GPS for measuring and platting?

[MNBobcat]

Hi All,

I've been doing some googling but so far no luck. I know someone here will have some suggestions.

I have about a 12 - 15 acre field in which I'm going to be installing deer exclusion fencing and then a vineyard. I am interested in (I assume) a GPS device that I could use to, for example, locate the 4 corners of my fence. Basically, to help with laying out where things need to go.

I know surveyors have those sorts of things and I hear they are terribly expensive pieces of equipment. Don't really want to hire a surveyor if I have other choices. I'm wondering if there isn't some kind of hand held GPS or the like that would allow me to do it myself? Anyone have any ideas/suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[mddorange]

Some people say that you can use an app on a smartphone.

 

[MNBobcat]

Some people say that you can use an app on a smartphone.

I found an iphone app but the GPS on the iphone is only accurate to about 15 feet.

 

[NWOutlawMX]

I'm going through this same thing and have searched for hours. There really are no truly accurate, cheap units. The big question is if any of the fence lines are on a property line? In my situation I am getting ready to put a 18' access gate to my property. I only have an easement for 25' so with the pillars I have no room for error. I checked the county maps and previous surveys looking for the corner monument that was supposed to be set in '98 to no avail. Even rented a metal detector looking for the pin with no luck, so I was out of options.

I called a local surveyor and he quoted me $400 to find the corner and update the monument and mark off 50' down the property line. One thing to keep in mind also is when they provide the service they are also required to file it with the county so you now have you're property line on record and if the neighbor tries to contest the line, they would be able to defend you in court. Note - Surveyors can't decide property disputes, only the court can do that, but if you have a licensed surveyor odds are good you'll get sided with.

Here's an example that's happening around here - a couple bought some property next to an existing land owner and because of a feature of the terrain or something they asked if they could use the corner as an access or get some sort of easement or agreement. The landowner was evidently extremely rude and declined. There must have been something already there or some reason they suspected they had a right to the section in question so they went and hired a surveyor. Turns out the existing property line was incorrect and half of the existing landowners barn and garage are over the line. They are still tied up in court but he's going to have to remove the portions over the line.

IMO - If you're going to invest in a fence and vineyard, might as well invest in making sure it gets to stay there.

 

[Redneck in training]

You can get a GPS with WAAS that is at best condition (unobstructed view of sky and WAAS transmitter nearby) precise to about 3ft of absolute error. Assuming that the error is about the same for all corners and averaging several measurement you might get reasonable good results.
If you can see all four corners then you can use surveyor transit (optical device). It will let you measure or set horizontal angles. So with some simple trigonometry you could place the corners with pretty good precision.

 

[treefarmerguy]

Gps will give you latitude and longitude. Most old deeds will list only compass bearings. I've had good lock with a sighting compass which can be found at Forestry Suppliers or Ben Meadows.

 

[Deerherd]

For what you describe, there is an App for that. As long as you aren't trying to locate actual lot lines or crowding a border, these work very well.

The one I use is Measure Map. I have attached a screenshot of a quick outline in a field. A guy who does roofing estimates turned me on to it and it's a great app for any business that needs to estimate areas.

 

[MNBobcat]

My property is all surveyed and I know where the markers are. The fence will be set about 15 feet inside the property line. Mostly what I want to be able to do is mark locations of things fairly accurately. So for example, my fence corners will need to be so many feet apart as I have fixed amounts of wire fencing. I can roll the distance with a wheel but its a lot f messing around to get things square. Would love to be able to look at a display amd walk to the point where I need to be. Accuracy on the vineyard is more important than the fence.

I'll do some reading on the GPS with WAAS. Thanks!

 

[/pine]

You can rent a theodolite that can find Mag. N on it's own...if you have a plat and can find and set the instrument up over a known corner monument etc...the instrument will do everything you want and the newest ones will give you GPS coordinates for anywhere along any of the lines...

You might see if you can rent an instrument that comes with a laptop that has all the software installed to do a "closure" from just one position if the terrain is fairly flat...

One caveat...:
Many times the angles (deg./min./sec...) marked on property plats are vectors and not bearings...

 

[newbury]

Like /pine wrote. See if you can rent a handheld survey unit.
In

at the 36 second 50 second, 1 minute 50 second you'll see a guy holding a "Contour". This hooked into a laptop and gave VERY precise measurements.

I used to train soldiers to use these, very simple, about an hour lesson. We used them primarily for mapping minefields in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Undoubtedly there are similar cheaper units now.

As an aside when we used the Contour beside a road in our training sessions we would invariably get someone slamming on the brakes because they thought we were running a speed trap.