Glossary

There are a number of geospatial terms whose meanings are not immediately clear to the investor. Accordingly, a number of terms are defined below that may be relevant to obtaining a knowledge of the geospatial industry.

Acquired Lands: Lands in Federal ownership that were obtained by the Government through purchase, condemnation, or gift; or by exchange.

Appropriated Public Lands: Original public domain lands which are covered by an entry, patent, certification, or other evidence of land disposal; for certain purposes, public lands which are within a reservation, which contain improvements constructed with the aid of Federal funds, or which are covered by certain classes of leases are also considered appropriated.

Cadastral: The legal identification of features.

Cadastral Survey: A survey relating to land boundaries and subdivisions made to create units suitable for management or to define the limits of title. The distinguishing features of the cadastral surveys are the establishment of monuments on the ground to define the boundaries of the land and their identification in the records by field notes and plats.

Common Use Area: A generally broad geographic area from which nonexclusive disposals of mineral materials can be made, with only negligible surface disturbance.

Competitive Lease, Oil or Gas: An oil or gas mineral lease, covering public lands with a known producing oil or gas field, which is issued to the successful bidder at public auction or through sealed bids.

Competitive Mineral Leasing: Refers to leases issued by the United States where there are known minerals or where inference of probable mineralization can be drawn from knowledge of the geology of the land. The lands are offered for lease by competitive bidding after publication of the notice of competitive lease sale. The lease is issued to the highest bidder, who is determined at a sale by public auction.

Conveyance: A written instrument by which title in real estate or some estate interest is transferred from one person to another.

Land Description: A statement as to the location of a tract of land which is the basis for the identification of the tract on the ground in relation to the public land survey.

Master Title Plat: The master title plat or ownership plat shows the land which has been patented, the patent numbers, the reservations to the United States as stated in the patent, and the land which is still vacant federal land - often referred to as public domain land.

Metes and Bounds: A method of describing or locating property, metes are measures of length and bounds are boundaries; this description starts with a well-marked point of beginning and follows the boundaries of the land until it returns once more to the point of beginning.

Noncompetitive Lease, Oil or Gas: An oil or gas mineral lease which is issued to the first qualified applicant for the lease of public lands that are outside of a known producing oil or gas field at the time of application.

Patent: A government deed; a document or instrument that conveys legal title to public lands to the patentee.

Plat: A map covering an area in size varying from a small subdivision up to several sections or townships on which land, lease, and mineral ownership information is shown in visual form.

Public Domain Lands: Original public domain lands that have never left Federal ownership; also, lands in Federal ownership that were obtained by the Government in exchange for public domain lands or for timber on public domain lands.

Split Estate: Land in which the ownership of the surface is held by persons, including governmental bodies other than the Federal government and the ownership of underlying minerals is, in whole or in part, reserved to the Federal government.

Survey Plat: A plat representing the lines surveyed, established, retraced or resurveyed, showing the direction and length of each line; the relation to adjoining official surveys; the boundaries, description, and area of each parcel of land; and the topography, culture, and improvements within the limits of the survey.

Township: The major subdivision of the public lands in the rectangular system of surveys; normally a quadrangle measuring approximately six miles on each side and containing approximately 23,040 acres.

Trend Acreage Position: Lease acreage acquired along a specific geological trend that holds high potential for the production of oil and gas.