Map a PLSS Legal Description (Township, Range and Section) – Scribble Maps Help Portal

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Much of the western United States is described by the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) instead of by street address. A parcel might be written as "T38N R56E SEC 10". Scribble Maps can turn that description into a shape on your map.

You type the legal description. Scribble Maps looks it up and draws the matching township, section or aliquot part.

This is a Pro Business feature.

Before you start

The result is a mapping reference. It is not a legal survey, and it is not an authoritative determination of property boundaries. Use it to see roughly where a parcel sits, not to settle a boundary question.

Scribble Maps shows this notice with every result:

Mapping reference only. Not a legal survey or authoritative determination of property boundaries.

Write the description

Scribble Maps uses the format published by the Bureau of Land Management. A description is built from these parts, in this order.

Part	Example	What it means
State	NV	Two letter state code.
Meridian	21	The BLM principal meridian number. 21 is Mount Diablo.
Township	T38N	Township number, then N or S.
Range	R56E	Range number, then E or W.
Section	SEC 10	Optional. A number from 1 to 36.
Aliquot part	ALIQ SESW	Optional. Read it right to left. SESW is the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter.

Put a single space between each part. Here are complete examples.

Type this	You get
NV 21 T38N R56E	The whole township.
NV 21 T38N R56E ALL	The whole township, stated explicitly.
NV 21 T38N R56E SEC 10	One section.
NV 21 T38N R56E SEC 10 ALIQ SESW	A quarter of a quarter section.
NV 21 T38N R56E SEC 10 LOT 3	A numbered lot inside a section.
NV 21 T38N R56E SEC 10 MINERAL SURVEY 1234	A mineral survey inside a section.

A township or range number can include one decimal place, such as T38.5N.

Look up a description

You can start from the search box or from the Region Highlighter panel. Both use the same lookup.

From the search box

Open your map in the editor.
Click the search box. It reads Search for Region/Boundary.
Type the full legal description and press Enter.
Click the result. The Region Highlighter panel opens with the shape previewed.

From the Region Highlighter panel

Open the menu and choose Region Highlighter.
Type the full legal description into the search box.
Press Enter.

Scribble Maps previews the shape on the map and fills the search box with the tidied description.

Add the shape to your map

The preview is not saved until you add it.

Check the shape on the map.
Click Add To Map.

The shape becomes a normal polygon. You can restyle it, move it into a folder, or use it with other tools.

The Level Of Detail dropdown and the Land Only and Territory switch are hidden for PLSS results. PLSS shapes are drawn exactly as the Bureau of Land Management supplies them, with no smoothing, so those controls do not apply.

What gets saved with the shape

Each shape you add carries its own record of where it came from. You can see this in Data View.

Field	Contents
plssId	The official PLSS identifier, such as NV210380N0560E0SN100ASESW.
legalDescription	The description that was looked up.
sourceAgency	U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management.
sourceDataset	The BLM dataset the shape came from.
disclaimer	The mapping reference notice.

The shape's title is set to its PLSS identifier. Its description lists the identifier, the legal description, the source and the notice, so the information stays with the shape when you share or export the map.

Ask Scribble AI instead

You can also ask the assistant. Try wording like this.

"Map NV 21 T38N R56E SEC 10 ALIQ SESW"
"Show me township 38 north, range 56 east in Nevada, Mount Diablo meridian"

The assistant previews the shape and waits for you to click Add To Map. If you want it added straight away, say so.

If the lookup fails

Message	What to do
PLSS legal-description lookup requires Pro Business.	Your plan does not include this feature. Upgrade to Pro Business.
Enter a PLSS legal description.	The box was empty. Type a description first.
The PLSS description could not be resolved. Check the BLM format and try again.	Compare what you typed against the examples above.
PLSS section must be between 1 and 36.	Correct the section number.

If nothing appears at all, check that the state code and meridian number match each other. A township and range that are valid in one meridian may not exist in another.

Not every parcel is in the BLM data. Some areas were never surveyed under the PLSS, and some records are incomplete. If a description is written correctly but returns nothing, the parcel may not be in the dataset.