This document summarizes the Wisconsin Land Survey Network project. It describes the Public Land Survey System used in Wisconsin since the 1830s to divide land into townships, sections, and smaller subdivisions. It outlines the goals of creating an improved statewide dataset of PLSS data by integrating local county data and the existing DNR Landnet dataset where local data is unavailable. The project will follow standards for coordinate system, data model, and deliverables to create a replicable and updatable statewide PLSS dataset.

1. Wisconsin Land Survey Network
A Statewide
(geospatial dataset)
Representation of the
PLSS
www.sco.wisc.edu

2. Public Land Survey
System (PLSS)
 Rectangular grid system of land
description used in Wisconsin: original
survey commenced – 1830’s
 Land is described by location from a
principal meridian and baseline.
 Further division of land into townships,
sections, quarter sections, quarter-
quarter sections.

3. DNR Landnet
 WDNR, 1990s
 Derived from USGS 24K topos
 Statewide inventory of PLSS features
 Framework for representing WDNR-managed lands
 Linkage to survey-level data

4. County PLSS
data is
available!

5. Coordinate Accuracy
Section Corner Comparison:
Landnet vs. Outagamie County

6. Coordinate Accuracy
 740 points used in accuracy analysis
 Mean distance between Landnet and county
corner points: 8.93 m
 Maximum distance: 84.90 m
 Minimum distance: 0.19 m

10. SCO Project Goals & Objectives
 Create an improved dataset of statewide PLSS data
 Improved coordinates in participating counties
 Integration of Landnet where local data unavailable
 Replicable data model for statewide data integration
 Broad access to data
 Simple update and maintenance process

11. SCO Project Requirements
 NAD83 (1991)
 Store multiple coordinate values per corner point
 Select one corner point for map display
 Preserve Landnet coordinates and IDs (backwards
compatibility to Landnet)
 Accommodate third-level PLSS subdivision
(quarter-quarter)

12. Requirements (cont.)
 Persistent point contact information
 Multiple URL storage per point
 Topological consistency
 Storage of external metadata
 Highly portable deliverables
 Forward compatibility to national standard

13. SCO Project Expectations
 Phase I:
 Pilot study using 9 counties
 Solicit partners and support
 Finalize data model and data integration procedures
 Geodatabase of study counties PLSS data
 Phase II:
 Statewide coverage (non-PLSS areas – long lots, metes
& bounds, etc.)
 Distribution network (web-mapping
application, download)

14. Pilot Project
Study Area
 Varied status of
remonumentation
 Abundance of diverse
meander features
 Non-PLSS data
 Data availability

15. What’s in it for you?
 Updated dataset of PLSS points and polygons in
Wisconsin
 PLSS points with greater accuracy where county data
available
 Robust metadata from county sources
 Multiple delivery methods
(geodatabase, shapefiles, GPS, KML, web-mapping
application)
 Regular update cycle

16. Why Are We Here?
 Your chance to provide
comments, critiques,
suggestions
 How would this
dataset benefit you?
 Brief online survey

17. PLSSFinder
Timothy Kennedy
Program Specialist
608-890-3793
ttkennedy@wisc.edu
WHAIFinder
Brenda Hemstead
Data Services Professional
608-263-4371
hemstead@wisc.edu
ControlFinder
www.sco.wisc.edu