PS Land Measurement & Boundary Determination 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the principal purpose of a 'closing error' calculation in a boundary survey traverse?
- To determine the magnetic declination correction
- To assess the precision of the survey by comparing the computed closure to zero (Correct answer)
- To calculate the area of the parcel using the coordinate method
- To verify the deed calls match the original survey plat
Correct answer: To assess the precision of the survey by comparing the computed closure to zero
Closing error measures how far the traverse fails to return to the starting point, providing a check on the survey's precision.
Question 2: A surveyor uses the 'Compass Rule' (Bowditch Rule) to adjust a traverse. This method distributes error proportional to:
- The square of each course length
- Each course's departure and latitude relative to the total traverse length (Correct answer)
- The interior angle measured at each traverse station
- The difference between forward and back azimuths at each station
Correct answer: Each course's departure and latitude relative to the total traverse length
The Compass Rule distributes linear closure error in proportion to each course's length relative to the total perimeter.
Question 3: In metes-and-bounds descriptions, the term 'point of beginning' (POB) is legally significant because it:
- Must always be a government corner set by the GLO
- Defines the starting and ending point that closes the described boundary (Correct answer)
- Establishes the datum for all elevation measurements in the survey
- Is required to be a concrete monument by all state surveying statutes
Correct answer: Defines the starting and ending point that closes the described boundary
The POB is where the boundary description begins and must close upon itself to form a complete legal description.
Question 4: Which doctrine holds that when a senior deed and a junior deed conflict, the senior grantee's boundaries prevail over the junior grantee's boundaries?
- Estoppel by deed
- Priority of calls
- Senior rights doctrine (Correct answer)
- Acquiescence doctrine
Correct answer: Senior rights doctrine
The senior rights doctrine (first in time, first in right) grants priority to earlier conveyances over later ones from the same grantor.
Question 5: A 'deed of trust' differs from a warranty deed in that it:
- Conveys fee simple title immediately to the grantee without conditions
- Transfers title to a trustee as security for a debt, not as a conveyance of ownership (Correct answer)
- Is only used in Public Land Survey System states for mineral rights
- Describes boundaries using GPS coordinates rather than courses and distances
Correct answer: Transfers title to a trustee as security for a debt, not as a conveyance of ownership
A deed of trust is a security instrument that places title with a neutral trustee until the underlying loan is repaid.
Question 6: When retracing an original survey, what best describes the surveyor's primary obligation regarding original monuments?
- Replace all wood stakes with permanent concrete monuments regardless of condition
- Follow the original surveyor's footsteps and give controlling weight to original monuments (Correct answer)
- Adjust all corners to match the deed's record distances using least-squares methods
- Set new monuments only where gaps exist in the original survey record
Correct answer: Follow the original surveyor's footsteps and give controlling weight to original monuments
Retracement surveyors must find and honor original monuments because they represent the original surveyor's intent and control over deed dimensions.
Question 7: The 'strip and gore' doctrine in boundary law is used to resolve ownership of:
- Mineral rights beneath a navigable river bed
- Narrow strips of land inadvertently omitted between two adjacent conveyances (Correct answer)
- Rights-of-way vacated by a governmental body
- Parcels created by adverse possession along a fence line
Correct answer: Narrow strips of land inadvertently omitted between two adjacent conveyances
Strip and gore doctrine presumes that a grantor conveying land along a boundary intends to convey any abutting narrow strip rather than retaining a useless sliver.
PS Land Measurement & Boundary Determination 2
What is the principal purpose of a 'closing error' calculation in a boundary survey traverse?