A real estate survey in the Ascent Land Records Suite (ALRS) is an entity that encapsulates the information related to the boundaries of a tax parcel. The information encapsulated within the survey record may describe circumstances under which new parcels are created in Ascent Land Records. For example, when a document is filed with the Register of Deeds or Property Lister and that document changes the legal boundaries of a tax parcel, a survey entity will describe this transaction by reflecting the original parent parcel and the new child parcel(s) created by the boundary change. In other cases, the information encapsulated within a survey may not describe parcel boundary changes, but rather validate these current boundaries. Examples include plats of surveys, mortgage inspections, or even certified survey maps on already existing tax parcels. 


Survey Types


The survey type describes what instrument or transaction is defining the boundary change or boundary clarification. Some of the survey types in the Ascent Land Records Suite that a public user can search for from the survey search are:

  • ALTA/ACSM
  • Annexation
  • Boundary Survey
  • Correction
  • CSM
  • Drainage District Map
  • Exhibits
  • Mortgage Inspection
  • Other
  • Plat - Cemetery
  • Plat - Condominium
  • Plat - Subdivision
  • Plat - Transportation Project
  • Plat of Survey
  • Right of Way
  • Site Survey


NOTE:  It is important to note although one type of transaction that can create a survey in the Ascent Land Records Suite is a Certified Survey Map (CSM), a CSM should not be confused as being equivalent to an ALRS survey record. This is also true for a Plat of Survey that clarifies parcel boundaries; it is a type of ALRS survey record.


NOTE: Survey types are dependent upon County records


Parent and Child Parcels


When a survey record in the Ascent Land Records Suite creates new parcel boundaries, the survey will define the original parcel and the new child parcels carved from the parent parcel. For example, the following survey encapsulates a CSM that split parcel 36.03 and created two new parcels. Parcel 36.03 is the parent parcel and parcels 36.04 and 36.05 are the child parcels.


The exact same parent-child relationship is also illustrated graphically in the parcel history of all three parcels. For example, the parcel history for parcel 36.03 appears as follows:


In fact, it is the definition of survey itself that actually enables a parcel's history to be managed by the Ascent Land Records Suite. This example is interesting because the history for this parcel indicates that its boundaries were created from a combination of the boundaries of parcels 36.01 and 36.02. By choosing Parcel History from the Parcel Detail drop down, one can further investigate the survey history and document history to learn more about the parcel combination. In this case, it is the document history that indicates a parcel combination filed in the property listing office was responsible for the combination. The 'Geom.' indicator shows that this document affected the parcel boundaries.


When the survey record in the Ascent Land Records Suite does not change the boundaries of a parcel, then the survey does not create new parcels. In these cases, the parent and the child will actually be the same parcel, indicating that document encapsulated by the survey did not create new parcels. Also, the document related to the survey may be for only a portion of a parcel or parcels and not for the entire parcel(s), or may represent a line associated with a parcel or parcels. Additionally, the survey may not include all of the USPLS locations attached to the tax parcel. For example, the following Plat of Survey relates to parcel number 35 in the Village of Friesland. It may relate to all or only a portion of the documents.


Clicking on the parcel number and navigating to the Parcel History for parcel 35 confirms that this document did not create any new parcels, as parcel 35 has no history.


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