Dont Miss: Work From Home Government Jobs. Using principal meridians and baselines as points of reference, land areas are divided by two kinds of lines, township lines and range lines. For example, how many acres are there if you take the North East of the South 1/2 of section 3 in township 8 North and range 5 west? (The figure below shows a variety of divisions in a quarter section.). The numbering then moves from right to left across that first upper tier. Longitude and latitude are imaginary lines that divide the earth through the north and south poles (longitude) and run parallel with the equator (latitude). However, in some areas of the country, a township refers to a legal municipality rather than a geographic area, which can lead to some confusion. Because the rectangular or government survey system was instituted when the United States was a brand-new country, it was used to describe most of the land west of the original 13 . The creation of the legal description for the Governmental Survey System is based on special longitude and latitude lines called principal meridians and base lines. They are the starting points for describing a propertys boundaries. Take for example there is a shared baseline in both Nebraska and Kansas as both states border is at the 40th parallel north. For example, you can say the east of section 3. That means the property is 320 acres and located on the east half of that section. Where the two range lines and two township lines intersect, they form a township.\r\n\r\nNow, the way it really works is for this page to be filled with the lines going up and down and right to left so that you have many townships. Principal meridians, baselines, and where they intersect (cross each other) are used as the basis for formulating property descriptions in this system. The boundary of each township is 6 miles long, so a township contains 36 square miles and is described as being 6 miles square. Explain. lessons in math, English, science, history, and more. The numbering continues directly beneath the sixth section, except that it progresses from left to right on the second tier. Running east to west every six miles between the baselines are the township lines. The legal description of the property's location usually begins with the state and the principal meridian number followed by the township information. This point will be the basis for all government surveys in the area it controls, and its latitude and longitude are fixed by astronomical observations. Dont Miss: American Government A Brief Introduction. The three legal real estate land descriptions are important information that all real estate agents and brokers must understand to pass their real estate exam and receive their license. To learn more about these land descriptions, view our Real Estate Principles course, which provides information on ethics of practice, titles to and conveyance of real estate, deeds encumbrances and liens, distinctions between personal and real property, appraisal, finance and regulations, and more. ","hasArticle":false,"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/9566"}}],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/books/282532"}},"collections":[],"articleAds":{"footerAd":"

","rightAd":""},"articleType":{"articleType":"Articles","articleList":null,"content":null,"videoInfo":{"videoId":null,"name":null,"accountId":null,"playerId":null,"thumbnailUrl":null,"description":null,"uploadDate":null}},"sponsorship":{"sponsorshipPage":false,"backgroundImage":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0},"brandingLine":"","brandingLink":"","brandingLogo":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0},"sponsorAd":"","sponsorEbookTitle":"","sponsorEbookLink":"","sponsorEbookImage":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0}},"primaryLearningPath":"Advance","lifeExpectancy":"Two years","lifeExpectancySetFrom":null,"dummiesForKids":"no","sponsoredContent":"no","adInfo":"","adPairKey":[]},"status":"publish","visibility":"public","articleId":274745},"articleLoadedStatus":"success"},"listState":{"list":{},"objectTitle":"","status":"initial","pageType":null,"objectId":null,"page":1,"sortField":"time","sortOrder":1,"categoriesIds":[],"articleTypes":[],"filterData":{},"filterDataLoadedStatus":"initial","pageSize":10},"adsState":{"pageScripts":{"headers":{"timestamp":"2023-02-01T15:50:01+00:00"},"adsId":0,"data":{"scripts":[{"pages":["all"],"location":"header","script":"\r\n","enabled":false},{"pages":["all"],"location":"header","script":"\r\n