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Boundaries in Everyday Life
To offer a strong, yet perhaps crudely designed metaphor, my right to thrust out my fist ends at the point of your nose. We all have boundaries to respect, including social and moral ones, but none are perhaps more critical to the way the world works than are property boundaries. Mistakes can be costly, and land transactions can hardly go forward without an accurate measurement of exactly what is being sold. The licensed land surveyor is extremely well trained in the proper methods to define where one piece of land ends and another begins.
The Surveyors-A Breed Apart
Several early U.S. presidents were professional surveyors, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln. One of the early lines of demarcation in the United States-separating "north" from "south" in concrete terms as well as enhancing a social mindset-was the Mason-Dixon Line of the 1760s that helped fix the border between two U.S. states, Pennsylvania and Maryland. During the westward expansion of the United States, the Lewis & Clark expedition was responsible for surveying vast tracts of land between the Mississippi River and the West Coast. A boundary surveyor generally must pass an examination and then enter into a period of apprenticeship with a licensed surveyor in order to work on his or her own.
How Boundaries Are Established
In areas where property has been platted-the term for a map that has been created to show off various land divisions-some historical record exists that shows the precise location of property boundaries. Under normal circumstances, a surveyor will have gone out into the field and precisely measured the landmass on behalf of its owner. This could have been the recipient of a land grant, or perhaps the government agency that originally controlled the property. Points in the field are translated into points on a map-the surveyor provides the data and oftentimes draws the map as well-and notations are made at "corners" as to the exact longitude and latitude of that spot. The results are a plat map, which is then filed with the governing body and stored for future reference. Over time, land tracts get divided and subdivided as owners sell off parts of their property. In each instance these divisions are tracked by boundary surveyors, and the precise boundaries of the property that is trading hands is noted on the deed of sale.
The Boundary Surveyor as Detective
Of course, this is the way it's supposed to work. But as we know, nothing is perfect. When a boundary surveyor is given an assignment, the first order of business is to consult the historical record. This might be contained in a real estate abstract, a title certificate, a deed of sale, or perhaps a title opinion. Once this information is in hand, it's time to visit the property and see if the record agrees with the reality. Anyone who does an initial survey uses physical landmarks to denote points along a boundary, especially at the corners of a property. In the old days this could have been a tree, a rock, or some other prominent feature. Over time, these items may have moved or disappeared, which makes the modern-day boundary surveyor's job quite a challenge. Over the past century, boundary designators have evolved from itinerant items on the land to purpose-built markers made of metal or plastic. The most common marker is a disc that the surveyor pounds into the ground at the point of reference. These are usually numbered to coincide with a code present on the plat map, and many markers these days have their precise longitude and latitude noted as well. Some surveyors even custom-design them to include the company's name, phone number, and logo.
Modern Conveniences
With the advent of highly accurate surveying equipment plus the incorporation of GPS (global positioning system) data, boundary surveys are more accurate than ever. Although some of this high-tech equipment is less effective in certain kinds of terrain-it may be difficult to get an accurate GPS reading in a heavily wooded area, for example-the precision with which a surveyor can decide where a boundary exists is remarkable. One reason for the licensing process involves the legal system. Parties that have entered into land boundary disputes will oftentimes hire a boundary surveyor to review the historical paperwork, perform an independent field assessment, and perhaps even testify in court as to the findings.
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