Howto Figure Out Coordinates From Survey Map

[rustlerpark]

Hello all.

 

I'm trying to figure out how to read the boundary descriptions on this map:

 

http://www.ephemeranow.com/misc/survey01.gif

 

What would the latitude/longitude coordinates be for the corners? When you have boundary lines described using NddmmssE notation, what's that called? The "cache" is 10 wooded acres out in the middle of nowhere, property that's been in the family since 1920. None of us have ever been to it. So it would be nice if I had some coordinates to plug into my Vista before I set out to find it later this week.

 

Thanks

 

David

[+werethehekowie]

Talk to the surveyor. They use GPSr all the time. They can convert the corners to waypoints.

[MapheadMike]

37.767652 -76.793176

37.766832 -76.793792

37.765509 -76.788311

37.764724 -76.788996

 

That's a layman's guess based on things I picked out of the aerial photo. It may or may not be worth the electrons used to typewrite this guess. Sorry for not doing the math to dd mm.xxx. Lemme know if I'm close.

 

All the numbers on the page look like bearings and lengths. I didn't see anything that could refer to the lat/long. If there is a method for your answer, other than finding the corners by surveying methods, then standing on the corner with a GPS, I'm not familiar with it.

 

Not a lot of parks in this part of the state. Might a cache be in the future of this plot?

[+Team Cotati]

Talk to the surveyor. They use GPSr all the time. They can convert the corners to waypoints.

How does that work?

[+JPatton]

I don’t see any reference on that drawing to Lat/Lon. QOCMike is correct, the numbers are bearings and distances from 1 corner to the next. Starting at the upper left corner and working clockwise. S49 53’ 00”E means from the upper left point go south (180 deg) and then go east 49 deg.53 minutes (180 -49.8833) to get the bearing to the next survey point. The distance is 1540’ to that point. Using the same formula, you can go from point to point until you get back to the start. The info on the left shows this property is on Virginia State Highway 604 and is roughly 2200’ from the town of Ino and 1900’ from a bridge in the opposite directions. I found Ino and Route 604 in MS S&T and QOCMike’s numbers look pretty close.

[rustlerpark]

Thanks JPatton, that was just what I needed. I have MapQuest directions to Ino but am pretty sure there is no town there anymore, it's basically just a crossroads. In 1928 it had a population of 10, and there was a general store and blacksmith at that location. I looked at some TerraServer images for "Ino, VA" and it seems to be all trees now. Googling it turned up some obituaries and pictures of a Revolutionary War reenactment on an empty field.

[rustlerpark]

Thanks to QOCMike, too. And everyone else.

 

David

[+blindleader]

Talk to the surveyor.  They use GPSr all the time. They can convert the corners to waypoints.

Even if the land surveyor had the geodetic coordinates of the corners from a 1987 survey (unlikely) he or she is very unlikely to give that information away to anyone, even to the land owner who paid for the survey.

[+CompassCollector]

Just to add some background: Jpatton is correct. The notation "S 49 53 00 E" is a bearing. That format is most commonly used by surveyors and geologists, and is a bearing off of a 'quadrant' (or "quad") style compass.

 

On these compasses, instead of having the degrees marked from 0-360, they are marked with 0 at N and S, and 90 at E and W.

 

The notation above says to take a bearing 49 degrees, 53 minutes East of South. So, 180 degrees (South) minus (East) 49 degrees 53 minutes equals 130 degrees 7 minutes.

 

This system has it's advantages in that reversing the bearing is a simple matter of substituting N for S and W for E. This makes taking a backsight to check for errors in the field a lot easier, and less error prone.

 

[edit: corrected because I can't tell east from west ]

Edited August 8, 2005 by CompassCollector

[+CompassCollector]

The notation "2200'" from the intersection that defines Ino gives me coordinates of N37° 46.046' W76° 47.614' (or 37.767433,-76.793567) for the North West corner. These are slightly different than the ones posted by QOCMike, but they're pretty close (138 feet) to his first point. Since I arrived at it by a completely different method (Delorme Street Atlas 2004, measured 2200 feet from the intersection of 604 and 614), that's pretty good confirmation that the numbers are close.