary doctrines applied in Ohio: agreed boundaries, practical location, adverse possession (ORC 2305.04, 21 years), and boundary by estoppel; intent of the original parties controls construction of deeds.

Ohio's Marketable Title Act (ORC 5301) and the 40-year curative statutes affect which recorded interests survive; surveyors must research the root of title, not merely the current deed.

Ohio does not mandate recording of boundary surveys statewide, but many counties require a recorded plat or survey for lot splits, subdivisions, and zoning/health department approvals.

Retracement follows the original survey's footsteps; the surveyor does not create a new boundary but reestablishes the original monumented lines within reasonable uncertainty.

Priority of evidence: natural monuments, then artificial monuments, then courses and distances, then area; calls for adjoiners and lines actually run may outrank distance calls.

Monuments control over measurements because original monuments reflect the intent of the parties; disturbed or replaced monuments must be documented and shown on the plat.

Proportionate measurement distributes a known misclosure among the original aliquot parts of a section; it is not used to reposition original corners that can be found.

A section of the PLSS nominally contains 640 acres; fractional lots along the north and west tiers absorb the excess or deficiency from convergence and errors.

Adverse possession in Ohio requires open, notorious, exclusive, continuous, and hostile possession for 21 years; tacking of successive possessors is permitted if privity exists.

Unwritten rights such as prescriptive easements and boundary by acquiescence require proof of the elements; a surveyor reports the physical evidence but does not adjudicate title.

Gaps and overlaps arise from inconsistent deeds; the surveyor resolves by construction rules (senior rights, calls to adjoiners, intent) and must show any unresolved ambiguity on the plat.

NAD83(2011) is Ohio's current horizontal datum; the 2022 modernization (NATRF2022/NAPGD2022) will replace it, so datum epochs and realization must be stated on control reports.

NAVD88 is Ohio's vertical datum; orthometric heights relate to ellipsoid heights by H = h - N, where N is the geoid undulation (GEOID18 for NAD83).

Ohio lies in three State Plane zones: North (3401), South (3402), and the single-zone alternative; Lambert Conformal Conic projections give scale factors near 0.9999.

Grid-to-ground: ground distance = grid distance / combined factor; combined factor = ellipsoid factor x projection scale factor.

Ohio has active CORS stations and a real-time network; OPUS solutions should be reported with the reference station, epoch, and stated accuracy (typically 2-5 cm horizontal).

Static GNSS baseline accuracy is limited by session length, geometry, and multipath; redundant vectors and loop closures are required to detect blunders.

Leveling loops must close within the order tolerance; second-order class I closing is 8 mm sqrt(K) with K in kilometers; third-order is 12 mm sqrt(K).

Azimuths must be referenced to grid, geodetic, or astronomic north with the source stated; convergence angle between grid and true north varies across each Ohio zone.

Cadastral surveys depict parcels, easements, rights-of-way, and monuments; the plat must show bearing basis, area (to 0.01 acre), and monument descriptions.

Topographic mapping contour intervals are chosen by scale and relief; 1-inch = 50-foot maps typically use 2-foot contours, with index contours every fifth line.

Ohio DOT construction staking uses station and offset notation; horizontal alignment is defined by tangents, curves, and spirals, with vertical alignment by grades and parabolic curves.

Horizontal curve formulas: T = R tan(Δ/2); L = RΔ(radians); LC = 2R sin(Δ/2); M = R(1 - cos(Δ/2)); E = R(sec(Δ/2) - 1).

Construction tolerances and as-built checks must be documented; cut/fill quantities from cross sections use average end-area or prismoidal methods.

Ohio subdivision plats require approval by the county or municipal planning commission and recording with the county recorder; lot splits may require a survey under local rules.

Topographic survey accuracy follows ASPRS/Ohio standards: horizontal accuracy at map scale (e.g., 0.3 mm at scale), vertical accuracy typically one-half contour interval.

Machine control and digital terrain models must be tied to a stated datum and checked against independent field shots before use in earthwork quantity certification.