A Surveyor s Debate- GPS Surveying v. Old School Metes & Bounds

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1 A Surveyor s Debate- GPS Surveying v. Old School Metes & Bounds 2012 Texas Land Title Institute Presented by: W. Michael Evans, RPLS, LSLS, Great Southwestern Land Surveyors LLC Jamie Gillis, RPLS, PLS, Geomatic Resources, LLC Bobby Stovall, RPLS, Stovall & Associates Land Surveying and Kincy Abstract & Sabine Title Company Bruce D. Liesman, CAEA, CTIA, National Investors Title Insurance Company

2 W. Michael Evans Registered Professional Land Surveyor Licensed State Land Surveyor Michael Evans earned his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, majoring in entrepreneurship. He became a Registered Professional Land Surveyor in 1988 and is also a Licensed State Land Surveyor. His surveying experience includes a broad spectrum of project types, such as, boundary surveys for commercial, urban, and rural tracts, topographic surveying for municipal, architectural and civil engineering applications, construction surveying for commercial buildings, chemical plants and water/wastewater facilities, commercial and residential subdivision planning, oil & gas lease surveys and well permitting. He is also available to consult on surveying issues relating to the ownership of state land, i.e., the location of excess and vacancies in and between Original Texas Land Grants, coastal boundaries, and gradient boundary along the beds of navigable streams. His achievements include serving as Principal and Senior Project Manager to permit all of the Barnett Shale wells in the Fort Worth/Dallas Metroplex for ExxonMobil and Harding Energy Partners. He is currently working on the surveying necessary to develop a 150,000 acre lease block in Deep East Texas. He has also worked for EOG Resources, Pecan Pipeline, Energy Transfer, Devon, and XTO. In addition, he managed several midstream petroleum pipeline surveying projects. He served as the Senior Field Engineer on the construction of the Bass Towers in downtown Fort Worth, Texas and the Oklahoma Natural Gas Tower in Tulsa, Oklahoma, performed a control survey for the mapping of the University of Texas at Arlington campus, and provided construction staking for the Hulen Towers and for the Alcon office building and campus expansion in Fort Worth, Texas. Additional achievements include conducting surveys for the Student Life Center, Sports Complex, George Truett Seminary, and Armstrong Browning Library of Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Also, Mr. Evans oversaw a major portion of the layout for Railport in Midlothian, Texas, including; 10 miles of railroad, 2.5 miles of major drainage improvements, and the Target Distribution Center Warehouse Complex. In addition, Mr. Evans has planned and surveyed many major residential subdivisions all over north central and central Texas. Mr. Evans is a member of the American Congress on Surveying & Mapping, National Society of Professional Surveyors, and Texas Society of Professional Surveyors. He is currently serving as member of the TSPS Board of Directors, and as President of Central Texas Chapter 3. He has served as the TSPS liaison to the Texas Land Title Association for many years, and he serves on the TSPS Governmental Affairs Committee having had a key role in passing many major pieces of surveying legislation through the Texas Legislature. In 1992, TSPS conferred the Young Surveyor of the Year award upon Mr. Evans, and in 1997, he was recognized for his outstanding achievement in community service by receiving the Vern Wayne Hanon Award. Mr. Evans has also served as an Adjunct Professor of Surveying at Texas State Technical College and he is the author of several published articles about surveying.

3 Education: Bachelor of Business Administration Baylor Univeristy, Waco, Texas Registration: Licensed State Land Surveyor State of Texas Registered Professional Land Surveyor State of Texas - No State of Utah - No Professional Affiliation: Texas Society of Professional Surveyors Utah Council of Land Surveyors National Society of Professional Surveyors American Congress on Surveying and Mapping Professional Experience: JEA/HydroTech Inc. Great Southwestern Surveyors of Texas Brown & Root, Inc. Linbeck Construction Corp. Haws and Garrett, Inc. Jones & Carter, Inc.

4 Jamie Gillis, RPLS, PLS is currently the Technical Support Specialist at Geomatic Resources in Irving, Texas. He provides training and technical support for Leica Geosystems GPS, Robotics, Total Stations, and Data Collection to Land Surveying Professionals in North Texas and Oklahoma. Jamie brings a strong background in the surveying industry, and his high level of professionalism and survey knowledge to the Geomatic Resources team. His experience covers a wide range of surveying duties. His background includes serving as Instrument Man, Survey Assistant, Party Chief, Offshore Survey Technician, Project manager, and Professional Land Surveyor. His early surveying experience includes performing numerous field assignments in Nova Scotia, Canada. Jamie has varied International surveying experience, having worked in Eastern and North-western Canada, as well as Bolivia and Argentina, before moving to Texas in Recently, he has served as RPLS/ Project Manager for a number of natural gas gathering pipeline projects, oil & gas lease and location surveys, boundary, topographic, and hydrographic surveys and has been involved with offshore positioning and metrology, monitoring & logging surface & sub-surface positioning data in the Gulf of Mexico. Jamie is a Registered Professional Land Surveyor in Texas and Louisiana, and is very active in the Texas Society of Professional Surveyors, where he is the Chair of the Public Relations Committee and is the President of TSPS North Central Texas Chapter, No. 2. He holds a PBC in Geographic Information Sciences from Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi. He also received a BA in History and Political Science from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

5 Bobby Stovall Bobby Stovall is a Registered Professional Land Surveyor and licensed Independent Title Agent and Escrow Officer through the State of Texas. He is the owner of Stovall & Associates, a land surveying company operating out of Hunt County, Texas, since His surveying experience has covered many different areas of the survey practice including boundary, residential, subdivision, commercial, utility, topographical, and street and highway. In 1990, he purchased Kincy Abstract & Sabine Title Company, a land title insurance company in Hunt County, Texas, to complement his existing business interest. Being the owner of both a land surveying company and title company affords Bobby a unique perspective into the requirements and issues both industries deal with on a daily basis. It has also provided the opportunity to work with various county appraisal districts in researching ownership, identifying and mapping each tax parcel, and maintaining the tax databases in each county. This was done manually in the earlier days of technology and progressed today into management through geographic information systems (GIS). Bobby is a graduate of Texas A&M University (Class of 76) with a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering Technology, Civil Surveying. He is a member of the Texas Society of Professional Land Surveyors, Texas Land Title Association, and American Land Title Association.

6 Bruce D. Liesman, CAEA, CTIA Professional Experience current President of Texas Land Title Association National Investors Title Insurance Company Chief Texas Counsel & Vice President Independence Title Company General Counsel & Vice President Alamo Title Insurance/ Fidelity National Title Insurance San Antonio, Texas Senior Underwriting Counsel Vice President United General Title Insurance Company San Antonio, Texas Chief Divisional Counsel Vice President Education Juris Doctorate University of Texas School of Law BA Drama and Theater Production University of Texas at Austin Achievements current Texas Land Title Association Title Person of the Year Award Professional certification through TLTA CAEA Certified Abstract and Examination Associate CTIA Certified Title Insurance Associate Outstanding Young Title Person Award Peggy Hayes Teaching Excellence Award President s Award for Outstanding Service Frequent Speaker and Teacher at Texas Land Title Association, State Bar, Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) and other real estate related organizations in Texas

7 Manual of Practice for Land Surveying in Texas created by the Texas Society of Professional Surveyors Category 1A: Land Title Survey. A comprehensive investigation and evaluation of significant factors affecting and influencing the location of the boundaries, ownership lines, rights of way and easements within or immediately surrounding a particular parcel of real estate. The focus is directly on the purpose of insuring title. See info at Also see ALTA (American Land Title Association) and ACSM (American Congress on Surveying and Mapping Survey requirements effective February 23, s.pdf

8 Priority and Dignity of Calls in a Metes and Bounds description Excerpts from Stafford v King 30 Tex 257 Judge: Smith, J. It has been often said by this court that the general rules are, that the location should be governed, first, by natural objects or boundaries, such as rivers, lakes, creeks, etc.; second, artificial marks, such as marked [**20] trees, lines, stakes, etc.; and, third, course and distance. The true and correct location of the land is ascertained by the application of all or any of these rules to the particular case. And when they lead to contrary results or confusion, that rule must be adopted which is most consistent with the intention apparent upon the face of the patent, read in the light of the surrounding facts and circumstances. The identification of the actual survey, as made by the surveyor, is the desideratum of all these rules. The footsteps of the surveyor must be followed, and the above rules are found to afford the best and most unerring guides to enable one to do so.

9 : Texas Administrative Code <<Prev Rule Texas Administrative Code Next Rule>> TITLE 22 PART 29 CHAPTER 663 SUBCHAPTER B RULE EXAMINING BOARDS TEXAS BOARD OF PROFESSIONAL LAND SURVEYING STANDARDS OF RESPONSIBILITY AND RULES OF CONDUCT PROFESSIONAL AND TECHNICAL STANDARDS Boundary Construction (a) When delineating a property or boundary line as an integral portion of a survey, the land surveyor shall respect junior/senior property rights, footsteps of the original land surveyor, the record, the intent as evidenced by the record, the proper application of the rules of dignity or the priority of calls, and applicable statutory and case law of Texas. (b) Appropriate deeds and/or other documents including those for adjoining parcels shall be relied upon for the location of the boundaries of the subject parcel(s). (c) A land surveyor assuming the responsibility of performing a land survey also assumes the responsibility for such research of adequate thoroughness to support the determination of the location of intended boundaries of the land parcel surveyed. The land surveyor may rely on record data related to the determination of boundaries furnished for the registrants' use by a qualified provider, provided the registrant reasonably believes such data to be sufficient and notes, references, or credits the documentation by which it is furnished. (d) All boundaries shall be connected to identifiable physical monuments related to corners of record dignity. In the absence of such monumentation the land surveyor's opinion of the boundary location shall be supported by other appropriate physical evidence which shall be explained in a land surveyor's report. Source Note: The provisions of this adopted to be effective September 1, 1992, 17 TexReg 5544; amended to be effective September 20, 1998, 23 TexReg 9343; amended to be effective July 1, 2008, 33 TexReg 5008 Next Page Previous Page 8:18:57 AM]

10 : Texas Administrative Code <<Prev Rule Texas Administrative Code Next Rule>> TITLE 22 PART 29 CHAPTER 663 SUBCHAPTER B RULE EXAMINING BOARDS TEXAS BOARD OF PROFESSIONAL LAND SURVEYING STANDARDS OF RESPONSIBILITY AND RULES OF CONDUCT PROFESSIONAL AND TECHNICAL STANDARDS Monumentation (a) All monuments set by registered professional land surveyors shall be set at sufficient depth to retain a stable and distinctive location and be of sufficient size to withstand the deteriorating forces of nature and shall be of such material that in the land surveyor's judgment will best achieve this goal. (b) When delineating a property or boundary line as an integral portion of a survey (survey being defined in the Act, (6) or (8)), the land surveyor shall set, or leave as found, sufficient, stable and reasonably permanent survey markers to represent or reference the property or boundary corners, angle points, and points of curvature or tangency. (1) All survey markers shall be shown and described with sufficient evidence of the location of such markers on the land surveyors' plat. If the land surveyor shall prepare a written description of the surveyed premise, he/she shall include in that written description: (A) reference to and a description of the survey markers as shown on the plat; and (B) the seal and signature of a registered or licensed land surveyor. (2) In addition, the land surveyor may furnish an electronic copy of a written description provided that the text is verbatim to that on the certified document retained in the land surveyor's file. (c) All metes and bounds description prepared for easements shall be tied to physical monuments of record related to the boundary of the affected tract. (d) Where practical, all monuments set by Professional Land Surveyors to delineate or witness a boundary corner shall be marked in a way that is traceable to the responsible registrant or associated employer. Source Note: The provisions of this adopted to be effective September 1, 1992, 17 TexReg 5544; amended to be effective September 20, 1998, 23 TexReg 9343; amended to be effective January 10, 1999, 24 TexReg 139; amended to be effective January 27, 2004, 29 TexReg 636; amended to be effective July 1, 2008, 33 TexReg 5009; amended to be effective November 17, 2008, 33 TexReg 9249 Next Page Previous Page 8:19:43 AM]

Standards of Practice for Surveying in the State of Alabama

Standards of Practice for Surveying in the State of Alabama Effective January 1, 2017 RULE NO. 1.01 PURPOSE The purpose of these rules is to establish standards for the practice of surveying in the State