A government survey is best described as?

• A. A survey made by a governmental entity of tracts of land including townships, sections and quarter sections of land.
• B. A private survey of a single parcel.
• C. A survey focused on environmental features.
• D. A survey conducted by a non-profit organization.

Answer: (A)

Think of this as the Public Land Survey System, a government-created framework for describing land. It lays out land in a grid of townships, each six miles on a side, divided into 36 sections of one square mile (640 acres). Those sections can be subdivided into quarter sections (160 acres) and smaller parcels. This standardized method lets deeds, patents, and maps describe exactly where a parcel sits relative to the grid over large areas. It’s distinct from private surveys of a single parcel, environmental feature surveys, or surveys conducted by non-profit organizations. So the government survey is a government-initiated land description system using townships, sections, and quarter sections.