I was listening to a Randy Newberg podcast last week in which he had representatives from OnX maps on his show. The people from Onx were touting the property information that is available with their software. They were actually saying in the podcast that they cross posted property lines and fences because their software says the property line is somewhere else.
I am a licensed land surveyor who has worked in several states. I use mapping software and public parcel information all of the time in my profession. What I can tell you without a doubt is that the property lines that are provided in any available software including OnX maps is based on the publicly available tax assessment records and mapping. This 'property' information is good enough for the purpose that it serves, which is to facilitate the maintaining of a roll for levying taxes based on property values. However, while the information is useful to many people including hunters, it is not binding in a court of law when it comes to ownership. What maters is the description contained within the deed and it's location ON THE GROUND. I have seen property boundaries in assessment records be wildly inaccurate.
PLEASE DO NOT cross posted property lines because some mapping software tells you the line should be somewhere else. It floored me that the people from OnX were not only doing this but telling other people they could as well. OnX (or atleast these reps) are apparently completely ignorant of how their information is obtained and are going to end up getting some hunter in serious trouble for trespassing.
I will climb down off of my soapbox now. I would just hate to see hunters start getting a bad name for trespassing because these companies have no land surveying experience and are leading people to believe their information is more accurate than it truly is.
I am a licensed land surveyor who has worked in several states. I use mapping software and public parcel information all of the time in my profession. What I can tell you without a doubt is that the property lines that are provided in any available software including OnX maps is based on the publicly available tax assessment records and mapping. This 'property' information is good enough for the purpose that it serves, which is to facilitate the maintaining of a roll for levying taxes based on property values. However, while the information is useful to many people including hunters, it is not binding in a court of law when it comes to ownership. What maters is the description contained within the deed and it's location ON THE GROUND. I have seen property boundaries in assessment records be wildly inaccurate.
PLEASE DO NOT cross posted property lines because some mapping software tells you the line should be somewhere else. It floored me that the people from OnX were not only doing this but telling other people they could as well. OnX (or atleast these reps) are apparently completely ignorant of how their information is obtained and are going to end up getting some hunter in serious trouble for trespassing.
I will climb down off of my soapbox now. I would just hate to see hunters start getting a bad name for trespassing because these companies have no land surveying experience and are leading people to believe their information is more accurate than it truly is.