Abstract

Cadastral Surveys for Pipeline Alignment
Track: Education
Authors: Harold Gay, Stacey Lyle, Richard Smith, Gary Jeffress

Cadastral Surveys for Pipeline Alignment

Oil and gas pipelines cross property, municipality, state, and even international boundaries. The planning of a new pipeline requires the creation of legal rights-of-way for the pipeline itself as well as for the accompanying surface sites and temporary and permanent workspaces. A hundred-mile long pipeline may cross thousands of individual tracts and the pipeline route must be accurately located on a plat (map) of each tract. Right-of-way is acquired by negotiation and purchase from individual property owners or as the result of condemnation proceedings. This project explores the use of a geographic information system (GIS) to organize geospatial information in the public domain including the Geographic Coordinate Data Base (GCDB) maintained by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Additional geospatial information is collected using field survey, aerial photogrammetry, and LiDAR. Cadastral survey information is collected from individual deeds and other records residing in county offices and from municipal boundaries. Pipeline alignment is usually depicted on plats, using state plane coordinates or universal transverse Mercator coordinates for the appropriate zone, with respect to the crossing of tract and governmental boundaries. The use of differential Global Positioning System (GPS) has enabled great improvement in the accuracy of these surveys. GIS technology enables a vastly greater amount of data to be stored, recalled, and utilized and makes possible a higher degree of automation for producing alignment maps. This project demonstrates a faster and less expensive process for producing the required maps.

Authors:

Harold Gay

Dr. Stacey Lyle, RPLS, PhD
Professor

Dr. Gary Jeffress Degree PhD
Professor

Mr. Richard Smith BS-GISC MS-CS
Assistant Professor

Address:

6300 Ocean Drive
Corpus Christi, Tx 78412

Category Other: Educator
Resume: TBD