Georgia Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors
Georgia Plat Act

GEORGIA PLAT ACT
O.C.G.A 15-6-67

(a) The clerk of the superior court shall file and record in his office maps or plats relating to real estate in the county.

(b) Maps or plats to be filed and recorded in the office of the clerk of the superior court shall be prepared in accordance with the following minimum standards and specifications:

(1) Material.

(A) Any such maps or plats shall be a good legible copy, such as a blue, white, or other commercial print reproduced from an original.

(B) The minimum line widths and letter or character heights delineated on such maps or plats shall be as follows:

(i) Maps or plats drawn on 8 1/2 inch by 11 inch or 8 1/2 inch by 14 inch tracings shall have a minimum line width of 0.010 inches and a minimum letter or character height of 0.080 inches;

(ii) Maps or plats drawn on 11 inch by 17 inch tracings shall have a minimum line width of 0.010 inches and minimum letter or character height of 0.080 inches; or

(iii) Maps or plats drawn on 17 inch by 22 inch or 24 inch by 36 inch tracings shall have a minimum line width of 0.013 inches and a minimum letter or character height of 0.080 inches.

(C) In counties using microfilming procedures, when a map or plat is filed for record the original drawing, which shall not be larger than 24 inches by 36 inches, shall be submitted to the clerk for microfilming and a legible copy, which shall not be larger than 17 inches by 22 inches, shall be filed for record; provided, however, that a full-size positive copy of the original may be tendered and used for microfilming. The clerk shall enter the filing date, plat book number, and page number on the original drawing and return the original drawing to the land surveyor or the person filing the same for record;

(2) Caption. The maps or plats shall have a title or name which shall be contained in the caption, and the caption shall also provide the following information:

(A) The county, city, town, or village, land district and land lot, and subdivision, if the property lies within a particular subdivision;

(B) The date of plat preparation;

(C) The scale, stated and shown graphically;

(D) The name, address, telephone number, and registration number of the land surveyor or the statement that he is the county surveyor and is not required by law to be a registered surveyor; and

(E) All reproductions of original maps or plats shall bear the original signature, in black ink, of the registrant placed across the registration seal in order to be a valid or recordable map or plat;

(3) Size. Maps or plats shall not be less than 8 1/2 inches by 11 inches and not larger than can be recorded without folding;

(4) Data. Maps or plats shall be made in a professional manner and in accordance with the standards of good drafting procedures and shall show the following information, as specified:

(A) All maps or plats shall show the direction and distance from a point of reference to a point on the boundary of the individual survey, and such additional data as may be required to relocate the boundary point from the point of reference with the same degree of accuracy required of the parcel surveyed. The point of reference shall be an established, monumented position which can be identified or relocated from maps, plats, or other documents on public record;

(B) All maps or plats of boundary surveys or subdivision surveys shall show bearings of all lines of the boundary or lot lines, and distances of all boundary or lot lines, and area of the parcels expressed in acres or square feet;

(C) All maps or plats of boundary surveys shall show the closure precision of the field survey as the ratio of one foot to the traversed distance in which an error of one foot would occur and a statement as to the method of adjustment. The closure may be stated as follows:

"The field data upon which this map or plat is based has a closure precision of one foot in ______ feet, and an angular error of ______ per angle point, and was adjusted using ______ rule";

(D) All maps or plats of boundary surveys shall show the closure precision of the data shown on the map or plat. The closure may be stated as follows:

"This map or plat has been calculated for closure and is found to be accurate within one foot in ______ feet";

(E) All maps or plats shall show the width and the former widths, if pertinent, of all rights of way adjacent to or crossing the property or adjacent to any point of reference;

(F) All maps or plats shall show easements and apparent encroachments, if pertinent;

(G) In the case of curved lines, the curve shall be defined by curve data to include the radius, arc length, chord bearing, and distance for regular curves. Chord distances and directions shall be given for irregular curves;

(H) All land lot lines, land district lines, land section lines, and city, county, and state boundaries intersecting or adjacent to the surveyed property shall be indicated by lines drawn upon the map or plat with appropriate words and figures;

(I) All corner markers and markers of pertinent reference points shall be fully described and indicated as to their material or types and shall be constructed of a permanent material such as iron, steel, concrete, or stone;

(J) An arrow shall be shown on the map or plat to indicate the principal meridian, and a notation shall be made as to the reference of bearings to magnetic north, astronomic north, or grid north. A grid north reference shall indicate the zone;

(K) All linear distances shown on maps or plats shall be horizontal;

(L) All angular directions shown on maps or plats shall be represented in degrees and minutes. Where plats state or surveys require accuracy in excess of 1 in 5,000, the angular directions shall be represented in degrees, minutes, and seconds. All angular directions shall be referenced to the principal meridian;

(M) A statement shall be shown on the map or plat to indicate the type of equipment used to obtain the linear and angular measurements used in the preparation of the map or plat; and

(N) All maps or plats shall show the state plane coordinates of at least two permanent monuments thereon, when a National Geodetic Survey monument is within 500 feet of any point on the property mapped or platted, or any point of reference shown thereon.

(c) If the plat meets the requirements of subsections (b) and (d) of this Code section, it shall be the duty of the clerk of the superior court to file and record such map or plat or blueprint, tracing, photostatic copy, or other copy of a map or plat.

(d) Whenever the municipal planning commission, the county planning commission, the municipal-county planning commission, or, if no such planning commission exists, the appropriate municipal or county governing authority prepares and adopts subdivision regulations, and upon receiving approval thereon by the appropriate governing authority, then no plat of subdivision of land within the municipality or the county shall be filed or recorded in the office of the clerk of the superior court of a county without the approval thereon of the municipal or county planning commission or governing authority and without such approval having been entered in writing on the plat by the secretary of the municipal or county planning commission or governing authority. The clerk of the superior court shall not file or record a plat of subdivision which does not have the approval of the municipal or county planning commission or governing authority as required by this subsection. Notwithstanding any other provision of this subsection to the contrary, no approval shall be required if no new streets or roads are created or no new utility improvements are required or no new sanitary sewer or approval of a septic tank is required. Any plat of survey containing thereon a certification from the licensed surveyor that the provisions relative to this subsection do not require approval shall entitle said plat to record.