SLIG 2019 Course Highlight: Metes & Bounds Land Platting

Description:
This course develops land-plat skills and the ability to use land plats to solve genealogical problems. Topics include:

• motivation;
• reading/abstracting metes & bounds legal land description;
• hand drawing plats;
• computer platting;
• platting over base maps (including USGS);
• resolving common plat problems (meanders, multiple meanders, imprecise boundary descriptions);
• constructing connected tract maps; and
• geo-locating base maps and results. 

A portfolio of practicum problems allow students to select exercises that stress a specific skills, align with their own research, as cover different geographic locales. 

Instructors:

Gerald Smith, CG
Barbara J. Ball, CG
Kimberly Powell

Richard G. Sayre, CG, CGL, FUGA

Prerequisites: Students should have:

• Exposure to legal land descriptions (metes & bounds or PLSS) in land documents such as deeds, patents, surveys, etc. The ability to decipher and understand these descriptions is not necessary.
• Familiarity with their laptop computing environment; students must know how to read files from a flash drive; create folders; save files to folders.
• Awareness of USGS maps. SLIG/IGHR/GRIPitt courses in land or map research often present this topic. This course will include a refresher dealing with the aspects relevant to platting.
• A desire to learn-by-doing in a practicum environment where the students works to solve a variety of problems under the tutelage of experts during practicum sessions. Over half of the course time will be practicum work.

Software Requirements:
Students are required to arrive with DeedMapper installed on a laptop (version 4.1 or later; current version is 4.2) that they will use during the course. No previous experience with the software is necessary; the course is designed to develop basic DeedMapper skills as well as cover advanced DeedMaper topics (software customization, time lines, geolocating, exporting results). Students spend a significant amount of this course using DeedMapper to work practicum problems. Arriving with the software installed on your laptop is essential!

Registration: Registration opens Saturday, 7 July 2018. For more detailed information please visit www.slig.ugagenealogy.org.