FLORIDA GEOGRAPHIC DATA LIBRARY DOCUMENTATION
VERSION 2006

TITLE: FLORIDA PUBLIC LAND SURVEY SYSTEM

Geodataset Name:       PLSS
Geodataset Type:       SHAPEFILE
Geodataset Feature:    POLYGON
GENERAL DESCRIPTION:
The Public Land Survey System is a legal land reference system created to facilitate the inventory and transfer of property. This system is divided into township, range, and sections. This shapefile contains PLSS boundaries to the section level, while FPLSS_TR contains PLSS boundaries to the township and range level.
DATA SOURCE(S):                    FLORIDA RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS CENTER
                                   FLORIDA WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICTS
SCALE OF ORIGINAL SOURCE MAPS:     1:24,000
DATE OF AUTOMATION OF SOURCE:      Source 1840, Automated 1998, Enhanced 2003
GEODATASET EXTENT:                 State of Florida

FEATURE ATTRIBUTE TABLES:

Datafile Name: PLSS.DBF
ITEM NAME WIDTH TYPE N. DECIMAL DEGREES
FID
4 OID ---
Shape
0 Geometry ---
OBJECTID
10 Number ---
TRS_WATSON
9 String ---
COUNT
11 Number ---
TRS_LIBRAR
16 String ---
SECTION_
3 String ---
TOWNSHIP
2 String ---
RANGE
2 String ---
TD
1 String ---
RD
1 String ---
COUNTY
12 String ---
DESCRIPT
16 String ---
SHAPE_AREA
19 Float 11
SHAPE_LEN
19 Float 11

FEATURE ATTRIBUTE TABLES CODES AND VALUES:

Item
Item Description
FID Internal feature number.

Shape Feature geometry.

OBJECTID Internal feature number.

TRS_WATSON Township, Range, Section numbers (3 digit section numbers) Identification for PLSS mapping in proximity of Watson's Line in Northern Florida

COUNT Number of TRS areas consolidated to form current TRS area

TRS_LIBRAR Township, Range, Section number (2 digit section numbers)

SECTION_ Section number based on 'TRS_WATSON'

TOWNSHIP Township based on 'TRS_WATSON'

RANGE Range based on 'TRS_WATSON'

TD Township directional unit (N = North S = South)

RD Range directional unit (E = East W = West)

COUNTY County that the section is located within (some section go over county lines)

DESCRIPT FGDL added field based on 'TRS_LIBRAR'

SHAPE_AREA Area of feature in internal units squared.

SHAPE_LEN Length of section in meters

USER NOTES:
GeoPlan relied on the integrity of the attribute information within the original data.

This data set was modified by GeoPlan center in 2002 using GIS techniques to summarize sections. This eliminated many slivers and drastically reduced the size of the dataset. This causes the county boundry field in the shapefile to be slightly inaccurate. Sections that cross over county boundary lines will only get one county name. This data set documents how the original PLSS looked when it was created in the early 1800's. This, along with the original field notes, serve as the documentation for many legal boundaries in Florida. These boundaries are set and the data layer will not change.

A note concerning data scale:

Scale is an important factor in data usage. Certain scale 
datasetsare not suitable for some project, analysis, or
modelling purposes. Please be sure you are using the best
available data.

1:24000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that 
are at the county level.

1:24000 data should NOT be used for high accuracy base 
mapping such as property parcel boundaries.

1:100000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that 
are at the multi-county or regional level.

1:250000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that 
are at the regional or state level or larger.

Vector datasets with no defined scale or accuracy should 
be considered suspect. Make sure you are familiar with 
your data before using it for projects or analyses. Every 
effort has been made to supply the user with data 
documentation. For additional information, see the 
References sectionand the Data Source Contact section of 
this documentation. For more information regarding scale 
and accuracy, see our web pages at:

http://www.geoplan.ufl.edu/education.html
REFERENCES:
http://rockyweb.cr.usgs.gov
DATA LINEAGE SUMMARY:

The orginal data was in both DLG and Coverage format 
depending on the source. Source data was converted to 
coverage. The data then existed in previous versions of 
FGDL (i.e. FGDL V3 or less) as county data sets. The 
coverages were merged together. Next the eliminate 
command was run in Arcinfo Workstation. Then the 
Coverage was converted to a shapefile and a dissolve 
was excuted. The dissolve was used in order to change 
all sections with multiple polygons into one section.

-Reprojected data to FGDL Albers
-Set Precision to DOUBLE
-Set Tolerances to FGDL Standards
-Added DESCRIPT item based on 'TRS_LIBRAR'
Process Date: 20030000

MAP PROJECTION PARAMETERS:

Projection                          ALBERS
Datum                               HPGN
Units                               METERS
Spheroid                            GRS1980
1st Standard Parallel               24  0  0.000
2nd Standard Parallel               31 30  0.000
Central Meridian                   -84 00  0.000
Latitude of Projection's Origin     24  0  0.000
False Easting (meters)              400000.00000
False Northing (meters)             0.00000

DATA SOURCE CONTACT (S):

Name:
Abbr. Name:
Address:


Phone:

Web site:
E-mail:
Contact Person:
         Phone:
        E-mail:
FLORIDA RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS CENTER
FREAC
Florida Resources & Environmental Analysis Center
Tallahassee, FL

(850) 644-5447

http://www.labins.org
Name:                   SOUTH FLORIDA WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT
Abbr. Name:             SFWMD
Address:                South Florida Water Management District
                        P.O. Box 24680
                        301 Gun Club Rd
                        West Palm Beach, FL 33416-4680
Phone:                  1-800-662-turn  or  (561) 686-8800
Web site:               http://www.sfwmd.gov   
Contact Person:         GIS Data Administrator
         Phone:         (561) 687- 6718

Name:                   SOUTH WEST FLORIDA WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT
Abbr. Name:             SWFWMD
Address:                South West Florida Water Management District
                        2379 Broad St.
                        Brooksville, FL 34609-6899
Phone:                  (352) 796-7211
Web site:               http://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us
Contact Person:         GIS Data Administrator
         Phone:         (352) 796-7211

Name:                   SUWANNEE RIVER WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT
Abbr. Name:             SRWMD
Address:                Suwannee River Water Management District
                        Route 3
                        Box 64
                        Live Oak Fl 32060
Phone:                  1-800-226-1066  or  (904)362-1001
Web site:               http://www.srwmd.state.fl.us
Contact Person:         GIS Data Administrator
         Phone:         (904) 362-1001

Name:                   ST. JOHN'S RIVER WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT
Abbr. Name:             SJRWMD
Address:                St. John's River Water Management District
                        P.O. Box 1429
                        Palatka FL 32178-1429
Phone:                  (904) 329-4500
Fax:                    1-800-451-7106
Web site:               http://sjr.state.fl.us
Contact Person:         GIS Data Administrator
FGDL CONTACT:
Name:                   FLORIDA GEOGRAPHIC DATA LIBRARY
Abbr. Name:             FGDL
Address:                Florida Geographic Data Library
                        431 Architecture Building
                        PO Box 115706
                        Gainesville, FL  32611-5706
Web site:               http://www.fgdl.org

Contact FGDL: 

      Technical Support:	        http://www.fgdl.org/fgdlfeed.html
      FGDL Frequently Asked Questions:  http://www.fgdl.org/fgdlfaq.html
      FGDL Mailing Lists:		http://www.fgdl.org/fgdl-l.html
      For FGDL Software:                http://www.fgdl.org/software.html