Glossary

Plain, exact definitions of the land records, survey, and title terms that come up in a deed.

Keeps and excepts

Keeps and excepts, often written in descriptions as less and except or save and except, are clauses that remove a described portion from the…

Asymmetric easement

An asymmetric easement is a centerline easement whose width differs on each side of the described line relative to its direction of travel, such…

Symmetric easement

A symmetric easement is a centerline easement whose stated width is split evenly across the described line, such as a thirty foot easement lying…

TXSS

The Texas survey system, sometimes abbreviated TXSS, is the framework of original land surveys in Texas, which was never part of the federal Public…

KML

KML, short for Keyhole Markup Language, is an XML-based format for displaying geographic data in earth browsers such as Google Earth. A plotted boundary…

GIS

A geographic information system, or GIS, is a system for capturing, storing, analyzing, and displaying data tied to locations on the earth. Parcels ,…

Utility easement

A utility easement grants a utility the right to install and maintain facilities across land, typically described as a strip by centerline and width…

Conservation easement

A conservation easement is a recorded agreement that permanently limits the use of land to protect its conservation values, held by a land trust…

DXF

DXF is the drawing exchange format CAD applications share, carrying lines, arcs, layers, and annotation. A plotted boundary exported as DXF opens in CAD…

Shapefile

A shapefile is the long-standing Esri format for geographic features, delivered as a set of files that together carry geometry and attributes. County GIS…

GeoJSON

GeoJSON is an open, text-based format for geographic data built on JSON, representing geometry such as polygons along with their properties. Web maps and…

COGO

COGO, short for coordinate geometry, is the method of computing point positions from directions and distances, the arithmetic behind plotting a description. GIS and…

WGS84

WGS84 is the World Geodetic System of 1984, the global reference frame used by GPS and by most web mapping. Coordinates in WGS84 are…

State plane coordinate system

State plane coordinate systems are the map projection grids each state defines so that positions can be stated as plane coordinates in feet or…

Basis of bearings

The basis of bearings is the reference meridian a description's directions are measured from: geodetic, astronomic, magnetic, or grid north. Two descriptions of the…

Runsheet

A runsheet is the chronological worksheet a landman or abstractor builds while running title: each instrument in the chain, its parties, dates, recording references,…

Title plant

A title plant is a geographically indexed database of the recorded documents affecting land in a county, maintained by title companies as an alternative…

Title commitment

A title commitment is the insurer's offer to issue a title policy, stating the land to be insured, the requirements to close, and the…

Right-of-way

A right-of-way is the strip of land occupied or reserved for a linear facility such as a road, pipeline, or transmission line, held in…

Easement centerline

Many easements describe a centerline by courses and state a width, such as fifteen feet on each side of the described line. Plotting one…

Easement

An easement is a right to use land belonging to another for a stated purpose, such as access or utilities, without owning it. Easements…

Instrument

An instrument is any document recorded in the land records: deeds , mortgages, easements , liens, releases, and more. Recorders assign each one an…

Grantor and grantee

The grantor is the party conveying an interest in land; the grantee is the party receiving it. Deeds are indexed by these names in…

Deed

A deed is the written instrument that conveys an interest in land from the grantor to the grantee. Deeds carry the legal description of…

Tract

A tract is a defined area of land, often one of several described in the same document. A single deed or easement can carry…

Parcel

A parcel is a single piece of land under one ownership, however described. Assessors, GIS departments, and land systems track parcels as the unit…

Recorded plat

A recorded plat is a map of a subdivision filed in the public record, showing lots, blocks, streets, and easements with their dimensions. Once…

Lot and block

A lot and block description identifies land by its lot number within a block of a recorded subdivision plat , such as Lot 4,…

Meander line

A meander line is a surveyed line run near the bank of a body of water to define its sinuosities for the original surveys.…

Government lot

A government lot is an irregular parcel within a PLSS section that could not be divided into standard aliquot parts , most often along…

Quarter section

A quarter section is one fourth of a PLSS section, approximately 160 acres, named by its position: NE 1/4, NW 1/4, SW 1/4, or…

Aliquot part

An aliquot part is a standard fractional division of a PLSS section , such as the northwest quarter (NW 1/4) or the north half…

Section

A section is one of the 36 divisions of a PLSS township , one mile square and containing approximately 640 acres as nearly as…

Township and range

Township and range are the coordinates of the PLSS grid. Townships number north or south from a baseline and ranges number east or west…

Public Land Survey System

The Public Land Survey System, or PLSS, is the rectangular system under which most land outside the original colonies and a few other states…

Chains rods and links

Chains, rods, poles, and links are the distance units of early American surveys. One chain is 66 feet and holds 100 links; one rod,…

Gap and overlap

A gap, sometimes called a gore, is ground left between two described parcels that neither description covers; an overlap is ground both descriptions claim.…

Senior and junior rights

When one parcel was conveyed before its neighbor out of common ownership, the earlier conveyance holds senior rights and the later one holds junior…

Adjoiner

An adjoiner is a neighboring property or its owner named in a legal description . Descriptions call for adjoiners to show the intent of…

Monument

A monument is a physical object that marks a corner or line of a survey, either natural, such as a tree or stream, or…

Curve call

A curve call describes an arc in a boundary rather than a straight line. A curve is defined by elements such as its radius,…

Latitude and departure

Latitude and departure are the north-south and east-west components of a survey line. Computing them for every call lets a boundary be checked and…

Relative precision

Relative precision expresses the quality of a closed traverse as the ratio of the linear misclosure to the traverse perimeter, written with the misclosure…

Linear misclosure

Linear misclosure is the straight line distance between where a plotted traverse ends and where it should have ended, at the point of beginning…

Closure

Closure is the test of whether a plotted boundary returns to its point of beginning . If every call in a description were perfect,…

Traverse

A traverse is a series of connected lines with observed lengths and directions. A boundary plotted from a deed is a closed traverse: it…

Point of commencement

The point of commencement, or POC, is an established reference point, such as a PLSS corner, from which a metes and bounds description is…

Point of beginning

The point of beginning, or POB, is the corner of the property where a metes and bounds description starts and ends. A proper POB…

Azimuth

An azimuth states the direction of a line as a clockwise angle from north, running from 0 to 360 degrees. Azimuths and bearings describe…

Bearing

A bearing states the direction of a line as an acute angle measured from north or south toward east or west, written in the…

Survey call

A survey call is a single instruction inside a legal description , most often a direction and a distance, such as N 41 35…

Metes and bounds

A metes and bounds description defines a parcel by walking its boundary one call at a time. Each call gives a direction and a…

Legal description

A legal description is the written text that defines the exact boundaries of a parcel of land. It is the part of a deed…