The government survey system: townships, ranges, and sections

Locate the grid

The government survey system, also called the rectangular survey system, describes land by township, range, section, and fractional parts. A principal meridian runs north–south; a base line runs east–west. Township tiers are counted north or south of the base line. Ranges are counted east or west of the principal meridian. Florida's surveys use the Tallahassee Principal Meridian and its base line.

Township 3 South, Range 2 East locates the third tier south of the base line and the second range east of the applicable principal meridian. The meridian identifies the reference framework.

Find the section

A township is nominally 6 miles by 6 miles: 36 square miles containing 36 sections. A standard section is 1 mile by 1 mile, or 640 acres. Numbering starts with section 1 in the northeast corner, runs west to 6, drops south to 7, then runs east to 12. Continue alternating across the rows; section 31 is southwest and section 36 is southeast.

Subdivide the section

Read nested fractions from the containing tract inward. For the NE 1/4 of the SW 1/4, find the southwest quarter of the section, then its northeast quarter. Acreage is 640 ÷ 4 = 160; 160 ÷ 4 = 40 acres. A half of a quarter is 640 ÷ 4 ÷ 2 = 80 acres. One acre equals 43,560 square feet. Equal acreage does not establish equal location.

These are standard exam dimensions; actual sections can be irregular or fractional because of convergence, corrections, and survey history. Use stated surveyed acreage when supplied.

Township and range locate the township, the section number identifies a section within it, and fractional parts identify the smaller parcel.