OH Land Surveyor flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Ohio boundary survey rule

OAC 4733-37 sets minimum standards for Ohio boundary surveys, covering research, monumentation, accuracy, and required content of plats and reports.

Ohio surveyor licensure

ORC Chapter 4733 requires licensure by the State Board of Registration to practice surveying in Ohio; unlicensed practice or offering to practice is prohibited.

Seal and signature

Ohio plats and reports must bear the licensee's seal, signature, license number, and expiration date; sealing work not performed or supervised by the licensee violates the rules.

Ohio continuing education

Ohio requires 15 professional development hours per annual renewal, including at least 2 hours of Ohio ethics, laws, and rules content, subject to board audit.

Ohio land systems

Most of Ohio is PLSS; the Virginia Military District, Connecticut Western Reserve, and Ohio Company lands retain metes-and-bounds or special tract systems requiring different retracement logic.

Marketable Title Act

ORC 5301 extinguishes stale claims older than the root of title; surveyors researching boundaries must examine the chain back to the root of title, not just the current deed.

Adverse possession period

Ohio adverse possession requires open, notorious, exclusive, continuous, and hostile possession for 21 years under ORC 2305.04; successive possessors may tack if privity exists.

Recording boundary surveys

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

Retracement principle

Retracement reestablishes the original survey's monumented lines; the surveyor follows the original footsteps rather than creating new boundaries or repositioning found corners.

Evidence priority hierarchy

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

Monuments control distances

Original monuments reflect the parties' intent and control over measured distances; disturbed or replaced monuments must be documented and shown on the plat.

Proportionate measurement

A known misclosure in an original aliquot section is distributed proportionally among the aliquot parts; proportionate measurement does not relocate original corners that can be found.

Section area and fractional lots

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

Prescriptive easement

Ohio prescriptive easements require use that is open, notorious, adverse, and continuous for 21 years; the surveyor documents physical evidence but does not adjudicate title.

Gaps and overlaps

Inconsistent deeds can create gaps or overlaps; the surveyor applies senior rights, calls to adjoiners, and intent rules, and must show unresolved ambiguity on the plat.

Boundary by acquiescence

Ohio recognizes boundary by acquiescence when adjoining owners treat a line as the boundary for a long period; the surveyor reports the physical and historical evidence.

NAD83(2011) in Ohio

NAD83(2011) is Ohio's current horizontal datum; control reports must state the realization and epoch, and the 2022 modernization will replace it.

NAVD88 and geoid

NAVD88 is Ohio's vertical datum; orthometric height equals ellipsoid height minus geoid undulation, using GEOID18 for NAD83 realizations.

Ohio State Plane zones

Ohio uses State Plane zones North (3401) and South (3402), plus a single-zone alternative; Lambert Conformal Conic projection gives scale factors near 0.9999.

Combined factor formula

Ground distance equals grid distance divided by the combined factor, which is the ellipsoid factor multiplied by the projection scale factor.

OPUS solution reporting

OPUS-derived positions should report the reference station, epoch, and stated accuracy, typically 2 to 5 cm horizontal for static GNSS solutions.

GNSS loop closure

Redundant GNSS vectors and loop closures are required to detect blunders; baseline accuracy depends on session length, satellite geometry, and multipath conditions.

Leveling closure tolerance

Second-order class I leveling closes within 8 mm times the square root of K kilometers; third-order closes within 12 mm times the square root of K.

Azimuth reference

Azimuths must state whether referenced to grid, geodetic, or astronomic north; convergence between grid and true north varies across each Ohio zone.

Cadastral plat content

Cadastral plats must show parcels, easements, rights-of-way, monuments, the bearing basis, and areas to 0.01 acre.

Contour interval selection

Contour interval is chosen by map scale and relief; 1-inch equals 50-foot mapping typically uses 2-foot contours with index contours every fifth line.

Station and offset

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

Horizontal curve formulas

Tangent equals R tan(Delta/2); length equals R times Delta in radians; long chord equals 2R sin(Delta/2); external equals R(sec(Delta/2) minus 1).

Earthwork quantity methods

Cut and fill quantities from cross sections use average end-area or prismoidal methods; as-built checks must be documented against design tolerances.

Ohio subdivision plat approval

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

Topographic accuracy standard

Topographic survey accuracy follows ASPRS and Ohio standards: horizontal accuracy near 0.3 mm at map scale, with vertical accuracy typically one-half the contour interval.

Machine control verification

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