San Mateo County Survey Marker GIS Part 2- Tools and Instructions

This post will highlight the maps main functions and provide tips for best use.

The GIS can be found here or through our Surveying and Map Checking website.

Bottom Toolbar
Listed below from left to right

Zoom buttons and 'My Location'

• + zooms in / - zooms out
• locator button shows your location (optimized for mobile users)

Text search

• type address or intersection; auto complete capable

Legend

Turn layers on/off

• check boxes to turn on/off available layers

Change basemap views

• choose from 12 different basemaps

Driving directions

• type or click on the locations for a route

Measuring tools

• measure lines and routes for linear feet
• measure areas
• obtain the lat / long for a location

Simple drawing tools

• enhance any map view by adding objects and text

Additional Tools

Overview map

• toggle on/off by clicking on the arrow in the top right of the map window

   

Data in Table Format

• launch a data table by clicking the small black arrow below toolbar

• drag the table up for an expanded view
• explore the 'Options' menu to hide columns, filter and export data

San Mateo County Survey Marker GIS Part 1- Purpose and Intended Use

This post explains the purpose and intended use of the San Mateo County (SMCO) survey marker GIS map and what kind of information can be found for monuments.

The GIS can be found here or through our Surveying and Map Checking website.

Default view of the SMCO Survey Marker GIS

Purpose & Intended Use

This is an ongoing inventory of survey monuments for the unincorporated areas of San Mateo County.  Some locations within City limits are available because we've chosen to crowd source some of the data.

It is meant to be a planning tool for San Mateo County Public Works projects as well as private surveys for firms wishing to participate.

It is not meant to be a precise network and is considered GIS grade.

Finding Survey Markers

This map acts much like any GIS when panning, zooming, and selecting objects.  Once you locate a point of interest, a single left click will open a window containing the unique data for that location.

Available Survey Marker Information

The minimum data we capture for each location include:

• Date collected
• Description
• Is it tagged?
• Tag number?

Additional notes can be added to further describe the survey marker or its location.

This GIS includes photos of the monuments as well and are found in the "Attachments" section of the window.

Typical data available and survey marker photo

Part Two: Tools and Instructions

San Mateo County - Unrecorded Subdivision Maps

This is a brief post to spread the word about a set of old subdivision maps that our team has recently encountered. These are maps that aren't available through our map research website but may be referenced in old deeds or maybe in the margins of the Assessors Parcel Maps (see image below). I'm positive this isn't every unrecorded subdivision map in San Mateo County but because we found them, we thought we'd share.

See the "UNREC" reference on the Assessors map in the lower right?

This is the Unrecorded Corbett Subdivision Map from Book 5

We had no idea what we were going to find on this mission so when we found so many (50 books in all) we just snapped pictures and assembled a collection of only the index pages. The information is available at our website and in spreadsheet format you can download.

Please pass this along to anyone that I left out. Feel free to email pw-surveying@smcgov.org if you've got questions or need more information about these maps. Thanks for reading.

San Mateo County 2015 Road Projects and Monument Preservation

This is the time of year that our in-house crew is tasked with monument preservation in connection with the 25+ miles of road resurfacing.  Not only do we need to stay ahead of the crews doing repairs before the asphalt is laid; we've got to document what we find!  It's is really an enjoyable challenge and we're proud to say we've done it again.

The areas shown in blue, red and lavender are the areas we covered this year.  We've covered Coast to Bay from approximately Moss Beach to the Santa Cruz County line.

Pescadero Creek Road (click for map)

Concrete monuments like this can be found at most begin / end curves all along Pescadero Creek Road.

USGS Disk in the bridge over Alpine Creek

Gazos Creek Road (click for map)

Fence post along Gazos Creek. The original rancho map calls for a 6" x 6" post scribed "PFC". This matches the location but fire has destroyed any scribing.

Verde Road (click for map)

Hex head bolt at Highway 1.  Every time we encounter a bolt for a monument I wonder if they used a wrench to install it!

The Alameda (click for map)

12" concrete monument with pin at Santa Ana Street

Acacia Lane (click for map)

Railroad spike near Alameda de las Pulgas.

It's a bit hard to see but whomever dug the trench skipped over the railroad spike...thank you!

And many many more...looking forward to the 2016 cycle!

Track Your Maps Status Online

Have you submitted a map and want to know its status?  Maybe your client wants to keep tabs on the status of their map.  Did you forget whether you submitted a particular map?

The answers to all of these questions are now available online and this post will walk you through the steps.

For this step by step, we'll use the permit number that our system has assigned to a Record of Survey.  This number can be found in the lower right corner of most plan checks performed by the Public Works Surveying and Map Checking group.  Don't have the number...don't worry, the system also lets you search by parcel number and address.

Let's get started by getting to the County's Planning and Building Online permit tracker (click to launch or use the following link): http://planning.smcgov.org/permit-center

On the screen shown above click "Active Permit / Project Center"

From the "Public Works" tab at the top, enter the permit number assigned to your map in the "Permit Number" field and click the "Search" button at the bottom.

The screen above will appear when a valid DPW permit number is entered showing some key information about that permit.  For more details click on the "Print/View Summary" button.

Enter the same DPW permit number in the "Case Number" field and click the "Submit" button.

This is a more detailed summary of the maps history.  Each time the status of the map changed, there will be a date and a description of what has changed.

The Survey and Map Checking group strives to keep the map status current but a one or two day lag is possible during our busy times.  We highly encourage you and your clients to use this when checking the status of a map.  If this system is down for an extended period of time, feel free to contact us (click for Survey and Map Checking Website).