Reviewed by Casa Academy and updated July 29, 2026 using the current DBPR checklist and Pearson VUE scheduling guidance.
Rectangular Survey System
The rectangular survey system, also called the government survey system, divides much of the United States into townships and sections using north-south principal meridians and east-west base lines, providing a standardized grid for legal land descriptions west of the original thirteen colonies.
Exam context
Rectangular survey uses township, range, section grid. One section equals 640 acres. Metes and bounds uses monuments and courses. Principal meridian and base line anchor the grid.
Grid components
Townships are six-mile squares numbered north or south of a base line. Ranges are columns numbered east or west of a principal meridian. Each township contains 36 sections of roughly 640 acres. Legal descriptions cite section, township, range, and principal meridian, sometimes with aliquot parts such as the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter.
Regional use
The system applies in federal public-land states. Older eastern states often use metes and bounds tied to monuments and courses. Surveyors reconcile overlapping calls. License exams test reading government descriptions and calculating partial section acreage, not field surveying technique.
Examples
Aliquot description
A farm is described as the SE 1/4 of Section 14, Township 3 North, Range 5 East, Sixth Principal Meridian, totaling 160 acres.
Section acreage check
An agent confirms a lot marketed as 40 acres equals the NW 1/4 of a standard section under government survey math.
Keep studying
Related terms
- Metes and boundsMonument-based descriptions used where the grid does not apply.
- Lot and blockRecorded plat reference common in subdivisions.
Related resources
- Free exam prep
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- Real estate glossary hub
Browse all published national glossary entries.
- Florida exam topic hub
Florida-specific explainers and question sets for this topic area.
Sources
- BLM: Public Land Survey System(U.S. Bureau of Land Management)