A State-wide View of
“Section Corner” Data
Naming Convention allows IndianaMap users
to link directly to County Section Corner
Information
Lorraine Wright, Geologist, & GISP
Engineering and GIS Section
Science Services Branch
Office of Land Quality
Indiana Department of Environmental Management
IGIC
Cadastral, Boundaries,
PLSS Workgroup Chair
Indiana Geographic Information Council
Cadastral, Boundaries, PLSS Workgroup
Tie Card Project
Workgroup members
– IDEM
– IGIC
– Indiana Society of Professional Land Surveyors
– County Surveyor’s Association
– Office of Geodetic Advisor
– Public and private companies
– Local, County, and State Government and Universities
– Joe Mullins, Hamilton Co.
– John Milburn, County Surveyor’s Association
– Beth Hippensteel, Volunteer
– Phil Worrall, IGIC
– Jim Sparks, IN GIO
– Robert Mueller, Land Office
– Steve Claycomb, INDOT
– Lorraine Wright, IDEM
– Jim Swift, Boone Co.
– Bryan Catlin, Marion Co.
– Beth Hippensteel, Volunteer
– Henry Aldridge, INDOT
– Danielle Kindig, Newton Co.
– Mike Williamson, Newton Co.
– Bob Wilkinson, DNR
Section Corner
• A section corner is a basic unit of the Public Land Survey
System (PLSS)
– It is used to locate and identify land, particularly for titles
and deeds.
– Sections are referenced by using the basic units of the
PLSS: Township (T), Range (R), and Section (ex:
T15N,R3E,9).
Section Corners
• Section Corner information is obtained from the County
Surveyor’s Office.
• Each county has it’s own Section Corner naming
convention.
• Section Corner description cards are also referred to as
Tie Cards.
• Only recently have traditional surveying methods
included GPS coordinates.
• Most surveying information does not have GPS
coordinates.
Public Land
Survey System
Surveying Our Public Lands 2002- Latest Edition, BLM
Section Divisions
as referenced in
deeds, titles, and
plats.
PLSS County Section Corner Description and Grid Point Name
Correlate
Grid Point naming
convention
associated with
PLSS corner
Cadastral, Boundaries, PLSS
Workgroup
• The Workgroup was tasked with developing a
state-wide PLSS section corner GIS layer
• GIS layers are based on coordinates
• Most Surveyor’s PLSS section corners don’t
have coordinates
• How could we develop a state-wide layer?
Tie Card Project: A GIS Framework Layer
Process for Combining County Tie Cards
into a Statewide GIS System
Definition - A Tie Card is a scanned image
of a County’s Public Land Survey
System Section Corner Description
1. Developed a File Naming Convention
-Surveyors describe a Public Land Survey Section corner
(ex. NE ¼ corner, NE 1/4, NE1/4, Section 03,T23N, R06W)
-Counties have different names for the ¼, ¼, ¼ corners
-Needed a way to link different data together
Statewide naming convention
IN02_T23NR06E03_08
Computer File Name will include – (example)
State Name and Principal Meridian – IN02
Township number – T23
Township direction – N
Range number – R06
Range direction – E
Section – 03
Grid Number – 08 (Grid numbering system begins with
00 in upper left hand of section and ends in 80, bottom right corner)
4. Created a Geographic Information
System (GIS) Surveyor Tie Card Layer
-Link the Grid Point layer to the database created
after using the renaming software
5. Bartholomew County –
-Click on Grid Point and the Tie Card pops up
2. Developed a GRID Point GIS Layer
-Tie Card Layer includes: Bartholomew, Newton, Jennings, Marion
and Wayne County data
-Available on the IndianaMap website
-GIS allows one to click on a point associated with a scanned
image of the tie card and the tie card will pop up on the computer
screen
-The Grid Point GIS layer was computer generated using the
GIS section boundary layer
Sections
8. Disclaimer added to inform the
public of use restrictions
Bartholomew Co.
IN02_T9NR5E
(sections 1-36)
Grid Points
-The Grid Point layer was develop as part of the Tie Card
Pilot Project
-Each point is named with the statewide naming convention
3. Developed the Renaming Software
-Tie Card Renaming Software (created by Brian Wood)
-Created to enable the scanned image of the Tie Cards to be
renamed with the statewide naming convention
-Creates a database of the scanned images with County name and
new naming convention
7. Created a website to provide easy
access to Surveyor Tie Card information
Section 20. T9NR5E, Second Meridian Grid Points, Bartholomew Co.
6. Scanned Tie Card
-Pops up when you click on the point
9. Tools added to make it
easy to search
-Zoom to location or Area
-Enter the Township, Range and Section
-Use the hyperlink tool to click on the Corner
of interest
-The Tie Card pops up
By Lorraine Wright, IDEM, November 9, 2010,
Source: Lorraine Wright – IDEM (lwright@idem.IN.gov); IGIC Cadastral, Boundaries, PLSS Workgroup;
Bartholomew, Jennings, Newton, Marion, and Wayne Co Tie Cards; Brian Wood –Grid Points and Renaming Software;
IndianaMap; and Indiana Geological Survey – website
Developed a state-wide naming convention
• Grid Point file naming convention
– IN02_T23NR06E03_08
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
State Name and Prime Meridian – IN02
Township number - T23
Township direction – N
Range number – R06
Range direction – E
Section – 03
Grid Number – 08 (Grid numbering system begins with 00 in
upper left hand of section and ends in 80, bottom left corner)
ST JOSEPH
LAGRANGE
STEUBEN
NOBLE
DEKALB
ELKHART
LAPORTE
PORTER
LAKE
MARSHALL
STARKE
KOSCIUSKO
WHITLEY
ALLEN
FULTON
PULASKI
JASPER
NEWTON
WABASH HUNTINGTON
CASS
WHITE
BENTON
MIAMI
ADAMS
WELLS
CARROLL
GRANT
HOWARD
BLACKFORD
JAY
TIPPECANOE
WARREN
CLINTON
Layer used to generate
Grid Point layer
TIPTON
DELAWARE
RANDOLPH
MADISON
FOUNTAIN
MONTGOMERY
BOONE
HAMILTON
HENRY
VERMILLION
WAYNE
HANCOCK
PARKE
HENDRICKS
MARION
PUTNAM
RUSH
FAYETTE
UNION
SHELBY
Landsurvey_County_Poly_IN
MORGAN
JOHNSON
VIGO
FRANKLIN
CLAY
OWEN
Landsurvey_Townships_Poly_IN
DECATUR
BROWN
BARTHOLOMEW
DEARBORN
MONROE
Landsurvey_Sections_Poly_IN
RIPLEY
SULLIVAN
GREENE
JENNINGS
OHIO
JACKSON
SWITZERLAND
LAWRENCE
JEFFERSON
DAVIESS
KNOX
MARTIN
SCOTT
WASHINGTON
ORANGE
CLARK
PIKE
DUBOIS
GIBSON
FLOYD
CRAWFORD
HARRISON
VANDERBURGH WARRICK
POSEY
SPENCER
PERRY
Tie Card Project
Grids points
were created
for ¼, ¼, ¼
section corners
Computer
generated
Grid Point layer
(numbering
00 - 80)
NW corner
NE corner
Grid points
used for
locating
section corners
that define
County Boundaries
(00, 04, 08,
36, 40, 44,
72, 76, 80)
SW corner
SE corner
Renaming Software for
Tie Card Project
Each section corner can have up to 4 grid points
The Grid point description depends on which section the PLSS
corner was surveyed from
Each Grid Point
would have a
different
T,R, Section reference
80
72
08
00
Disclaimer: Most of the counties (in color)
showed interest in participating in the project
during 2007 or earlier. Some of the counties
polled may not have the same County
Surveyor in office that was there in 2007 or
earlier. A new poll should be conducted since
the data is outdated and because there is a new
mechanism available that allows easier data sharing
than the method used in 2007.
Newton
Marion
The Surveyor Tie
Card layer is located
on the IndianaMap
(five counties are
completed)
Wayne
Bartholomew
Jennings
Tie Card
Project
Summary
• Tie Card Project
– Created a Tie Card Video – includes a summary of
IGIC and the process steps to participate in the Tie
Card Project
– Working with participating County Surveyors
– Working with County Surveyors Association and
ISPLS
– Linking to participating Counties data as time permits
Cadastral, Boundaries, PLSS
Workgroup
• Cadastral, Boundaries, PLSS Workgroup
– Comments and suggestions welcome
For more information contact:
Lorraine Wright
Indiana Department of Environmental Management
(317) 234-0618
lwright@idem.IN.gov
IGIC website:
www.igic.org
Workgroup Website:
http://igic.org/committees/cadboundplss.html