Mapping Land Parcels with Computer Software

The mapping programs listed below are still available for purchase at the addresses listed.  Most programs are available for both PC’s and Macs.  You can also find these programs available at public libraries, county courthouses, university tech labs.  Your own accountant or attorney may also have the software.

See Tennessee Ancestors, (December 1998) for Property Owners on Kingston Pike and Sequoyah Hills in the Knoxville Tennessee area.  Prepared by D. Morton Rose, Jr., 3510 Taliluna Ave, Knoxville TN 37919.  Superimposed upon a modern topographic map for locating the farms.

DeedMapper 4.1  Whether you have one deed or a hundred, in a “metes and bounds” state or in a Public Domain state, DeedMapper has all sorts of uses!  Some examples:

  • Find the location of a particular plot by anchoring a group of neighboring plots against a stream.
  • Discover genealogical relationships by showing that person X sold a part of person Y’s land.
  • Untangle people having the same name by analyzing their landholdings and transfers.
  • Create a map of original landholders in a region.
  • Trace changes in parcel ownership over the years.
DeedMapper runs on Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7 (32- and 64-bit).
http://www.directlinesoftware.com.  Direct Line Software, 71 Neshobe Rd., Newton MA 02168.
Net Deed Plotter® Has Been Updated: Deed Plotter®, Version 5.4  For Windows XP, Windows VISTA, & Windows 7 Operating Systems
  • Enter data and draw user scaled maps directly from any document that has an adequate surveyor’s legal description.
  • Automatically calculate areas, closures, and precision ratios.
  • Find and measure overlaps & gaps.
  • Solve for a missing deed call and search for a defective deed call.
  • Connect, move, and rotate multiple parcels of land.
  • Automatically display deed calls, corner circles, and corner labels.
  • Add text of any size at any position or angle. The map shown on this page demonstrates user added text for the title, areas, curves, and general information.
  • The  program is designed for non-surveyors.  The majority of our customers have no experience or training in surveying, engineering, or the plotting of deeds.
  • http://www.deedplotter.com   Greenbrier Graphics, LLC.  438 Lockbridge Road, Meadow Bridge, WV 25976.

Farmer’s Plotter 2.0 a deed plotter for genealogists with Macintosh computers. Solve a “same name” problem in your research or simply illustrate your families’ land holdings without a lot of tedious hand drafting of legal descriptions. Metes & Bounds OR Rectangular Survey. Included is a glossary of surveying terms useful to the genealogist, not found in the earlier Tour of Version 1.0. This demo is a HyperCard stack to cut download time. The plotting program itself is embedded in a HyperCard Player, so it is “stand-alone,” and you do NOT need HyperCard to use it. For more information, contact: James Rogers (Older Kids & Co.) 8547 E. Arapahoe Rd., #J-144 Greenwood Village, CO 80112 Internet: JR007@aol.com

If you Google  “Mapping Software for Land Parcels” you will get other software with apps available for smart phones and other devices.  And many connections to GPS systems for locating lands on the ground.

Family Maps is a publishing program for federal rectangular land grants county by county.  http://www.arphax.com has a current list of the counties already available.  Cemeteries, roads, land parcels all with an every-name index make these volumes very useful.  Then you can go to http://www.glorecords.blm.gov to get a free copy of the land grant.  The publishers may eventually do state-land-states with metes and bounds boundaries.

Your favorite genealogist, Arlene Eakle   http://arleneeakle.com

PS  These systems beat the old system with deed calls, a compass and a protractor.   Reconstructing the neighborhood where your ancestor held his lands will provide an invaluable research aid for your genealogy.  But if someone hasn’t already mapped your lands, you will have to do the job to get the benefit.  UGH!

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