Terms and Definitions

ALTA/ACSM Survey: a surveying standard jointly proposed by the American Land Title Association and the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping. This survey incorporates elements of the boundary survey, mortgage survey, and topographic survey. ALTA/ACSM surveys, frequently shortened to ALTA surveys, are often required for major real estate transactions. Normally which are commerical properties.

As-Built Survey: a survey conducted several times during a construction project to verify, for local and state boards (USA), that the work authorized was completed to the specifications set on the Plot Plan or Site Plan. This usually entails a complete survey of the site to confirm that the structures, utilities, and roadways proposed were built in the proper locations authorized in the Plot Plan or Site Plan. As-builts are usually done 2-3 times during the building of a house; once after the foundation has been poured; once after the walls are put up; and at the completion of construction.

Boundary Survey: A boundary survey is a survey to establish the boundaries of a parcel using its legal description which typically involves the setting or restoration of monuments or markers at the corners or along the lines of the parcel, often in the form of iron rods, pipes, or concrete monuments in the ground, or nails set in concrete or asphalt. In the past, wooden posts, blazes in trees, piled stone corners or other types of monuments have also been used. A map or plat is then drafted from the field data to provide a representation of the parcel surveyed.

Erosion and Sediment Control Plan: a plan that is drawn in conjunction with a Subdivision Plan that denotes how upcoming construction activities will effect the movement of stormwater and sediment across the construction site and onto abutting properties and how developers will adjust grading activities to limit the depositing of more stormwater and sediment onto abutting properties than was done prior to construction.

Plot Plan or Site Plan: a proposal plan for a construction site that include all existing and proposed conditions on a given site. The existing and proposed conditions always include structures, utilities, roadways, topography, and wetlands delineation and location if necessary. The plan might also, but not always, include hydrology, drainage flows, endangered species habitat, FEMA Federal Flood Insurance Reference Maps and traffic patterns.

Subdivision Plan: a plot or map based on a survey of a parcel of land. Boundary lines are drawn inside the larger parcel to indicated the creation of new boundary lines and roads . The number and location of plats, or the newly created parcels, are usually discussed back and forth between the developer and the surveyor until they are agreed upon. At this point monuments, usually in the form of square concrete blocks or iron rods or pins, are driven into the ground to mark the lot corners and curve ends, and the plat is recorded in the cadastre (USA, elsewhere) or land registry (UK). In some jurisdictions, the recording or filing of a subdivision plat is highly regulated. The final map or plat becomes, in effect, a contract between the developer and the city or county, determining what can be built on the property and under what conditions. Always upon finally completion of a subdivision an As-Built Plan is required by the local government. This is done so that the roadway constructed therein will pass ownership from the developer to said local government by way of a contract called a Covenant. When this stage is completed the roadways will now be maintained, repaved, swept, and plowed (if necessary for your geographic region) by the local government