PLSS

What it shows

The Public Land Survey System (PLSS) is the grid that divides most of the United States into townships and sections. Land descriptions, hunting regulations, mining claims, oil and gas leases and old survey markers all refer to it, as in "Section 12, Township 3 North, Range 5 East".

The PLSS overlay draws that grid on the map. Use it to find a section from a legal description, or to tell someone where you are in the terms a deed or a regulation uses.

Legend

• Black lines are township boundaries. A township is roughly 6 miles square.
• Black labels give the township and range, such as "01N 01E" for Township 1 North, Range 1 East.
• Red lines are section boundaries. A section is roughly a mile square, and a township has 36 of them.
• Red numbers give the section number, 1 to 36.

On the map

Township lines appear from zoom 6, with their labels from zoom 8. Section lines appear from zoom 10, and section numbers from zoom 11.

Where the data comes from

The Bureau of Land Management's national PLSS data (CadNSDI), which compiles the survey records for the states the PLSS covers.

The lines come from those records and aren't a new survey, so for a property boundary, rely on a licensed surveyor.

Coverage

The states surveyed under the PLSS: most of the country west of the original colonies, Alaska included. The original thirteen states, Texas, Hawaii and a few others were surveyed differently and have no PLSS grid.

Offline

PLSS is free on the web and on iPhone. With a membership, you can download the whole overlay in the iPhone app to use offline.