Land Platting Made Easy

By Kimberly Powell, About.com Guide

Place the center of your surveyor's compass or protractor on a vertical North South line through your beginning point, with North at the top. If you're using a semicircular protractor, the rounded side should face to the east or west direction of your call.

First, the course

Find the point on the compass that marks the first direction named in the call (usually North or South). In our example,

N79E, 258 poles

we would start at the 0° mark at the North of the compass.

From this point, move your pencil in the second direction named in the call (usually East or West) until you reach the degree mark named in the deed. Make a tick mark. In our example, we would begin at 0° N and then move East (right) until we reach 79°.

Next, the distance

Place your ruler so that its edge connects both your starting point and your tick mark, with 0 on the ruler at your beginning dot (make sure you use the 0 point, not the end of the ruler).

Now, measure along your ruler the distance you calculated for this line (the number of millimeters or inches that you calculated based on the poles back in Step 4). Make a dot at that distance point, and then draw a line along the ruler straight edge connecting your beginning point to that distance point.

Label the line you have just drawn, as well as the new corner point.

Previous

• Gather Your Tools
• Transcribe the Deed (or Make a Photocopy)
• Create a Call List
• Choose a Scale & Convert Your Measurements
• Select a Beginning Point
• Chart Your First Line
• Complete the Plat
• Problem Solving: Missing Lines
• Fit the Property to a Map

Next