FLORIDA GEOGRAPHIC DATA LIBRARY DOCUMENTATION
VERSION 2003, RELEASED NOVEMBER, 2002.

TITLE: FLORIDA PUBLIC LAND SURVEY SYSTEM

Geodataset Name:      FPLSS
Geodataset Type:      Shape
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 OR SOURCE:         Source 1840, Automated 1998, Enhanced 2003            
GEODATASET EXTENT:                    State of Florida

FEATURE ATTRIBUTE TABLES
Data file Name: PLSS.DBF

ITEM NAME             TYPE            PRECISION    WIDTH
SHAPE               FIELD_SHAPEPOLY        0         8            
TRS_WATSON          CHARACTER              0         9            
COUNT               DECIMAL                0         11           
TRS_LIBRAR          CHARACTER              0         16           
SECTION             CHARACTER              0         3            
TOWNSHIP            CHARACTER              0         2            
RANGE               CHARACTER              0         2            
TD                  CHARACTER              0         1            
RD                  CHARACTER              0         1            
COUNTY              CHARACTER              0         12           
DESCRIPT            CHARACTER              0         16           
AREA                DECIMAL                3         16           
PERIMETER           DECIMAL                3         16 

FEATURE ATTRIBUTE TABLES CODES AND VALUES


ITEM NAME	ITEM DESCRIPTION
SHAPE           INTERNAL SHAPEFILE FIELD
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)
AREA            Area of section in meters
PERIMETER       Perimeter of section in meters
DESCRIPT        FGDL added field based on 'TRS_LIBRAR'

USER NOTES:

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.

Scale is an important factor in data usage. Certain scale datasets are 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 section and 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

FGDL QUALITY ASSURANCE STATUS:

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

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.

MAP PROJECTION PARAMETERS

Projection                           ALBERS
Units                                METERS
Datum                                HPGN
Spheroid                             GRS1980
1st standard parallel                24   0  0.000
2nd standard parallel                31  30  0.000
central meridian                    -84   0  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:                   FLORIDA RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS
                        CENTER
Abbr. Name:             FREAC
Address:                Florida Resources & Environmental Analysis Center
                        Florida State University
                        Tallahassee, FL
Phone:                  (850) 644-5447
Fax:                    (850) 644-7360
Web site:               http://www.labins.org  
Contact Person:         
         Phone:         (850) 644-5447
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