This system describes property lines based on local markers and bounds drawn by humans, often based on topography. The original colonies (including their derivatives Maine, Vermont, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia) continued the British system of metes and bounds. It has been expanded and slightly modified by Letters of Instruction and Manuals of Instruction, issued by the General Land Office and the Bureau of Land Management and continues in use in most of the states west of Pennsylvania, south to Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi, west to the Pacific Ocean, and north into the Arctic in Alaska. The system was created by the Land Ordinance of 1785. 3.2 Understanding property descriptions.The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced in 2000 an updated manual is currently under preparation. The survey was 'the first mathematically designed system and nationally conducted cadastral survey in any modern country' and is 'an object of study by public officials of foreign countries as a basis for land reform.' The detailed survey methods to be applied for the PLSS are described in a series of Instructions and Manuals issued by the General Land Office, the latest edition being the 'The Manual of Instructions for the Survey of the Public Lands Of The United States, 1973' available from the U.S. It is sometimes referred to as the rectangular survey system, although non rectangular methods such as meandering can also be used. Its basic units of area are the township and section. The Public Land Survey System (PLSS) is a method used in the United States to survey and identify land parcels, particularly for titles and deeds of rural, wild or undeveloped land.

Township and range system geology