Land descriptions found in deeds and other documents traditionally were referenced from a rock, or tree, or some natural monument in the early days of the United States. Often times, the only thing that would define someone's land would be the names of the adjacent property owners.  Most of the time, boundary lengths and directions were included.  Such boundary descriptions were, and are called "Metes and Bounds".  Later, square townships and tracts were defined as reference points and boundaries.  But if you want to be able to prepare a map of a parcel of land,  you must somehow be able to specify the boundary lines mathematically.  Accordingly, we have used Course nomenclature that is suitable for use with our program.  It is basically the same as used by professional surveyors with a some exceptions.

Today, property descriptions in most of the Eastern United States reference starting at a point ("Point of Beginning"), then in a certain direction measuring the straight line distance to the next point on the property line (a "Course").  This is repeated until the last Course returns exactly to the Point of Beginning.  It doesn't matter whether one proceeds clockwise or counterclockwise around the property for straight line boundaries.  Here is an example of the information required to define a straight line boundary from a point:

• NORTH, 10 Degrees, 45 Minutes, 15 Seconds, EAST, 352 Feet

It means at the starting point of the Course, look North and generate an angle of 10 degrees, 45 minutes, and 15 seconds toward the East.   Then follow that direction for 352 feet.  This defines the Course and the starting point for the next boundary line. 

Sometimes a Course is the arc of a circle.  It takes more information to completely define around Course, and things can get complicated.  Normally, you need to know the direction of the cord, either the length of the cord or the length of the arc, the radius of the arc, and whether the curve bends or bows IN, away from its cord and toward the center of the property, or it bends OUT, and lastly whether the sequence of Courses is clockwise or counter clockwise around the property as viewed from above.  If you know the Course is either tangent to the previous Course (we call this "Smooth"), or tangent to the next Course (we call this "Tangent"), or if the Course is called a "Junction" (meaning that it is tangent to both the previous and next Courses, you do not need to specify the direction of the cord.  Here are five examples of specifications for the same circular Course in a clockwise sequence (this example arc is actually tangent to both the previous and next Courses):

CORD Length is Specified:

NORTH, 59 Degrees, 44 Minutes, 35.5 Seconds,  WEST,  388.3 Feet, 280 Foot Radius, OUT

ARC Length is Specified:

NORTH, 59 Degrees, 44 Minutes, 35.5 Seconds,  WEST,  429.06 Feet, 280 Foot Radius, OUT

SMOOTH is Specified for Previous Course Tangency:

429.06 Feet (Arc Length), 280 Foot Radius, OUT, SMOOTH (tangent to the previous Course which is specified as: SOUTH, 76 Degrees, 21 Minutes, 29 Seconds, WEST, 168.21 Feet)

TANGENT is Specified for Next Course Tangency:

429.06 Feet, 280 Foot Radius, OUT, TANGENT (tangent to the next Course which is specified as: NORTH, 15 Degrees, 50 Minutes, 40 Seconds, WEST, 227.3 Feet)

JUNCTION is Specified for Next Course Tangency:

280 Foot Radius, JUNCTION (tangent to both the next and adjacent Courses mentioned above)

There are some typical omissions in deed descriptions that we can overcome.  If you are missing the direction of one of the Courses (not the first) and know the length, just say "UNKNOWN DIRECTION", or if the description neglects to specify the last Course entirely, and just says to return to the Point of Beginning, just say "POB" and we may be able to obtain closure for the map anyway.

There is another way (we call it the "Rhode Island Method") of designating, or referencing Course angles than the North/South/East/West "bearing" method above.  After the first Course is defined by the "bearing" method, one can simply specify an Internal Angle (measured from the direction of the previous Course or cord and turning in toward the center of the property toward the next point), or an External Angle (turning out).  So this angle is relative to the bearing of the previous Course.   It is most suitable for "pacing off" your property and is useful to define your house outline or "foot print" that can be added to your LandPrints plot.  You can expect most House Outlines to consist of straight "courses" with 90 degree turns.  The method is used mainly for straight Courses, but can be used with arcs also. 

Here is a first Course (needed for reference in dark blue type) followed by a "Rhode Island" specification for the next Course.  It also could have been described using the "bearing method".  This is shown for comparison in the third example:

First Course:

SOUTH, 76 Degrees, 21 Minutes, 29 Seconds, WEST, 168.21 Feet

Second Course using the Rhode Island Method (don't need N/S/E/W)

INTERNAL, 136 Degrees, 6 Minutes, 4.5 Seconds, 388.3 Feet

Second Course using the Bearing Method:

NORTH, 59 Degrees, 44 Minutes, 35.5 Seconds,  WEST,  388.3 Feet

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