Public Land Survey System

The Public Land Survey System (PLSS) is a method used in the United States to survey and identify land parcels, particularly for titles and deeds of rural, wild or undeveloped land. Its basic units of area are the township and section. It is sometimes referred to as the rectangular survey system, although non rectangular methods such as meandering can also be used. The survey was "the first mathematically designed system and nationally conducted cadastrial survey in any modern country" and is "an object of study by public officials of foreign countries as a basis for land reform." [1] The detailed survey methods to be applied for the PLLS are described in a series of Instructions and Manuals issued by the General Land Office, the latest edition being the "The Manual of Instructions for the Survey of the Public Lands Of The United States, 1973" available from the U.S. Government Printing Office. The BLM announced in 2000 an updated Manual is currently under preparation.


Non-PLSS regions
The system is in use in some capacity in most states, but not in Hawaii and Texas or any of the territory under the jurisdiction of the Thirteen Colonies at the time of independence, with the exception of the area that became the Northwest Territory and some of the Southern states. These exclusions are now Georgia, Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia.