AutoCAD Data Dictionary

Public Land Survey Section Subdivision Lines

See metadata information on datum and other reference information employed for basis of Public Land Survey System lines.  Public land survey lines can be found on the layers listed below:

SCTNLIN - all computed section lines.

QTRLIN - all computed quarter section lines.

SIXLIN - all computed quarter-quarter section lines.

SCTNDLIN - grid line locations for map handling and general data management purposes only.  This layer will not plot on parcel maps.

Parcel Text

All text for parcel features can be found on the layers listed below:

PLATTXT - all subdivision plat names, highway right-of-way plat names, registered land survey names and CIC names.

BLKTXT - subdivision plat block numbers.

LOTTXT - subdivision plat lot numbers, outlot letters, registered land survey tract letters, geocoded highway right-of-way plat parcels, park labels (when shown and dedicated on a recorded plat), and labels for condominium buildings. Where highway right of way plat parcels are not geocoded but called for in a legal description the r/w parcels are occasionally shown on this layer to help the user.

DIMTXT - parcel dimensions.
 
PARKTXT - all park names, federal, state, county, and municipal.  
 
NOTETXT - notational text to label a boundary.

DTLTXT - text that represents an exploded detail view of an area.

GOVLTXT - identification for United States Public Land Survey Government Lots.

GOVTXT - names for adjoining counties or states.

PCNRLBL - parcel geocode. (see items 1-4 below)

1) As an attribute code to the specific parcel the geocode maintains 13 digits. On the hard copy plot the user generally finds only the last 4 digits having been stripped down from 13 to provide added map clarity. As the general rule these 13 digits are found without dashes with layer name PCNRLBL. This is maintained in the geocode field and the last four digits are automatically put into parentheses and drawn on the hard copy maps in the location where the 13 digits were entered in the AutoCAD process. In cases where there are two or more separate polygons which do not adjoin each other but which are covered by only one geocode, the same geocode number is placed in each polygon with one of the geocodes having a trailing "X" at the end. These duplicate geocodes are managed as one in the data system.

2) In cases where a single parcel extends into two or more sections, the parcel is divided at the section line and the polygons are created as follows.  Layer TXNTLIN is used to close the parcel at the section line.  A geocode on layer PCNRLBL will be the label for the parcel in the section where it has been assigned.  For the other portion(s) of the parcel in the adjoining section(s), the parcel is closed at the section line using layer TXNTLIN and a label is added using layer PCNTXLBL containing the full geocode number.  Washington County has designed programs used in GIS analysis and database management to merge polygons with the same geocode.

3) In cases where showing only 4 digits on the parcel map would be confusing to the user, the full 13 digits are used with dashes separating the section, township, range, quarter/quarter, and pin numbers.  When dashes are added to the geocode number in the CAD drawing, the full geocode number and dashes are plotted on the parcel maps for added clarity.  These situations often occur when a parcel spans an area where it is difficult to determine more than just the usual 4 digits.  e.g., A parcel spanning two sections.  Washington County has designed programs used in GIS analysis and database management to remove the dashes.

4) In some cases the parcel area is too small to hold the four digit code in parentheses. Here the 13 digit geocode with no dashes and a trailing X is placed inside the parcel using layer PCNRLBL. The 13 digits are maintained in the geocode field and nothing will be drawn from this layer on the hard copy maps. In these cases a text label containing the last 4 digits is created under a separate layer called PRLDRTXT for showing on the hard copy maps. An arrow using layer PARLDR is added pointing the text into the parcel.

PCNTLBL - parcel geocode for multi-unit parcels such as condominiums and common interest communities (CIC).

1) Condominiums and common interest communities (CIC) are geocoded with an attribute of 17 digits containing no dashes using layer PCNTLBL. The first 13 digits are the geocode for the first unit in the condo. The last four digits represent the parcel id for the last 4 digits of the last unit in the condo. The units are typically geocoded in consecutive order.  The geocode for the first unit will be maintained in the geocode field. The last eight digits of the original 17 will indicate the identification range for that condo and will be put into a separate field for later use. For this case a label showing the geocode range is shown on the hard copy maps on a separate layer called PRLDRTXT, and an arrow using layer PARLDR is added pointing into the condo, if needed.

PRLDRTXT - used when text for a parcel geocode will not fit inside the parcel polygon, it is labeled outside of the parcel and coded with this layer.  It is also used for identifying ranges of geocodes for condominiums.

EASETXT - all text information relative to public utility/drainage easements except documentation regarding road right of way.

SCRATCH - all text on this layer is used for special notes to help the user who may be working on the drawing in the future.   Layer SCRATCH should not plot on any maps.

Parcel Lines

All parcel lines using layers SDLTLIN, TXLOTLIN, SRVLIN, and BLDGLIN are based on the recorded plat content or Auditor's legal description with interpretive analysis performed through the use of coordinate geometry software. In cases where the legal descriptions are ambiguous, a check may be made with the actual deed of record. Occasionally in these circumstances one or two legal descriptions back in the chain of record are researched, but limits on time and resources often prevent this.   When possible survey records such as road plans, certificates of survey and other items on file in the County Surveyor's Office are used.  Where lines are not defined by plan or description, information may be digitized but this is rare. Resources are not available for making field inspections or surveys to locate parcel boundaries or ownership.

Where occurrences of gaps or overlaps are clear, they are identified.  Generally gaps or overlaps under 3 feet are removed.

In cases of receding shorelines, extended lot lines are shown for small changes. (Refer to SDLTXLIN explanation) When significant changes in water levels occur, extensions may not be possible and may result in ambiguity. In these cases, extended ownership lines are noted as "not defined" and are terminated at previously known limits.

All lines representing the boundary of a parcel are broken at the intersection with a section line.

Parcel lines can be found on the layers listed below:

SDLTLIN - boundary lines for each legally described lot in a subdivision plat, registered land survey and auditor's plat at the time of its recording. SDLTLIN is also used for metes & bounds parcels not within any of the aforesaid subdivisions. See taxlot for lines representing geocoded (county property tax system) ownership.

TXLOTLIN - boundary lines for each geocoded parcel (county property tax system). This symbol appears independently from sidelot in cases where there are splits of platted lots. Generally the user will find sidelot and taxlot coexisting due to most platted lots having never been formally subdivided further.

PLATLIN - original recorded boundaries for all subdivision plats, registered land surveys and county auditor plats. Where a plat boundary adjoins a meandered lake and the water level has risen above the original plat boundary, PLATLIN is drawn along the current shoreline instead of along the platted shoreline.  In cases where a subdivision plat has been replatted, underlying plat boundaries made obsolete are not shown.

RWPLTLIN - boundary of recorded highway right-of-plats, street right-of-way plats and ponding plats.

SDLTXLIN - extensions of platted lot lines. In cases where a body of water recedes this symbol is used to extend the lotline to the new shoreline. In cases where the water level rises SDLTLIN is shown to the current shoreline with SDLTXLIN used to represent that portion of the platted lotline under water.

SRVLIN - lines called for in a deed that are added for clarification and reference purposed to aid in following the legal description. This symbol is also used for survey lines shown on a subdivision plat.

BLDGLIN - the exterior lines (perimeter or footprint) of condominium buildings. These are drawn from the information shown on the condominium plat.

LNDTILIN - a landtie symbol (a small line with a hook at each end) with this layer is placed to show connectivity of ownership. It is used when a parcel is located in more than one quarter quarter, or when a parcel is not contiguous.

PARKLIN - the exterior boundary of any park dedicated on a subdivision plat and/or by deed. These boundaries are computed with coordinate geometry software.

ECMPLIN - documented public utility/drainage easements having a width of 20 feet or greater.

EDIGLIN - documented public utility/drainage easements having a width of 20 feet or greater that cannot be computed. These are digitized from aerial photographs or other sources.

DTLLIN - lines that represent an exploded detail view of an area.

DIMLDR - used when a parcel line is too short to fit a dimension along the line. The dimension text is moved to where it will fit and a line symbol coded with this layer is placed pointing from the dimension text to the line that it is actually dimensioning. Also used on both ends of long lines to indicate the start and end points.

LOTLDR - when a lot number does not fit in its given area, it is placed outside that area and a line with this layer is placed pointing from the text to the given area.

PLTLDR - when a plat name does not fit inside of the plat, it is placed outside that area and a line drawn from the plat name into the plat is added with layer PLTLDR.
 
NOTELDR - a pointer line used with layer NOTETXT.

PARLDR - a pointer line used with layer PRLDRTXT.

EASELDR - when layer easetext (easement identification label) does not fit into the public utility/drainage easement polygon, it will be placed outside of its polygon and a line coded with this layer will be drawn pointing from the text into that easement.  This layer is also used to point to a boundary lines of public utility/drainage easements.

General Boundary Text

All text associated with general boundary features can be found on the layers listed below:

MNCETXT - municipality name.

SCHLTXT - school district name. (future)

WSHDTXT - watershed district name. (future)

CMMDTXT - commissioner district name. (future)

Centerlines

Computed road centerline is coded under layers CLMLIN, CLCLIN or CLSLIN. Digitized road centerline is coded under layers CLMTBLIN, CLCTBLIN or CLSTBLIN. Typically digitized road centerlines reference the year of the aerial photograph from which they were created. All road centerlines are broken at their intersections with other centerlines and at section lines.

All centerlines for road features can be found on the layers listed below:

CLCLIN - computed county highway centerlines.

CLCTBLIN - digitized county highway centerlines.

CLMLIN - computed municipal highway centerlines.

CLMTBLIN - digitized municipal highway centerlines.

CLSLIN - computed state highway centerlines.

CLSTBLIN - digitized state highway centerlines.

CLALYLIN - computed alley centerlines that are shown or dedicated on a subdivision plat.  This layer is not plotted on parcel maps.
 
RRLIN - railroad centerlines.

ECNTLIN - public utility/drainage easement centerlines.

Right of Way Lines

Highways owned in fee are represented with a solid line on their perimeter. Highways existing by easement or are undocumented are shown with a dashed line to help identify underlying ownership. Undocumented highway right of way is shown at a distance of 33 feet on each side of centerline for graphical purposes only. The true right of way for undocumented roads has not been determined.

All highway right of way lines for road features can be found on the layers listed below:

RWCLIN - fee interest per deed or subdivision plat dedication for county road or county state aid highway (CSAH) right of way.

RWCELIN - easement interest or undocumented county road or county state aid highway (CSAH) right of way.

RWMLIN - fee interest per deed or subdivision plat dedication for municipal street right of way or alley right of way.

RWMELIN - easement interest or undocumented municipal street right of way.

RWSLIN - fee interest per deed or subdivision plat dedication for state and federal highway right of way.

RWSELIN - easement interest or undocumented state or federal highway right of way.

OLDRWLIN - documented vacated road right of way.

RWPRCLIN - boundary limits of geocoded right of way parcels identified within a right of way plat.

STNLDR - when text for layers costtxt, musttxt and ststtxt is too large to fit inside the street right of way, the name is moved to where it will fit and a line symbol coded with this layer is drawn pointing from the name into the street right of way area.

STRLDR - when text for layer strtext (street documentation) will not fit within the street right of way, it is placed nearby, and an arrow coded with this layer is added from the text pointing into the right of way.
 
RRRWLIN - railroad right of way.

OLDRRLIN - abandoned or vacated railroad right of way.

TRAILLIN - all major public trails such as bike, DNR, equestrian, pedestrian, snowmobile, and walkways.

Right of Way Text

All highway text for road features can be found on the layers listed below:

COSTTXT - all county highway names.

MUSTTXT - all municipal street names.

STSTTXT - all state highway names.

STRTXT - all right angle street text and any additional street information such as supportive documents or recorded book and page numbers.

VACRDTXT - all vacated street and alley text.

RRTXT - all railroad names and necessary additional text.

TRAILTXT - all major public trail names such as: Bike, Pedestrian, Equestrian, Snowmobile, DNR, and Walkways.

Water and Wetland Lines

Water and wetland locations shown are based on 1 inch equals 200 feet aerial photographs. This information has been digitized by Washington County Survey Department staff. Although these aerials may be updated every 5 or 6 years the information in the parcel database may not be updated. Therefore differences may be found when comparing adjoining sites that were digitally mapped at different times. The last aerial flight was in 1996 with its prior flights in 1991 and 1985.

In several instances man-made channels have been created extending from PLSS meandered water bodies. At present the layer WTRLIN is used around these channels to maintain clarity for hard copy plots.

All lines associated with water features can be found on the layers listed below:

RVRLIN - all rivers that are designated by Minnesota DNR protected area index.

WTRLIN - all PLSS meandered lakes that are designated by Minnesota DNR protected area index.

LAKELIN - all ponds and unmeandered bodies of water that are protected by Minnesota DNR protected area index.

WETLLIN - swamp and wetland areas that are protected by Minnesota DNR protected area index.

CDTCHLIN - all county to county ditches and their laterals.

CRKLIN - all creeks, ditches and streams.

OLDSHLIN - previous shoreline per recorded subdivision plat. (delineated when needed for legal description or for clarity)

MENDRLIN - generally not shown on base map. However, in some unique cases, it is used to represent the meander waterline from Public Land Survey notes if it helps clarify the description of a parcel.

WTRLDR - a pointer line that is drawn from text layer WTRTXT notations to the waterline being described.

Water Text

All water text for water features can be found on the layers listed below:

RVRTXT - all river names.

LAKETXT - all lake names.

CRKTXT - text for lowlands, ponds, ditches, and creeks.

WTRTXT - labels identifying protected waters and wetlands. Also notational information stating the source used for showing the shorelines of lakes and rivers.

Polygon Label Points

Text on the following layers are in place for GIS polygon purposes only. They should not plot on any maps.  All parcel polygon label points can be found on the layers listed below:

RWMLBL – used for identifying municipal highway right of way; a label point is added inside the right of way polygon using layer RWMLBL. The right of way polygon will consist of layers RWMLIN, RWMELIN and RWNTLIN. Text associated with layer will be "mun".

RWCLBL – used for identifying county highway right of way; a label point is added inside the right of way polygon using layer RWCLBL. The right of way polygon will consist of layers RWCLIN, RWCELIN and RWNTLIN. Text associated with layer will be "co".

RWSLBL – used for identifying state highway right of way; a label point is added inside the right of way polygon using layer RWSLBL. The right of way polygon will consist of layers RWSLIN, RWSELIN and RWNTLIN. Text associated with layer will be "st".

WTRMNLBL – used for identifying DNR protected meandered lakes; a label point is added inside the water polygon using layer WTRMNLBL. Text associated with layer will be the DNR number (e.g. 82-15p).

WTRDRLBL – used for identifying DNR protected wetlands; a label point is added inside the water polygon using layer WTRDRLBL. Text associated with layer will be the DNR number (e.g. 82-435w).

GAPLBL - used when a parcel of land is ungeocoded or is an apparent gap.  A label point is added inside the polygon on layer GAPLBL.  Text associated with this layer will be as follows: Sec-Twp-Rng-QQ-GXXX. The last three digits will represent a unique number, starting at number one 001 and incrementing by one for each occurrence in each Quarter-Quarter.

CMINTLBL - used when a parcel of land is ungeocoded and is a parcel that other parcels have a common interest in.  A label is added inside the polygon on layer CMINTLBL.  Text is not associated with this layer.

OVRLPLBL - used for parcels that are considered areas of discrepancy.  A label point is added inside the polygon using layer OVRLPLBL. Text associated with this layer will contain a geocode from each parcel within the discrepancy. e.g. (04028211100010402821110003) where geocodes 0402821110001 and 0402821110003 are combined and included in the same polygon.

TRAILLBL – used for identifying public trails.  A label point is added inside the trail polygon using layer TRAILLBL.   Text associated with layer will be "trl".

RRLBL – used for identifying railroad right of way.  A label point is added inside the right of way polygon using layer RRLBL.  Text associated with layer will be "rr".

PCNTXLBL – used as a label point in cases where a parcel extends into two or more sections.  The parcel is divided at the section line and the polygons are created as follows.  Layer TXNTLIN is used to close the parcel at the section line.  A geocode on layer PCNRLBL will be the label for the parcel in the section where it has been assigned.  For the other portion(s) of the parcel in the adjoining section, the parcel is closed at the section line using layer TXNTLIN and a label is added using layer PCNTXLBL containing the full geocode number.  Washington County has designed programs used in GIS analysis and database management to merge polygons with the same geocode.

TXXLBL – used for labeling miscellaneous polygons within the parcel polygon coverage to ensure full polygon topology at the section level.  Areas that may have this type of label point include ungeocode areas such as: dedicated road right of way, water areas, etc.   These areas are closed at the section line using layer TXNTLIN.  Each point assigned to layer TXXLBL will contain attribute information corresponding to its section, township and range number. 

RWXLBL – used for labeling miscellaneous polygons within the road right of way polygon coverage.   A label using this layer is placed in areas where road right of way may form a undesired closed area within a section.  Each point assigned to layer RWXLBL will contain attribute information corresponding to its section, township and range number.

WTRXLBL – used for labeling island polygons for lakes and rivers within the DNR water polygon coverage.   Each point assigned to layer WTRXLBL will contain attribute information corresponding to its section, township and range number.

EASELBL – used for labeling easement polygons.  Currently this layer has not been used.

PARKLBL – used for labeling park polygons.  Currently this layer has not been used.

Polygon Neatlines

Lines on the following layers are in place for polygon purposes only. They do not plot on any maps.  All parcel polygon neatline layers can be found on the layers listed below:

TXNTLIN – used to close all parcels and ungeocoded areas at the section line.

RWNTLIN – used to close highway right of way at the section line.  Also layer RWNTLIN is used to close highway right of way where the road name changes.

WTRNTLIN – used to close DNR protected waters at the section line.

RRNTLIN  – used to close railroad right of way at the section line.

Polygon Coverage Layers

Using a GIS software package, four polygon coverage's can be created using the specified layers listed below.  Each PLS section tile has been edited so that any of the four polygon coverage's can be created.  Not all sections within the county are complete with the appropriate label points and neatlines. 

PARCEL COVERAGE------------------ TXLOTLIN, GAPLBL, CMINTLBL, OVRLPLBL, PCNRLBL, PCNTLBL, TXXLBL, PCNTXLBL, TXNTLIN

ROAD R/W COVERAGE --------------– RWCLIN, RWCELIN, RWMLIN, RWMELIN, RWSLIN, RWSELIN, RWNTLIN, RWMLBL, RWCLBL, RWSLBL, RWXLBL

RAILROAD R/W COVERAGE------------ RRNTLIN, RRRWLIN, RRLBL, RRXLBL

DNR PROTECTED WATERS COVERAGE---- WTRLIN, LAKELIN, WETLLIN, WTRNTLIN, WTRMNLBL, WTRDRLBL, WTRXLBL