The work of dividing the townships into sections starts at the southeast corner and extends across the township to the north, taking a tier of sections at a time and always working from south to north. The section lines are run parallel to the east township line rather than due north.

Longitude lines are a numerical way to show/measure how far a location is east or west of a universal vertical line called the Prime Meridian. This Prime Meridian line runs vertically, north and south, right over the British Royal Observatory in Greenwich England, from the North Pole to the South Pole.

The horizontal lines that cross the earth are the lines of latitude. The vertical lines that cross the earth are the lines of longitude.

Longitude is the measurement east or west of the prime meridian. Longitude is measured by imaginary lines that run around the Earth vertically (up and down) and meet at the North and South Poles. These lines are known as meridians.

The Earth takes 24 hours to rotate through 360 degree (longitude). Hence, two places that are 15 degree of longitude apart have a difference of one hour. As the Sun rises in the east and sets in the west. This adds up to a difference of 24 hours or one day between east and west of 180 degree line of longitude.

Township lines run parallel to the baseline (east-west), while range lines run north–south; each are established at 6-mile intervals.

MERIDIANS AND BASE LINES These two lines, from which the measurements are made, are the Principal Meridians, which run North and South, and the Base Lines which run East and West.

Accuracy Issues PLSS data are readily available, after all. Given that the hypotenuse of a square mile block is 1.44 miles, the distance from the centroid to any of the corners is 0.72 miles, or about 3,800 feet, which is the potential error for mapping using PLSS section centroids.

Public lands—Lands in public ownership, therefore owned by the Federal government. Sometimes used interchangeably with Public domain. Range—A vertical column of townships in the PLSS.

A lot survey usually costs P7,000-P10,000, a major requirement for titling.

Nationally, the average cost to purchase a land survey is between $380 and $540 with most homeowners spending about $422….Land Survey Cost Per Acre.

Registration Fee – commonly set at 0.25 percent of the selling price, or zonal value or fair market value, whichever is higher. Commission of the Agent and/or Broker. Incidental and miscellaneous expenses – typically any expense incurred in the registration process, such as notary fees, etc.

Any local title firm can obtain a formal copy of the plot plan, and some real estate offices pay fees to access the formal maps from the title companies or government agencies. Contact a real estate agent or request a preliminary or formal title report for a copy of the plot plan.