Blog · Page 24
Parcel maps, property search, and county GIS guides
Built for the searches people actually make: parcel viewer and GIS parcel map walkthroughs, property search by address, property lines and parcel boundaries, tax parcel maps and land records, plus county GIS guides nationwide — Michigan included when you need it.
Older posts
- Sep 27, 2026 What Is a No-Build Zone on a Plat A no-build zone is an area of the lot the plat takes out of the building pad.
- Sep 27, 2026 What Is a Building Envelope The building envelope is the area left for the house after setbacks, easements, and no-build zones are subtracted.
- Sep 27, 2026 What Is a Plat Note A plat note is text on the recorded sheet that controls how the lots may be used.
- Sep 27, 2026 What Is a Surveyor's Certificate on a Plat The surveyor's certificate is the signed statement that the plat was prepared from a survey and matches the rules the surveyor cites.
- Sep 27, 2026 What Is a Monument on a Plat A monument is a physical mark the survey calls for: an iron pin, a pipe, a concrete marker, or a found corner.
- Sep 27, 2026 Iron Pin vs Property Corner An iron pin is a kind of monument. The property corner is the legal point, whether or not the pin is still in the ground.
- Sep 27, 2026 What Is a Bearing on a Plat Map A bearing is the direction of a line, stated as an angle from north or south toward east or west.
- Sep 27, 2026 How to Read a Curve on a Plat A curve on a plat is an arc with a radius, a length, and a direction, used for streets and for lot lines that follow them.
- Sep 27, 2026 Chord and Radius on a Plat The radius is the distance from the curve's center to the arc. The chord is the straight line between the arc's endpoints.
- Sep 27, 2026 What Is a North Arrow on a Plat The north arrow shows the basis of bearing for that sheet, not a decoration.
- Sep 27, 2026 How Scale Works on a Plat Map The scale is the ratio between a distance on the sheet and a distance on the ground.
- Sep 27, 2026 What Is the Legend on a Plat The legend explains the symbols used on that sheet.
- Sep 27, 2026 What Is Metes and Bounds Metes and bounds is a legal description that walks the perimeter by directions and distances.
- Sep 27, 2026 Metes and Bounds vs Lot and Block Metes and bounds describes the shape in words. Lot and block points to a picture already recorded.
- Sep 27, 2026 What Is the Public Land Survey System The Public Land Survey System divided much of the United States into townships and sections, outside the original colonial states.
- Sep 27, 2026 What Is a Section Township and Range Section, township, and range is the address of a square in the public-land grid.
- Sep 27, 2026 What Is a Quarter Section A quarter section is one fourth of a section, about 160 acres, described as the northeast quarter or another quarter.
- Sep 27, 2026 What Is a Meander Line A meander line is a survey line run near a shoreline so the water body can be drawn. It is not always the property line.
- Sep 27, 2026 What Is a Riparian Lot Line A riparian line is the side line of a waterfront lot as it approaches the shore or extends to the water.
- Sep 27, 2026 Waterfront Lot Lines vs the Shore The shore moves with water levels. The lot lines on a plat were drawn to a definition of the water, not to today's puddle.
- Sep 27, 2026 Ordinary High Water and the Lot Line Ordinary high water is a water-law boundary, the usual high level of a lake or stream, not the line of today's waves.
- Sep 27, 2026 Why GIS Lot Lines Move County GIS lines move when the assessor edits the parcel layer, not because the ground shifted.
- Sep 27, 2026 Why the Deed and the GIS Map Disagree The deed states the title. The GIS map states the assessor's current drawing of that account.
- Sep 27, 2026 Why a Fence Is Not the Lot Line A fence is occupation. The lot line is the record line, and they match only when someone built the fence on the line.