how to read Township and Range Survey System

This is a true north-south line near Winnipeg, chosen in 1869, at what was considered to be the western limit of settlementĮach section is divided up into 4 quarters: the Northwest (NW), Northeast (NE), Southeast (SE), and Southwest (SW) quarter. The location of each township is described as being east or west of the Principal Meridian. When western Canada was first surveyed, it was divided into six mile by six mile blocks called townships. In addition to the latitude and longitude, UTM, or state plane coordinates of the cursor position, you’ll see the TRS coordinates as well.Section numbers are 1-square mile plots of land as defined by the Dominion Land Survey in the 1800's.

You can get the TRS coordinates of any point on the map by looking in the lower-right corner of the main ExpertGPS Pro window. On the Tracking menu, click Navigate to Active Point. If you are in Tracking mode, you can navigate to the parcel by right-clicking the new waypoint and clicking Set Active Point. ExpertGPS will recenter the map on the property, and create a waypoint marking that location. To go to a specific property, click Go to TRS on the Go menu, and enter the Section, Township, and Range into the Find TRS dialog. To use ExpertGPS as a moving map display, you’d use the Tracking feature, which polls your GPS receiver or antenna once every second and updates your location on the maps displayed on your laptop’s screen.

When run on a laptop in your vehicle and attached to a low-cost GPS receiver or GPS “mouse” antenna, ExpertGPS can function as a moving-map display, essentially turning your laptop into a full GPS receiver with a huge screen and full keyboard. However, ExpertGPS Pro now has the ability to display Public Land Survey System (PLSS) coordinates in Township, Section, and Range format.

I don’t know of any handheld GPS receiver which can display Section, Township, and Range coordinates instead of latitude and longitude or UTM. Do you have or is there software available that will do that? Thanks. We want to have the handheld screen to be a topo map that shows Section, Township and Ranges not the usual Long/Lat. We use Magellan Explorist XLs and have one Magellan Mobile Mapper 6. We are rural real estate appraisers in Montana.

How to read Township and Range Survey System