The Tobin BLM Digital Survey is the first comprehensive set of digitized Bureau of Land Management survey data designed to fit Tobin Superbase. It is the definitive data set to compare Federal Surveying efforts with the Oil and Gas Industry Standard, Tobin SuperBase. Differences between the Tobin BLM Digital Survey and Tobin SuperBase can alert users that additional title work may be required.
Tobin BLM Digital Survey Data product:
The Tobin BLM Digital Survey is a spatial database representing the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) digital Public Land Survey System (PLSS). The data is made available to the public from the BLM as the Geographic Coordinate Database (GCDB). The BLM collects this information on a township level and has been continually collecting geographic information since 1989. The source data used in their collection process are official BLM survey records and corresponding geodetic control information. The BLM collection process consists of delineating a township and section land unit grid by determining the geographic location of survey boundaries. An official land description is then assigned to each land unit. GCDB data is made available as ARC/INFO township coverages in an export file format (e00 file). Tobin downloads this data at the township level by state from the GCDB website. This data is then converted to a Tobin format, one similar to Tobin’s Superbase product. The Tobin conversion process keeps the integrity of the digital survey as a BLM source. The final product Tobin will offer will be an accurate spatial representation of the BLM’s PLSS.
For a more detailed description of the BLM collection process, visit the
BLM’s GCDB website.
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Digital product represents the BLM Digital Survey
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Same structure as the Tobin SuperBase® Survey
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Edge matched within the data set by Tobin
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Provides comparison-background to Tobin Superbase Survey
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Data Set includes Polygons, Attributes, and Annotations for Meridians, Township and Range, and Sections
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The definitive data set to compare Federal Surveying efforts with the Oil and Gas Industry Standard, Tobin SuperBase
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Differences with TobinSuperBase can alert users that additional title work may be required
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Since the data is digital and includes a database of attributed data it can be formatted for users of GIS, mapping, and/or CAD applications
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Data is updated quarterly, based on Federal changes
The data that is downloaded from the GCDB are ARC/INFO coverages that spatially depict land areas and survey lines for a single township. The ARC/INFO feature classes available with these coverages are polygon, regions, arcs, node, and labels. Polygons will be the primary feature class the conversion process will be processing. The polygonal coverage is a township survey at the quarter section level with every polygon representing a quarter section.
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Arizona
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California
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Colorado
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Idaho
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Montana
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Nevada
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New Mexico
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North Dakota
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Oregon
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Utah
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Washington
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Wyoming
The BLM has stated that the geographic coordinates of this data set have no legal significance and should not be used as a substitute for a legal boundary survey. The BLM also states that this digital survey can be used for record keeping, mapping, and planning purposes. This product that Tobin created from the BLM is a useful tool that can be used as reference for determining PLSS boundaries as how the BLM delineates them.
