Plat map designer how to#

What’s on a plat map and why it mattersĪ plat map outlines how your property is divided, the boundaries of the property, and all the surrounding property in the designated area, including other houses, residential land, streets, and any public land, like parks and playgrounds. If the land around the house hasn’t been fully surveyed, or divided into different lots, then your house might not be found anywhere on a plat map until there’s more development around it.

Beginning in the early 21st century, with the help of Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping technology and computer software, plat maps were created digitally and eventually developed for smartphone and Google Earth compatibility. He meticulously researched and drew his plat maps by hand. Cummings, who founded Rockford Map Publishers in 1944. Plat maps have evolved with the times, and it wasn’t until fairly recently that you could see a digital plat map. The origins of plat maps - also called cadastral maps, survey plats, or plat books - can be traced back to the 1850s as the first maps to document rural land ownership in the United States. Let’s dig in further into what all a plat map shows and why it should matter to you, starting with a little history. Source: (ghs1922 / flickr) Plat maps: The what and the why We’ve done the research and talked to the experts to give you the critical insight on all things plat maps.

Plat map designer how to#

Once you understand exactly what’s on a plat map and how to read one, it can offer a lot of useful information. So the question remains: What’s the purpose and benefit of a plat map? At this point, you know the location and have some sense of the area. Not to mention, you’ve surely had a site visit and walkthrough of your home before making an offer, unless purchasing it sight-unseen - not an uncommon practice during the pandemic. It’s also something you or your agent can seek out ahead of time.įor those of us new to plat maps, which are probably all first-time homebuyers and even experienced homebuyers, what looks like a jumble of shapes and numbers can be hard to decipher.

Typically, a plat map can be found somewhere in the pile of papers your title company presents to you at closing. Essentially, a plat map is a bird’s-eye-view of your property and the surrounding area. It’s a parceled-out map of a defined area, like a neighborhood or subdivision. If a plot is micro, then a plat is macro. Plat, not to be confused with plot, shows more than the layout of a single property. According to the National Association of Realtors®, a plat map is “a map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of the piece of land” - that piece of land being where your home is located. If you’re wondering what on earth a plat map is and what it’s used for, you’re not alone. Choose the Angle Style that matches your data, such as Quadrant Bearing or Azimuth Bearing.Plat map: file under “things you would never know about unless you were buying a house, and maybe not even then.” A plat map is one of many documents in what seems like a deluge of paperwork a buyer encounters in the homebuying process.Select Decimal Feet for the Number Style.Click the Number Style button at the bottom of the dialog and in the Dialog Number/Angle Style dialog: Notice that the Start Point is (0,0), which is the location of the current point that you just created. Select CAD> Lines> Input Line to open the New CAD Line dialog once again.From the menu, select CAD> Lines> North Pointer, then click and drag the line upward to create a North Pointer pointing up to the top of the screen.This is the current point and will serve as the Start Point for the first line of the plot plan. Select Absolute Location, define the point's position at (0,0) for the X Position and Y Position, then click OK.Select CAD> Points> Input Point from the menu to open the New CAD Point dialog.Converting a plot plan to a terrain perimeter.Displaying line length, angle, and arc radius information.This article describes how to create an accurate plot plan by inputting lines, arcs and setbacks using the CAD tools available in Chief Architect. How is this accomplished?Ī plot plan is essentially a map of a property's legal description. I would like to know how to create a plot plan in Chief Architect. The information in this article applies to: