What is Cadastral Surveying? Who is a Cadastral Surveyor?

A cadastral survey is a classification of land surveying conducted to determine the boundary of a location for a purpose. It specializes in the establishment and re-establishment of real property boundaries. Hence, the cadastral survey is necessary for the legal creation of properties.

What is Cadastral Surveying? Who is a Cadastral Surveyor?
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The products obtained after the cadastral survey can be in the form of plans, certificates, or digital data. The data relates to the laws of land ownership and the definition of property boundaries.

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Features of Cadastral Survey

A cadastral survey conveys the following principle features:

1. It interprets and advice on boundary locations
2. It subdivides land into parts and provides ownership under the land title.
3. It tells about the status of ownership of the land, the rights, the restrictions, and interests in property.
4. Record information related to property boundaries, in the form of plans, maps, etc.
5. It conducts physical delineation of property boundaries in the form of areas, dimensions, and the rights associated with the property.

A cadastral survey can be conducted on any property like land or water that is defined either by natural or artificial features.

Principles of Cadastral Surveying

The main objective of cadastral surveying is to determine the legal property boundary, which involves the following stages:

1. Resurvey

Resurvey is conducted to obtain copies of the deed description and all related documents from the owner. The deed description, mentions all details regarding the deed. It is not the tax or other documents.

💡Note

A property deed is a written and signed legal instrument that is used to transfer ownership of the real property from the old owner (the grantor) to the new owner (the grantee).

 

2. Examine the Documents

Once all the records are obtained, the documents are examined for errors like closure errors.

3. Field Survey

An initial field survey is performed based on the locating documents. In urban regions, monuments should be sought initially; but in the absence of monuments, property corners marked by iron pins, metal survey markers, iron pipes, and other features possibly establishing a line of possession should be located.

4. Traversing

When the approximate positions for the boundaries of the property have been located, traversing is performed around the property. During the control traverse is being run, ties should be measured and all details relevant to the boundaries should be acquired. This includes but is not limited to locating the property corners, monuments, fences, hedge rows, walls, walks, and all buildings on the lot.

The surveyor then takes this collected data and compares it to the records which were received. When a solution is reached, the chosen property corners (those that best fit all the data) are coordinated, and ties by direction and distance are computed from the nearest traverse point.

5. Developing Map

Once this has been established the features on the lot can be drawn, dimensions can be shown from these features to the boundary line, and a map or plat is prepared for the client.

Who is a Cadastral Surveyor?

A cadastral surveyor is the only personnel authorized to perform the cadastral survey. A surveyor, surveying graduate, or surveying associate carrying out the survey under the supervision of a cadastral surveyor who, expressly or impliedly, accepts responsibility for the survey’s survey quality.

The responsibility of the surveyor is to determine the boundary of the real property on the ground. This is the boundary that was established already in legal documents and official plans and maps as per the attorneys, engineers, and before land surveyors.

Here, the corners of the property would be either monumented by a prior surveyor or will be monumented by the surveyor that is hired to perform the survey.

Also Read

Types of Surveying Based on Measurement 

Linear Measurements in Surveying