1. IGIC Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup Update
Lorraine Wright
Indiana Department of Environmental Management
February 24, 2010

2. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
Outline
Accomplishments 2009
Planned Activities for 2010
PLSS
Tie Card Summary
New Tie Card Activities
Boundaries
Legal Descriptions
New State-wide County Boundary
Next step: Section corners and lines that define County Boundaries
Cadastre (parcels)

3. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
2010 Workgroup members
Joe Mullins, Hamilton Co.
John Milburn, County Surveyor’s Association
Beth Hippensteel, Volunteer
Phil Worrall, IGIC
Jim Sparks, IN GIO
Justin Peters, Land Office
Steve Claycomb, INDOT
Lorraine Wright, IDEM
Jim Swift, Boone Co.
Bryan Catlin, Marion Co.
Henry Aldridge, INDOT
Danielle Kindig, Newton Co.
Mike Williamson, Newton Co.

4. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
Accomplishments 2009
CAP Grant received for data sharing initiative
Developed the initial criteria needed to create an official state-wide county boundary layer
Legislation - Enrolled Act 530 passed. It establishes an Indiana-Michigan Boundary Line Commission. The Commission will oversee a retracement survey of the original 1827 Indiana-Michigan boundary and re-establish the Indiana-Michigan boundary line for the counties along the Indiana-Michigan border.

5. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
Accomplishments 2009
County Boundaries –
Compared all existing state-wide county boundary layers for source scale, accuracy currently being used
Identified the IGS county boundary layer as the best available most accurate state-wide county boundary layer
Added attributes to new State-wide County Boundary layer

6. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
Accomplishments 2009
County Boundaries –
Began developing list of PLSS corners and lines that define county boundaries (based on legal descriptions)
Identified the Newberry Library as the most current information regarding legal references to County Boundaries at the state level.
The Newberry information contains more current legal references than the County Boundaries Book.

7. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
Accomplishments 2009
Tie Card Project
Created a Tie Card Video – includes a summary of IGIC and the process steps to participate in the Tie Card Project
Prepared letter to send to County Surveyors to ask for participation in project
Working with County Surveyors Association

8. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
Accomplishments 2009
Updated website to include:
Standards
National Cadastral Standards
Jurisdictional Boundaries Standards
County Boundary
Boundary legislation
Historic County Boundary information
IN-Kentucky boundary shapefile and all documentation
Surveyors information
Tie Card Project - Video

9. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
Planned for 2010
New State-wide GIS County Boundary
Support the creation of a new authoritative GIS digital County Boundary shapefile for the IndianaMap (FDGC CAP Grant).
Define, collect and document all data sources (inventory County Boundaries).
Design and document the new county boundary shapefile(s).
Develop, document and test a methodology to create the new county boundary shapefile(s).
Develop, document and test a methodology to update/maintain the new county boundary shapefile(s).

10. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
Planned for 2010
New State-wide County Boundary
Develop FGDC compliant metadata for the new county boundary shapefile(s).
Identify requirements (types of data) needed by Surveyors and the GIS initiatives to be viewed in the INMAP:
County Boundary and PLSS points.
Data Model
Data Integration Plan

11. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
Planned for 2010
New State-wide County Boundary
Support QA/QC efforts for the harvested county jurisdictional boundary and parcel data published to the IndianaMap
Investigate, define and document QA/QC issues to report
Develop, document and test a QA/QC methodology

12. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
Planned for 2010
Tie Card Project
Send letter to County Survey – invitation to participate in the Tie Card Project
County Boundary Corners
a. Identify corners

13. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
Tie Card Pilot Project Summary
Created Grid Point and Tie Card GIS layer
Created a state-wide naming convention for the Grid Points
Created a computer generated set of points representing an approximation of the PLSS ¼, ¼, ¼ corners
Created Renaming Software to be used to link a scanned image of Tie Card to a Grid Point
Setup the process to create a State-wide Tie Card GIS layer
Worked with Bartholomew, Newton and Jennings Co during the pilot project to put their Tie Cards on the IndianaMap website

14. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
Tie Card Project
Grid Point file naming convention
IN02_T23NR06E03_08
State Name and Prime Meridian – IN02
Township number - T23
Township direction – N
Range number – R06
Range direction – E
Section – 03
Grid Number – 08 (Grid numbering system begins with 00 in upper left hand of section and ends in 80, bottom left corner)

15. Tie Card Project
Grids points
were created
for ¼, ¼, ¼
section corners
Computer
generated
Grid Point layer
(numbering )

16. Renaming Software for
Tie Card Project

17. Tie Card Project
Bartholomew,
Newton, and
Jennings Co.
Tie Card layers
On IndianaMap

18. Tie Card
Project

19. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
New Tie Card Project activities
Created a video
Summary of IGIC and step-by-step instructions on how to participate in the Tie Card Project
Working with County Surveyor’s
Will be sending out a letter to County Surveyor inviting them to participate in the Tie Card Project
Implement Tie Card Project in interested counties
Developing a process to link to:
County’s Tie Card database
Link to County’s Tie Card images on their website
Using Data Sharing initiative processes
Similar to the methods being used to harvest other county datasets

20. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
County Boundary
Inventory of County Boundary sources
Census
Newberry
INDOT
IGS
92 Individual County boundaries
Southern Indiana Boundary
Court case, coordinates on paper, DNR created shapefile
Northern Indiana boundary retracement survey – ongoing

21. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
County Boundaries
Determine which county boundary should be used as the state-wide County boundary layer
County Boundary will be used to compare harvested county data (needed common boundary)
Selected IGS County Boundary
Best scale available at state-wide level
Good metadata
New attributes will be incorporated as identified by Surveyors and GIS professionals
Legal references
Website links: County Surveyor and County GIS
Coordinate, Datum, Zone
Source
Other

22. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
County Boundaries
New State-wide County Boundary (polygon)
Attributes being added
Will be released onto IndianaMap as soon as it is completed
Next step – County Boundary with Point and Line Feature level data based on legal descriptions
Acquire County boundary legal descriptions
Define PLSS corners and Section lines that define boundary
Associate the legal information to the Grid Points and IGS Section line segments to get feature level dataset

23. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
Sources for County Boundary Legal Descriptions
County Boundaries Book
Legal references for County boundary descriptions
Published in 1933
Newberry Library
History of Indiana Counties
Historical and current Indiana boundary shapefiles
Individual County Boundary Chronologies through 1981
Individual County Surveyor Offices

24. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
County Boundary Legal Description
Define GIS points and lines that make up a county boundary using legal description
Need to be able to change boundary points if GIS data is improved and need to have the common reference corners between counties identified so we are linking the common corners

25. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
Counties boundary changes since 1900 (source Newberry Library)
8 March 1923 Kankakee River boundary of JASPER, LAKE, NEWTON, and PORTER adjusted to match ditching of streambed [not mapped]. (Ind. Acts 1923, 73d sess., reg., ch. 164, secs. 1-3/pp )
2 March 1925 Kankakee River boundary of LA PORTE and STARKE adjusted to match ditching of streambed [not mapped]. (Ind. Acts 1925, 74th sess., ch. 41, secs. 1-3/pp )
9 March 1931 LA PORTE exchanged small areas with ST. JOSEPH. (Ind. Acts 1931, 77th sess., ch. 115, secs. 1-4/pp )
27 March 1979 Boundary between CLARK and WASHINGTON was redefined [no change]. (Ind. Acts 1979, 101st gen. assy., 1st reg. sess., pub. law no. 156/p. 714)
31 August 1981 Boundaries of FULTON, MARSHALL, and ST. JOSEPH clarified [no change]. (Ind. Secretary of State, correspondence, 13 Jul. 1990; Ind. Acts 1980, 101st gen. assy., 2d reg. sess., pub. law no. 212, secs. 1-2/pp )

26. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
County Boundary legal descriptions from 1981
As a result of Public Law number 212:
County surveyors were required to file with the Indiana Secretary of State accurate legal descriptions of their counties as of 31 August 1981 and to report any later alterations within 30 days of the effective date of change.
Apparently the county lines have remained stable because no changes were reported to the Secretary of State's office between 31 August 1981 and (source Newberry)
Trying to locate 1981 County Surveyors reports with legal descriptions or the most current County boundary legal description

27. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
County Boundaries – Feature level data
Correlate County boundary Section corners with Grid Points
Correlate County boundary Section lines with IGS section lines
Create point and line features that define the County Boundaries

28. Grid points
used for
locating
section corners
that define
County Boundaries
(00, 04, 08,
36, 40, 44,
72, 76, 80)

29. Locate the Legal
County Boundary
Description

30. Copy the PLSS
corner references
to a database

31. Legal PLSS County corner description
Grid point Names
Copy and paste corner
descriptions
from the counties legal description into
table
Correlate
Grid Point naming
convention
associated with
PLSS corner

32. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
Each section corner can have up to 4 grid points
The Grid point description depends on which section the PLSS corner was surveyed from 80 72 08 00
Each Grid Point
would have a
different
T,R, Section reference

33. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
Identify sections
on each side
of the IGS County
boundary line

34. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
Correlate the legal corners
that define the County Boundary
with the Grid Points
Marion County

35. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
Select out
the Grid
Points
associated
with the
legal
corner
references

36. The Section lines provide a line layer database for the County
Boundary
Boundaries-
Cadastre-
PLSS Workgroup
Marion County

37. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
Select out the Section line segments
associated with the legal references
You now have a point and line layer
describing the County Boundary
Marion County

38. Select Grid
Points associated
with the
legally
referenced
corner
Marion County

39. Sections
used to
define
County
Boundaries

40. Boundaries-
Cadastre-
PLSS Workgroup
Identify Grid
Points and Section
line references
for other Counties

41. Boundaries-Cadastre-
PLSS Workgroup
Sections used to
define
County Boundaries
State-wide

42. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
Cadastral (Parcel) data
Counties are sharing data through the Data Sharing Initiative
Harvested data is being posted to Indiana Map
The New State GIS County Boundary layer will be used in the support QA/QC efforts for the harvested county jurisdictional boundary and parcel data published to the IndianaMap

43. County Boundary (red) Parcel data (tan) Boundaries- Cadastre-
PLSS Workgroup
County Boundary (red)
Parcel data (tan)

44. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
County Boundary’s from Counties
Individual County Boundary data may be more accurate than the New State-wide County Boundary
Plans are being developed on how use the best available boundary information
The Workgroup is putting together a Data Integration plan for the Boundary layers

45. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
Indiana Statewide Data Integration Plan
Public Land Survey System (PLSS) Data
Boundary Data
Cadastral (Parcel) Data
Overview items
Current Holdings
Data Stewards
Data Standards
Data Distribution Methods
Strategic Plan
Draft by April 1, 2010

46. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
Summary
Most boundaries are defined by PLSS Township, Range, and Sections (some exceptions)
Legal PLSS corner coordinates will eventually alter GIS County Boundaries, other jurisdictional boundaries, and parcel lines.
Identifying the Boundary corners and section lines that define the legal County Boundary will help in aligning the GIS data in the future.
All GIS data should be tied to the legally surveyed PLSS corners and section lines as described by the legal descriptions and surveyed by Surveyors.

47. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
2010 Meeting Schedule:
Cadastral, Boundary, PLSS Workgroup Meetings
IGIC office – 9:30 – 11:30 am
March 17
April 14
May 12
June 9
July 14
August 11
September 8
October 13
November 10
December 8
Always check IGIC calendar for changes

48. Boundaries-Cadastre-PLSS Workgroup
Casdastral, Boundaries, PLSS Workgroup
Invitation to participate
Comments and suggestions welcome
For more information contact:
Lorraine Wright
Indiana Department of Environmental Management
IGIC website:
Workgroup Website: I